Funding Cuts

All About the GLRI

What is it?

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) program is one of the nation's largest freshwater ecosystem restoration efforts. Since 2010, the GLRI has enabled Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and federally recognized Tribes to invest in restoring the region's waters after decades of environmental damage threatened public health and the regional economy. With work underway or completed on more than 8,850 projects, the GLRI has made tremendous environmental progress and resulted in economic returns of more than 3-to-1 for every dollar invested across the Great Lakes.

What are the goals?

  • Fish safe to eat

  • Water safe for recreation

  • Safe source of drinking water

  • All Areas of Concern delisted

  • Harmful/nuisance algal blooms eliminated

  • No new self-sustaining invasive species

  • Existing invasive species controlled

  • Native habitat protected and restored to sustain native species

What are Areas of Concern?

Areas of Concerns are toxic hotspots and some of the most polluted areas in the region, as per the U.S.-Canada Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. Of the 43 AOCs, 26 are in the U.S., 12 are in Canada, and 5 are shared by both countries.

Each AOC has a group of community members who provide their expertise to discussions of cleanup and their time to related volunteer activities. States have different names for these groups, but they’re often called Public Advisory Councils (PACs) or Community Advisory Councils (CACs).