Defining community revitalization in Great Lakes Areas of Concern and investigating how revitalization can be catalyzed through remediation and restoration

An international effort to restore contaminated areas across the Great Lakes has been underway for over 50 years. Although experts have increasingly recognized the inherent connections between ecological conditions and community level benefits, Great Lakes community revitalization continues to be a broad and complex topic, lacking a comprehensive definition. The purpose of this study was to generate a testable “AOC-Revitalization Framework” for linking remediation and restoration success, represented by Beneficial Use Impairment (BUI) removal in U.S. Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOC), to community revitalization. Using directed content analysis, we conducted a literature review and identified 433 potential revitalization metrics and indicators and grouped them into 15 broader community revitalization attributes to develop the following definition of Great Lakes community revitalization: “locally driven community resurgence resulting in resilient and equitable enhancements to social, economic, and environmental community structures.” We surveyed experts within the Great Lakes AOC program on the likelihood remediation and restoration success, would positively impact revitalization attributes. Focus groups triangulated survey results. Results identified BUI removal was expected to positively affect revitalization, but the type of revitalization outcome was based on the BUI being removed. The AOC-Revitalization Framework is the first to empirically outline these possible linkages, providing a clear testable structure for future research; it can be used to better understand how environmental improvements are or are not leading to community revitalization and more accurately identify components of revitalization impacted, thus supporting more equitable representation, communication, and measurement of the relationship.     

Drivers of revitalization in Great Lakes coastal communities

Sediment remediation and habitat restoration projects have been increasingly employed along the coast of the Great Lakes to improve environmental quality since the designation of 43 highly degraded Areas of Concern (AOCs) by the 1987 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between the U.S. and Canada. Improvements in water quality, habitat, and other environmental conditions can also support community wellbeing and revitalization; however, the mechanisms that support these connections are relatively unclear. We address this gap through a case study of three AOCs near Lake Michigan: 1) Grand Calumet River; 2) White Lake, and 3) Muskegon Lake. By analyzing secondary data and planning documents, we found that alongside environmental cleanup, anchor institutions, housing and economic development, and local events drive revitalization. Our research also illustrates that, rather than acting as discrete processes, environmental cleanup and revitalization drivers overlap in time and space. Finally, our research reveals a high level of variation within and across AOCs in terms of diverse socioeconomic contexts, planning capacities, and existing partnerships. Together, our findings point to the need for collaborative and inclusive planning processes that account for the heterogeneity present within and across AOCs to simultaneously support remediation, restoration, and revitalization and to sustain continued revitalization in AOC communities after delisting.     

Setting an agenda to catalyze research in the social and organizational dimensions of Great Lakes remediation,restoration, and revitalization

The Great Lakes region was once a hub of industry and innovation that provided wealth and identity to the region. Economic upheavals have left the region trying to recreate economies and cleanup degraded environments. There have been multiple, overlapping efforts to change these conditions and create a new narrative for the region through environmental remediation, habitat restoration, and community revitalization on the path towards resilience. The elements that contribute to success are organized differently in different places, and are not always identified or characterized in the environmental literature. Trying to fill this conceptual gap is critical because landscape-scale environmental cleanup has been delivered at the local scale through various partnerships and arrangements. Thus, this special collection of articles in the Journal of Great Lakes Research explores how individuals, organizations, and communities are engaging in the complex process of environmental cleanup and revitalization throughout the region. This collection of articles represents a range of approaches to unpack how people are navigating and contributing to this regenerative process from quantitative studies at the regional scale that characterize global patterns to in-depth qualitative studies that identify and characterize the processes that unfold in specific places to change our environments both ecologically and socially. These articles represent the broad experience unfolding in the region to understand these activities through research and navigate them through practice. This collection will add new dimensions to Great Lakes research by including the individuals, organizations, and agencies as components of the ecosystem.     

