The Lake Erie watersnake, a subspecies of the Northern watersnake found only on Lake Erie’s islands, was brought back from the brink of extinction.

A dredging project removed 43,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment from the bottom of Muskegon Lake and advanced efforts to remove the lake from a list of 43 Great Lakes Areas of Concern.

A barrier installed in northern Indiana’s Trail Creek will reduce the number of sea lamprey in Lake Michigan, where the blood-sucking invaders prey on fish.

Restoration of fish and wildlife habitat on Hog Island is transforming a Great Lakes Area of Concern into a haven for anglers, fish and wildlife, including the federally endangered piping plover.

The project gave fish access to two miles of invaluable spawning habitat in Troutmere Creek, a tributary of the Marengo River.

A sediment cleanup and habitat restoration project have restored the lower two miles of the Ashtabula River and advanced efforts to get it de-listed as a Great Lakes Area of Concern.

A fish passage structure built in a Lake Erie tributary in Pennsylvania created a steelhead fishery and gave residents and migratory fish access.

An innovative streamside fish-rearing facility allowed biologists to release 100 sturgeons in the Kalamazoo River in 2011.