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Centering Communities in Great Lakes Restoration and Ecosystem-based Management Programs – Report to Healing Our Waters Coalition
Citation:
Williams, K., K. Mika, P. Seelbach, D. Erickson, M. Klasic, E. Ho-Tassone, J. Wondolleck, J. Read, D. Porter, M. Waasegiizhig Price, A. Armstrong, R. Holifield, D. Michener, R. Nixon, R. Norton, E. Tyner, J. Bratton, N. Chin, P. Doran, T. Ehlinger, L. Goralnik, D. Kashian, C. McLaughlin, S. Mills, D. Peroff, M. Shriberg, S. Hughes, V. Gagnon, J. Adamowski, J. Carlton, J. Hoffman, AND L. Johnson. Centering Communities in Great Lakes Restoration and Ecosystem-based Management Programs – Report to Healing Our Waters Coalition. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-23/290, 2023.
Impact/Purpose:
The impact of this research is to synthesize the results of a workshop held May 17-19, 2023, on how Great Lakes environmental programs can contribute to community and Indigenous well-being by considering and improving community capacity, broadening the scope of environmental education, developing qualitative and quantitative metrics of well-being, and broadening opportunities for cross-agency learning with Indigenous governments.
Description:
A notable transformation is occurring across the US, Canada, and the globe, reframing “ecosystem restoration” as more than technical actions that improve the environment, but also as collective actions that explicitly acknowledge and include the human and social systems that coexist with biophysical systems. There is also increasing attention directed towards involving local communities in regional landscape restoration and conservation for both planning and long-term stewardship, to help ensure that ecosystems and their component communities are more resilient in the face of increasingly challenging stressors (e.g., legacy contamination, climate change effects, severe weather, and economic instability). This report provides: (1) an expanded science-, knowledge-, and practice-based narrative for Great Lakes Restoration that includes emphasis on community revitalization (i.e., increasing community agency and vitality, and fostering equity), based on integrated socio-ecological visions for the region; and (2) a set of prioritized implementation strategies to facilitate the systemization of this work.