Goals,beneficiaries, and indicators of waterfront revitalization in Great Lakes Areas of Concern and coastal communities

Cleanup of Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOCs) restores environmental benefits to waterfront communities and is an essential condition for revitalization. We define waterfront revitalization as policies or actions in terrestrial waterfront or adjacent aquatic areas that promote improvements in human socioeconomic well-being while protecting or improving the natural capital (the stocks of natural assets, biodiversity) that underlies all environmental, social, and economic benefits. Except for economic measures such as development investments, visitation rates, or commercial activity, evidence of waterfront revitalization in the Great Lakes is mostly anecdotal. We offer a perspective on waterfront revitalization that links indicators and metrics of sustainable revitalization to community goals and human beneficiaries. We compiled environmental, social, economic, and governance indicators and metrics of revitalization, many of which are based on or inspired by Great Lakes AOC case studies and community revitilization or sustainability plans. We highlight the role of indicators in avoiding unintended consequences of revitalization including environmental degradation and social inequity. Revitalization indicators can be used in planning for comparing alternative designs, and to track restoration progress. The relevancy of specific indicators and metrics will always depend on the local context.     

河流健康修复方法综述

人类对河流的破坏导致了河流健康状况受损．针对河流健康出现的不同问题，人们采取了不同的修复方法，主要包括水文特征的修复、水环境质量的修复、结构形态的修复和种群结构的修复4个方面．水文特征的修复是恢复由于水利工程的建设造成的河流水文模式的改变，改善下游生态和环境条件，主要采取调节水利工程的运行调度方式．水环境质量的修复方法较多，包括物理修复、化学修复和生物修复．河流结构形态的修复是要尽可能恢复河流的纵向连续性和横向连通性，保持河流纵向和横向形态的多样性，防止河床材料的硬质化等，目前主要是采用近自然生态工法．种群结构的修复主要是采用各种生物技术．对于特定的河流，应具体分析河流健康的受损方面和受损程度，然后根据河流所处的状态因地制宜地选择合理、有效的修复方法．     

The Detroit River Story Lab: Community narratives and ecosystems in Great Lakes research

The Detroit River ecosystem has been the focus of extensive and sustained environmental restoration efforts over the past fifty years. These efforts are rightly understood to play an important role in the revitalization of river-adjacent communities. The positive ecological and community impacts of such efforts can potentially be amplified by attending to the narrative infrastructure that inevitably shapes and conditions local residents' responses to them. The Detroit River Story Lab, a new interdisciplinary initiative at the University of Michigan, partners with local organizations to strengthen narrative infrastructure through place-based education, nonprofit journalism, and public heritage projects that seek to reconnect residents with the river and thereby increase support for and participation in environmental restoration activities.     

Stewardship after delisting: Sustaining long-term progress in Michigan’s Areas of Concern

The Michigan Areas of Concern (AOC) program has made significant progress in recent years following the influx of external funding from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and the Great Lakes Legacy Act. However, as more AOCs near delisting, community members from Michigan Public Advisory Councils (PACs) are concerned that the loss of programmatic funding will constrain their ability to sustain key public engagement and long-term restoration progress. In order to understand the local community perspectives surrounding delisting, our study presents findings and recommendations that emerged from interviews with Michigan PAC members. We found that PACs recognize the need to transition away from projects with a short-term focus and instead prioritize longer-term, holistic strategies that could help catalyze effective public engagement and produce transformative community revitalization. This study’s recommendations for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) include: (1) dedicating more time to post-delisting planning, (2) enhancing communication efforts with PACs, and (3) strengthening long-term public engagement efforts and PAC organizational capacity. These recommendations add to the growing literature supporting the value of local community perspectives and social dimensions of environmental restoration and may also provide transferable insights to communities outside of Michigan that are currently engaged in similar complex, multi-stakeholder environmental restoration projects.     

Community engagement and the importance of partnerships within the Great Lakes Areas of Concern program: A mixed-methods case study

The Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOC) program was created through amendments to the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) in 1987 to restore contaminated sites using an ecosystem-based approach. This program represents one of the first instances of ecosystem-based management (EBM) in the Great Lakes region with a specific focus on the inclusion of the public and local stakeholders in the process. Despite official language incorporating EBM in the AOC program, implementation of these practices has not been consistent across AOCs given differences in local arrangements of Public Advisory Councils (PACs), approaches to community engagement, and environmental problems. To better understand community engagement in these complex AOCs, this research investigated community, PAC, and state agency perspectives in three AOCs in Michigan: the Kalamazoo River, Saginaw River and Bay, and Rouge River AOCs. We gathered data through interviews, focus groups, and participatory observations with community members, PAC members, and state officials in each AOC. Findings indicate that communities in these areas have minimal connection to the AOC program and PACs. Community members tended to have greater connection to local organizations that provide a variety of opportunities for community members to engage with their environment in ways they value. To better connect the public to the AOC program, PACs may benefit from intentional partnerships with community organizations to increase community engagement. To consistently bolster community engagement in AOCs, we further recommend that state agencies provide additional resources to improve connection to local communities.     

