FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 11-OPA096 EPA Provides…
EPA Provides More than Half a Million Dollars
for Muskegon Area Project
(Muskegon, Michigan - October 5, 2011) The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency today announced $592,400 in funding
for a Great Lakes Restoration Initiative project in Huron Manistee
National Forest. The U.S. Forest Service project will help to
restore Lake Michigan and put people back to work, using a
conservation corps model to hire unemployed workers to improve
habitat.
The project was selected from 44 proposals
totaling almost $25 million, which were submitted in response to a
$6 million challenge that EPA issued in August to encourage federal
agencies to sign up unemployed workers to implement restoration
projects in federally-protected areas, on tribal lands and in Areas
of Concern in the Great Lakes Basin. To qualify for funding, each
project is required to provide jobs for at least 20 unemployed
people.
“The tremendous response to EPA’s
challenge underscores the large backlog of Great Lakes restoration
projects that are ready to be implemented and the strong support
that exists for using a conservation corps model to get the job
done,” said Susan Hedman, EPA Great Lakes National Program
Manager, today in Muskegon. “This week, EPA is announcing a
total of eight restoration projects worth $6.6 million as part of
this challenge. Each project will produce immediate, direct
ecological benefits and will help to put unemployed people back to
work.”
The projects on the Huron-Manistee include
habitat restoration for several threatened or endangered species,
including the Karner blue butterfly, the piping plover, the
Kirtland’s warbler and the Massasagua rattlesnake. Two other
projects on the forest will address non-native invasive species and
stream bank stabilization.
“These funds will help us accomplish very
important work in protecting critical habitats on the Forests,
while at the same time helping Michigan’s economy through
temporary employment and contracted work,” said Barry
Paulson, Forest Supervisor of the Huron-Manistee.
Selected projects will advance the goals and
objectives of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Action Plan,
developed by EPA with 15 other federal agencies in 2010. The action
plan, which covers FY 2010 through 2014, ensures accountability by
including measures of progress and benchmarks for success over the
next three years. It calls for aggressive efforts to address five
urgent priority “Focus Areas”:
• Cleaning up toxics and areas of
concern.
• Combating invasive species.
• Promoting near-shore health by protecting
watersheds from polluted run-off.
• Restoring wetlands and other
habitats.
• Tracking progress, education and working
with strategic partners.
More information on selected projects is
available at https://www.glri.us/