March/April 1996
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March/April 1996 |
Robert Steedman and Robert Kavetsky
What must we do now to ensure that the Lake Superior ecosystem is intact and healthy 500 years from now? The Superior Work Group of the Lake Superior Binational Program has some ideas for you to consider. They have drafted ecosystem objectives and targets intended to assist people who are working to restore and protect this greatest of the Great Lakes.
Lake Superior is the largest, cleanest and least populated of the Great Lakes. In its Fifth Biennial Report on Great Lakes Water Quality (1990), the International Joint Commission recommended that Lake Superior be designated as "a demonstration area where no point source of any persistent toxic substance will be permitted."
The United States and Canada responded to this recommendation by establishing the Binational Program to Restore and Protect the Lake Superior Basin. The Superior Work Group (made up of representatives from more than a dozen U.S. and Canadian environmental and natural resource agencies) is implementing the program with advice from the Lake Superior Binational Forum (made up of citizen volunteers) and others. In addition to its activities in support of the "zero discharge" objective, the Binational Program provides leadership in the protection and restoration of ecosystem health in Lake Superior and its watershed.
In its Vision for Lake Superior, the Binational Forum expressed the commitment and desire of the Lake Superior community to foster a healthy, clean and safe Lake Superior ecosystem. The vision reflects the diverse pathways and mechanisms by which humans and nature interact within land and water ecosystems, and challenges the inhabitants of the Lake Superior watershed to accept personal responsibility for protecting the lake and the landscape that sustains it. The vision specifies broad, powerful objectives for the Lake Superior ecosystem in plain language.
One task of the Binational Program was to expand the vision into more specific, technically precise language that could be used to guide ecosystem management and monitoring in the Lake Superior basin. Two documents have resulted from these efforts: the Ecosystem Principles and Objectives for Lake Superior (Discussion Draft), and Ecosystem Indicators and Targets as Measurements of Progress Towards Ecosystem Principles and Objectives for Lake Superior. These documents are now available as an integrated package for public review and comment.
Earlier versions of Ecosystem Principles and Objectives for Lake Superior were circulated within the Lake Superior community over the past year and a half, prompting numerous revisions and refinements contained in the current discussion document.
In late 1994, interested subgroups and partners of the Superior Work Group were invited to draft ecosystem indicators and targets for Lake Superior. In consultation with other experts, the writing teams focused on simple, easily communicated indicators of the complex ecological and cultural phenomena. The ecosystem indicators and targets were to be:
About 50 draft indicators and targets have been prepared. These address key elements of the Lake Superior ecosystem, including aquatic communities, terrestrial wildlife, habitat, human health and sustainability. A typical indicator identifies a practical measurement, such as an economic measure or the abundance or distribution of a plant or animal, that tells us something about the health of the Lake Superior ecosystem. Each indicator is accompanied by a target that specifies the desired level of the indicator and reasons why that is so.
This was the first attempt to specify a comprehensive spectrum of ecosystem indicators and targets for the Lake Superior basin. The process used the information and expertise available to Superior Work Group community and worked within tight financial constraints facing the various partners. Ecosystem Indicators and Targets as Measurements of Progress Towards Ecosystem Principles and Objectives for Lake Superior contains a uniquely innovative, authoritative and wide-ranging collection of ideas. It will provide a reference point for discussion and refinement of binational ecosystem management and monitoring in the Lake Superior basin.
The authors cochair the Ecosystem Principles and Objectives, Indicators and Targets Subcommittee of the Superior Work Group. For more information, contact Robert Steedman, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Centre for Northern Forest Ecosystem Research, 955 Oliver Road, Thunder Bay, ON P7B 5E1; email STEEDMRO@EPO.GOV.ON.CA; telephone (807)343-4008; fax (807)343-4001; or Robert Kavetsky, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2651 Coolidge Road, East Lansing, MI 48823; Email R3ELFO@mail.fws.gov; telephone (517)351-5293; fax (517)351-1443.
To obtain the documents described in this article, contact Environment Canada, Lake Superior Programs Office, 1194 Dawson Road, R.R. #12, Site 8-16, Thunder Bay, ON P7B 5E3 or U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Lake Superior Team, T-17J, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60604.
Sommaire
Que nous devons faire aujourd'hui pour que l'écosystème du lac Supérieur demeure intact et en santé pendant les 500 prochaines années? Les membres du groupe de travail du lac Supérieur, constitué en vertu du Programme binational du lac Supérieur, ont proposé de la matière à réflexion. Ils ont rédigé des objectifs et des buts écosystémiques, afin d'assister les intervenants qui travaillent en vue de restaurer et de protéger le plus grand des Grands Lacs.
Environ 50 indicateurs et objectifs provisoires ont été préparés. Ils visent des éléments clés de l'écosystème du lac Supérieur, y compris les communautés aquatiques, la faune terrestre, les habitats, la santé des humaines et la durabilité. Un indicateur type identifie une mesure pratique, par exemple une mesure économique ou la quantité ou la distribution d'une plante ou d'un animal, qui nous donne des informations sur la santé de l'écosystème du lac Supérieur. Chaque indicateur s'accompagne d'un objectif qui précise le niveau souhaité et les motifs sous-jacents.
C'était la première fois qu'on définissait une gamme complète d'indicateurs et d'objectifs écosystémiques pour le bassin du lac Supérieur.
Revised: 28 February 1997
Maintained by Kevin McGunagle,
mcgunaglek@ijc.wincom.net