三峡库区澎溪河消落带生态系统修复实践探索

三峡水库蓄水后水位季节性波动给消落带带来了极大的环境胁迫。如何进行消落带生态系统修复,优化其生态系统服务功能,基于自然的解决方案是解决消落带复杂环境问题的重要途径。以位于三峡库区的澎溪河流域消落带为例,在阐述消落带生态系统修复设计策略和技术框架的基础上,结合持续10余年的消落带生态系统修复实践,分析了植物物种筛选及种源库建立、近自然植物群落构建、多功能基塘修复、复合林泽修复、多维湿地修复、地形-底质-植物-动物协同修复等技术的综合应用及其成效。结果表明,所筛选的植物耐淹性能及存活状况良好,修复后的消落带植物群落结构稳定,生物多样性提升、面源污染削减效果明显。澎溪河流域消落带生态系统修复实践解决了大幅度水位变化和冬季深水淹没的三峡水库消落带生态修复难题,创新性地构建了水库消落带生态系统修复技术体系,为大型湖库消落带生态修复提供了可推广、可复制的技术方法及实践模式。     

Thirty-five years of restoring Great Lakes Areas of Concern: Gradual progress,hopeful future

In 1985, remedial action plan development was initiated to restore impaired beneficial uses in 42 Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOCs). A 43rd AOC was designated in 1991. AOC restoration has not been easy as it requires networks focused on gathering stakeholders, coordinating efforts, and ensuring use restoration. As of 2019, seven AOCs were delisted, two were designated as Areas of Concern in Recovery, and 79 of 137 known use impairments in Canadian AOCs and 90 of 255 known use impairments in U.S. AOCs were eliminated. Between 1985 and 2019, a total of $22.78 billion U.S. was spent on restoring all AOCs. Pollution prevention investments should be viewed as spending to avoid future cleanups, and AOC restoration investments should be viewed as spending to help revitalize communities that has over a 3 to 1 return on investment. The pace of U.S. AOC restoration has accelerated under the Great Lakes Legacy Act (GLLA) and Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI). Sustained funding through U.S. programs like GLRI and GLLA and Canadian programs such as Canada-Ontario Agreement Respecting Great Lakes Water Quality and Ecosystem Health and the Great Lakes Protection Initiative is needed to restore all AOCs. Other major AOC program achievements include use of locally-designed ecosystem approaches, contaminated sediment remediation, habitat rehabilitation, controlling eutrophication, and advancing science. Key lessons learned include: ensure meaningful public participation; engage local leaders; establish a compelling vision; establish measurable targets; practice adaptive management; build partnerships; pursue collaborative financing; build a record of success; quantify benefits; and focus on life after delisting.     

丹江流域生态修复模式研究

针对丹江流域的水土流失及环境恶化问题,利用借鉴澳洲循环型生态农业模式、美国基西米河生态修复拦河坝工程、我国黄土高原淤地坝工程、吴起县退耕还林工程、塔里木河流域轮台县生态移民的现状及带给我们的启示,通过营造生态林和经济林,重点采用林农模式和林农牧渔模式来建立丹江流域生态修复模式,既发展了经济,又实现环保和生态效益,从而达到理想的生态修复效果。     

Reflections on social and organizational dimensions of Great Lakes remediation,restoration, and revitalization

We congratulate the authors and co-authors of this special issue that addresses the social and organizational dimensions of Great Lakes remediation, regeneration, and revitalization. It makes an important contribution to our understanding and practice of making the Great Lakes resilient to the human pressures invoked on them.     

