The International Joint Commission’s (IJC) Great Lakes Water Quality Board, Great Lakes Science Advisory Board and Health Professionals Advisory Board have a few new members and continue projects to help advance Great Lakes water quality protection.
Health Professionals Advisory Board
2024 brought new faces to the Health Professional Advisory Board. The board welcomed Tisha King-Heiden, professor of Biology at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse; David Savitz, professor of Epidemiology at Brown University School of Public Health; Shannon Seneca, assistant professor of Indigenous Studies at the University at Buffalo; Kristen Lowitt, assistant professor in the School of Environmental Studies at Queen’s University; and Ian Young, associate professor in the School of Occupational and Public Health at Toronto Metropolitan University.
The board said goodbye to Seth Foldy, a member since 2014. Foldy provided leadership on the board’s investigation of acute gastrointestinal illness and Great Lakes water quality.
The board continues its work on the Great Lakes Microbial Water Quality Assessment, which will facilitate a basin-wide study to demonstrate how innovative monitoring technologies could modernize and advance microbial water quality assessments and improve decision-making. The board’s Climate Change Human Health Indicators project, currently underway, seeks to examine climate change impacts through the lens of human health and identify adaptation best practices. The board also looks forward to starting work on two new projects: assessing the state of knowledge on manoomin (wild rice), and exploring knowledge translation and exchange methods to strengthen the board’s communication efforts.
Great Lakes Water Quality Board
In May, the Great Lakes Water Quality Board met at the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Alpena, Michigan. The meeting included a trip to the North Point Nature Reserve, a presentation at the sanctuary facilities, and a tour of a Viking cruise ship to learn about the reserve’s onboard science program and its collaboration with the marine sanctuary.
Later this summer, the board will release interactive online tools about its Great Lakes Horizons project, to explore how decisions made today will impact the future of the Great Lakes region. In the fall, the board will release the results of the fourth Great Lakes Regional Poll, which provides a snapshot of public opinion on Great Lakes water quality topics.
Commissioners recognize former Great Lakes Water Quality Board members Mike Goffin, Environment and Climate Change Canada, and Chris Korleski, United States Environmental Protection Agency, for their service to the Great Lakes at the IJC’s Semi-Annual Meeting in Ottawa, October 2023. Credit: IJC
Two longtime Great Lakes Water Quality board members retired: Mike Goffin of Environment and Climate Change Canada and Chris Korleski from the US Environmental Protection Agency. Throughout their careers, Goffin and Korleski significantly contributed to protecting and restoring the Great Lakes, including serving as co-chairs of the Great Lakes Executive Committee. They are replaced by Jennifer Vincent, executive director of Ontario for the Freshwater Management Directorate of the Canada Water Agency, and Teresa Siedel, director of the US Environmental Protection Agency Great Lakes National Program Office.
Other members completing terms on the board include the Québec Ministry of Environment’s François Houde; the Ontario Federation of Agriculture’s Mark Wales; the Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks’ Chloe Stuart; New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Eileen Murphy; Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship’s Joe Tomandl III; and former Grand Rapids, Michigan, Mayor George Heartwell.
New members joining the Great Lakes Water Quality Board include Ontario Federation of Agriculture’s Mark Reusser; the Quebec Ministry of the Environment’s Charles Cauchon; Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks’ Carolyn O’Neill; and Freshwater Management Directorate of the Canada Water Agency’s Jennifer Vincent.
Great Lakes Science Advisory Board
The Great Lakes Science Advisory Board is comprised of two committees, the Science Priority Committee and the Research Coordination Committee.
This year, the Science Advisory Board published the phase one report for its Great Lakes Ecosystem Services Valuation project. The project looks to better understand the economic value of benefits that a healthy Great Lakes ecosystem provides, like the filtering of nutrients by coastal wetlands, for which a commercial market does not exist.
Work continues on the Great Lakes Science Plan. In June, the project team held its first of six major convenings, exploring possible governance models for an operational Science Plan.
Also in June, the board hosted a webinar to discuss the second phase of the Great Lakes Early Warning System project, as follow-up to a report transmitted to Canadian and United States governments in February. The presentation reviewed the system’s proposed decision-making framework, which uses a three-stage workflow to identify and assess known and unknown threats for management and mitigation actions. The board is now advancing a pilot project that will test the system’s operational approach and decision framework with two stressors, aqueous nitrogen and waterborne antimicrobial resistance.
Science Advisory Board projects are supported by several new members, including two new Research Coordination Committee members: Jennifer Winter, assistant director of the Environmental and Reporting Branch of the Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks; and Lynn Bouvier, division manager of the Great Lakes Laboratory for Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences at Fisheries and Oceans Canada. The Science Priority Committee added Heidelberg University’s Laura Johnson and the University of Wisconsin’s Margaret Noodin to the ranks in the last year.
Earlier this spring, these IJC Great Lakes advisory boards issued an open call for nominations and are working to fill vacant board seats with individuals to join these talented professionals who volunteer their expertise and time to help protect and enhance our shared waters.
Lizhu Wang (center), longstanding Science Advisory Board-Research Coordination Committee Secretary, receives a plaque commemorating 13 years of service to the IJC from the committee’s US Co-Chair Chris Winslow (right) and the board Science Priority Committee’s US Co-Chair Lucinda Johnson (left). Credit: IJC
Finally, the Great Lakes Regional Office said goodbye to longtime staff member Lizhu Wang. Wang worked for the IJC for 13 years, serving as secretary of the Science Advisory Board-Research Coordination Committee for more than 10 years. The IJC family wish all the best to him and others who’ve recently retired or departed from service.
Rachel Wyatt is the communications officer at the IJC’s Great Lakes Regional Office.
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