About Us

About the HOW Coalition

More than 90 organizations representing millions of residents in the Great Lakes have joined a new coalition whose goal is to restore and protect the Great Lakes.

Formed in 2005 with support from the Wege Foundation, Joyce Foundation, and others, the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition reflects a growing public awareness about the urgent need to protect the Great Lakes.The Coalition seeks to secure a sustainable restoration plan and the billions of dollars of state and federal funding needed to implement it.

Led by the National Wildlife Federation and the National Parks Conservation Association, the coalition seeks to Read More » »

Location, Location, Location

Unfortunately, the dating term geographically undesirable (GU) also appears to apply to Congress Members attitude toward the Great Lakes and the issues we have fervently been working on. Usually an explanation of why a budding romantic relationship failed to flower, GU also defines a lack of leadership and perhaps interest in the Great Lakes for lawmakers representing the more far flung districts in our eight states.

After reviewing comments made by those who took part in Great Lakes Day 2008, it becomes clear rather quickly that geography had a lot to do with the kind of experience HOW members had when Read More » »

Healing Our Waters Great Lakes Coalition - 100 Strong

The Healing Our Waters (HOW) Great Lakes Coalition reached a milestone recently, growing to over 100 groups throughout the Great Lakes region. The HOW Coalition continues to grow and diversify. This growth symbolizes the importance of restoring the health of the Great Lakes, which are essential to the economic and cultural identity of our region.

HOW Coalition members recognize we have manageable solutions contained in the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Strategy to Restore and Protect the Great Lakes. It is time to use them. Every day we wait, the problems get worse and the solutions get more costly. Read More » »

Genesis of Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition

The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition which administers the Healthy Lakes, Healthy Lives public awareness campaign was launched with the generous support of the Wege Foundation and Peter Wege, a Michigan philanthropist and former CEO of Steelcase Inc.

Since its inception in 1968, the Wege Foundation has supported a number of causes, including the environment, education, health care and community development.

In May 2004, the Foundation helped to convene a meeting of more than 70 leading environmentalists, ecologists, scientists and academicians. During the two-day summit, these leading conservationists worked together to outline a plan for restoring and protecting America’s greatest freshwater resource, Read More » »

Coalition Members

Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition Members:

Steering Committee
National Wildlife Federation
National Parks Conservation Association
Alliance for the Great Lakes
American Rivers
Audubon New York
Biodiversity Project
County Executives of America
Ducks Unlimited
Freshwater Future
Great Lakes United
Michigan United Conservation Clubs
Ohio Environmental Council
Sierra Club- Great Lakes Program
Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council
Trout Unlimited
U of M SNRE
U.S. PIRG
Wisconsin Wildlife Federation

Coalition Members
Audubon
Audubon Minnesota
Audubon Read More » »

Healing Our Waters Advertising Campaign

The Healing Our Waters ad campaign features a full page newspaper ad, as well as underwriting announcements on public radio stations.

On September 16, the full-page ad appeared in major daily newspapers throughout Michigan, including: the Ann Arbor News, the Bay City Times, The Flint Journal, The Grand Rapids Press, the Jackson Citizen Patriot, the Kalamazoo Gazette, The Muskegon Chronicle and the Saginaw News. The ad also ran in the Lansing State Journal, as well as in Roll Call, the newspaper of Capitol Hill.

Underwriting announcements are airing on public radio stations in Michigan, including those in Ann Arbor (91.7 FM), Detroit Read More » »

Unprecedented Coalition Forms to Restore the Great Lakes Healthy Great Lakes Benefit People, Wildlife, Economy

TRAVERSE CITY, MI (April 27) - As government officials from throughout the nation gather this week to participate in the most comprehensive Great Lakes conservation planning effort in the history of the region, over 50 national, state and local conservation organizations today announced the formation of a Great Lakes restoration coalition aimed at securing a sustainable restoration plan and obtaining the billions of dollars needed to implement it. “People and organizations throughout the nation recognize the unprecedented opportunity we have to protect and restore the Great Lakes,” said coalition co-chair and National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) President Tom Kiernan. “This Read More » »