秦淮河南京段水质变化过程及污染控制

从秦淮河南京段的水功能区划目标着手,运用污染指数法对秦淮河南京段2001--2010年的水质变化过程进行分析评价,指出秦淮河南京段污染源贡献大小依次为NH3-N、BOD、CODMn和石油类,主要超标污染物为NH3-N;秦淮新河的水质明显优于其他河段,内秦淮河的水质污染情况依旧严重。总结10年治污对秦淮河水质的影响,指出城市污水接管率、污染源、水动力条件等仍是影响秦淮河水环境的主要因素。在污染源综合整治、河道疏浚、生态修复、政策保障等方面提出了控制污染的措施及建议。     

The making and re-making of places along the St. Louis River in Duluth: From paintings to projects

Studies of the effectiveness of Remedial Action Plans (RAPs) call for the prioritization of placemaking and broadening of the definition of stakeholders. This paper argues that such stakeholder groups should include local historians, archivists, and art-or-architectural historians whose knowledge of local, place-based initiatives and familiarity with the built and visual landscape offer invaluable insights. In addition, instead of making new places as part of revitalization and remediation initiatives, such work should focus on the re-making of human-scaled spaces and places with unique histories to which residents are already attached. Several recent-and-ongoing projects in the St. Louis River AOC demonstrate the effectiveness of work that re-imagines places with clear and established identities and which does not turn away from problematic and complicated histories. An exploration of these initiatives in the St. Louis River AOC is combined with further consideration of placemaking and place attachment and an examination of industrial portraits created by Art Fleming for the Kom-on-Inn Bar in West Duluth in the 1950s, which are testament to the pride in place and the importance of the river and industries in the making and then breaking of the neighborhoods and the larger ecosystems of which they are a part.     

Assessment and Use of Indicator Bacteria to Determine Sources of Pollution to an Urban River

Elevated levels of indicator bacteria within a river system represent a significant impairment to surface water quality in many urban areas within the Great Lakes watershed. Outfalls from combined sewer systems are assumed to be the major source of bacteria to streams in many of these urban areas, including the Rouge River of southeastern Michigan. Current remediation strategies largely disregard other potential sources, including water entering the river from its headwaters region, rural runoff, and contaminated groundwater. These other potential sources of bacterial pollution to the Rouge River were assessed and compared with bacteria contributed from combined sewer outfalls (CSOs). Fecal coliform (FC) and fecal streptococci (FS) densities were determined at 28 locations in the Rouge River Watershed during the spring and summer of 1997, 1998, and 1999. The mean levels of both indicator groups vary considerably along each branch of the river and show no correlation to CSO locations. The magnitude of both FC and FS levels are, in fact, frequently greater at sites upstream of the part of the river influenced by discharges from CSOs. The highest FC levels coincided with rainfall events, but FC levels at various sites along each branch of the Rouge River violated acceptable water quality standards (200 colonies/100 mL) at nearly 50% of the sites even during dry weather. Total suspended solids were moderately correlated with FC (r = 0.79) throughout the watershed, suggesting that solids may play a role in transporting bacteria into the Rouge River. The data depict a strong influence of upstream water and rural runoff on the water quality of the Rouge River. FC to FS ratios (FC/FS) suggest the primary source of bacteria throughout the watershed is from domesticated animals and wildlife and not from sewage derived from CSOs.     

嫩江下游尼尔基—三岔河口段河流健康评价

从水文水资源、物理结构、水质、生物和社会服务功能等5个准则层和14个指标层对2011年的嫩江下游尼尔基—三岔河口段河流健康状况进行评价。结果表明,受人类开发活动影响,嫩江下游河流健康评价指数赋分为59分,河流处于亚健康状态;农业开发、水利工程建设、过度捕捞等人类干扰是造成下游河流生境变化的主要因素。提出了水利工程生态调度、河岸带修复与管理、水质修复、栖息地修复、湿地生态系统恢复等河流健康管理措施。     

Restoration as social-ecological transformation: Emergence in the Pike River Watershed

The combined effects of urbanization and climate change require resource managers to navigate interacting social and ecological dimensions of environment in the stewardship of ecosystem goods and services. The challenge of integrating multiple management paradigms into the planning process for sustainable restoration is complex, yet when handled successfully, can result in the emergence of ecosystem goods and services. The present study uses the restoration of the North Branch of the Pike River in Southeastern Wisconsin, USA as a case study to understand the contributions of situational context and actor agency in the integration of management paradigms, and transformation of a highly degraded stream ecosystem into a vibrant community asset. Drawing from the social-ecological systems and dynamic systems change literatures, the management and transition framework was used to analyze the 20-year restoration process from problem definition and planning through implementation. Review of planning documents, meeting notes, and interviews with key individuals identified the factors necessary to understand how a social-ecological system navigated through conflict, negotiation of an integrated management paradigm, implementation, and adaptive learning. As convening contexts changed, different actors assumed convening, bridging, sense making, and leveraging roles as legitimacy and trust in the process was built over time. Integration of paradigms was identified as a learning opportunity, as the incorporation of diverse ways of knowing resulted in the emergence of novel ecosystem goods and services. The performance of the novel integrated management paradigm since completion is discussed, including takeaways managers should keep in mind when applying the approach elsewhere.     

Condition of macroinvertebrate communities in the Buffalo River Area of Concern following sediment remediation

The lower 10 km of the Buffalo River, a tributary to Lake Erie, was designated as an Area of Concern (AOC) in 1987 through the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement because sediment contamination and habitat alteration from past industrialization caused several Beneficial Use Impairments (BUIs). Extensive remediation efforts conducted between 2011 and 2015 removed approximately 688,100 cubic meters of contaminated sediment from the Buffalo River AOC, and subsequent chemical analysis of sediments indicated that most remedial goals had been achieved. Benthic macroinvertebrate communities and sediment toxicity were evaluated in the AOC and an upstream reference area in 2017 and 2020 to determine whether remediation has improved benthic conditions sufficiently that the benthos BUI designation can be removed. Community condition was characterized using the New York State multi-metric index of biological integrity and bed sediments were used for 10-day toxicity tests with Chironomus dilutus and Hyalella azteca. Macroinvertebrate communities were classified as moderately to slightly impacted at most AOC sites compared to slightly impacted at most reference sites, but toxicity tests did not identify any evidence of toxicity in sediments from the AOC. A linear mixed effects model indicated that total organic carbon concentration in sediments, distance upstream from the river mouth, and the relative dominance of zebra mussels Dreissena polymorpha were the primary predictors of macroinvertebrate community condition. These findings are consistent with those from other AOCs in New York which indicate that contemporary benthic communities are generally shaped by legacy habitat alterations rather than AOC-specific sediment contamination and toxicity.     

Quantitative restoration targets for fish and wildlife habitats and populations in the Lower Green Bay and Fox River AOC

The Lower Green Bay and Fox River Area of Concern (LGB&FR AOC) is one of the most ecologically diverse but demonstrably impaired AOCs in the Laurentian Great Lakes. We outline a transparent, quantitative process for setting targets to remove two fish and wildlife-related beneficial use impairments (BUIs). The method identifies important habitats and species/species groups and weights them according to ecological and socioeconomic criteria. These weights are paired with standardized estimates of current condition ranging from 0 (worst possible) to 10 (best possible). A weighted average of the condition scores gives an overall AOC condition for each BUI, creating a baseline for setting future restoration or BUI removal targets. Weighted averages for the LGB&FR AOC yielded a current condition of 3.60 for fish and wildlife habitats and 4.65 for species/species groups. Based on achievable restoration scenarios and discussions with local experts and stakeholders, we propose removal targets of 6.0 for the “loss of fish and wildlife habitat” BUI and 6.5 for the “degradation of fish and wildlife populations” BUI. This quantitative approach illuminates multiple pathways for reaching restoration targets and facilitates informed discussions about cost effective restoration projects. According to our results, species and species groups in this AOC are generally in better current condition than habitats when compared on the same 0–10 scale. This suggests that many (though not all) desirable fish and wildlife populations in the LGB&FR AOC are able to survive in relatively degraded habitats or are able to use these habitats productively during part of their life cycle.     

长江大保护与流域生态学

长江经济带发展的基本点是"共抓大保护、不搞大开发"。在梳理了长江流域主要生态环境问题基础上,从长江大保护的核心是统筹山水林田湖草、山水林田湖草生命共同体即是流域生态系统、流域生态系统是典型的集合生态系统的角度,论述了长江大保护与流域生态学的关系,并从科学研究、规划管理及教育宣传等方面展开思考提出建议,为实现长江大保护的国家需求提供服务。