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Great Lakes

Coastline of Lake Erie
A beach on Lake Erie

About 80 percent of New York's fresh surface water, over 700 miles of shoreline, and 40 percent of New York's land area expanding over 33 counties are contained in the drainage basins of Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, and the St. Lawrence River. Sustaining life, providing recreation, and supporting local and regional economies, the Great Lakes are a true natural legacy to the people of New York.

DEC works with many organizations on cross-cutting programs to help protect, restore, conserve, and enhance the water quality and natural resources of the Great Lakes Basin. Some of these organizations can be found in the Great Lakes Directory (PDF, 289 KB).

Water Quantity Management

Map of Great Lakes Basin in NYS
(View Larger Image)
NYS Great Lakes Basin Map

Water quantity management affects key human activities, including drinking water supplies, flood protection, navigation, power generation, agriculture, and recreation as well as elements of the ecosystem, including wetlands and other habitats. Pursuant to adoption of the Great Lakes - St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact (PDF, 91 KB) and Regional Agreement, New York is working with other Great Lakes states and provinces to implement a water withdrawal management system and decision-making process that will ensure sustainable quantities of Great Lakes Basin water for generations to come. This Great Lakes Basin water management system consists of regional agreements and information systems. New York has current procedures for registering and permitting water withdrawals.

Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Strategy

The Governors of the Great Lakes States identified priorities for restoring and protecting the Great Lakes, supported by the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, the Great Lakes Commission, and other groups committed to the preservation of the Great Lakes. President George W. Bush signed executive order 13340 on May 18, 2004, acknowledging the national significance of the Great Lakes and helping establish a "Great Lakes Regional Collaboration." The Great Lakes Regional Collaboration convened in Chicago, Illinois, on December 3, 2004 and included representatives of the federal government, the Great Lakes States, the Great Lakes Cities, the Tribes and the Region's Congressional delegation.

More recently, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) was developed and is the largest federal investment in the Great Lakes in two decades. A task force of 11 federal agencies developed a plan to put the historic initiative into action. This action plan covers fiscal years 2010 through 2014 and addresses five urgent focus areas:

  1. Cleaning up toxics and areas of concern
  2. Combating invasive species
  3. Promoting nearshore health by protecting watersheds from polluted run-off
  4. Restoring wetlands and other habitats
  5. Working with partners on outreach

There is also a list of completed and ongoing projects funded by GLRI agencies in or for New York.

Be Green in the Great Lakes Project

Be Green in the Great Lakes is a project being conducted by the DEC Division of Materials Management. The project is funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. The Be Green in the Great Lakes project focuses on outreach and education for the general public and land care businesses regarding options to using conventional synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. The first step of this project is a DEC public survey on current lawn care practices used by residents and land care businesses. A link to the survey site may be found under "Links Leaving DEC's Website" in the right column of this page. For more information visit the Be Green in the Great Lakes Project page.

Great Lakes Action Agenda

DEC's Great Lakes program will be working with stakeholders throughout the basin to develop a new, fully integrated action plan that will guide restoration and conservation activities in New York's Great Lakes region. Once completed, this action plan, or Great Lakes Action Agenda, will be a multi-agency, multi-program, and cross-region strategic plan to support innovative programs and build new partnerships at multiple levels of local, state, and federal government across the state's Great Lakes basin. The plan will identify high priority actions and focus federal and state funding opportunities to address the most critical challenges unique to this region, including contamination clean-up, restoration of fish and wildlife, waterfront and economic development, and climate change resiliency strategies, and recreation and tourism development. Following an extensive public review process, the action plan will serve as a useful tool that communities and organizations can use to plan projects, leverage capacity, and secure funding for projects that support relevant management plans and New York's shared vision for the conservation, restoration, and protection of our Great Lakes Basin.

Receive Great Lakes email notifications

If you would like to receive email updates and news related to the Great Lakes and New York, subscribe to GovDelivery by entering your e-mail address.

This will take you to the "Quick Subscription" page where you will see all the topics that you can receive email updates on from DEC. Scroll to the "Lakes and Rivers" category and check the box next to "Great Lakes". You will receive a welcome email confirming your subscription(s).

Lakewide Action and Management Plans

Satellite image of Erie and Ontario
Satellite image of Lake Erie (below, left)
and Lake Ontario (above, right)

In 1987, the governments of the United States and Canada committed to develop and implement Lakewide Management Plans (LaMP) for the Great Lakes, including Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. In 2012, the name of these plans was changed to Lakewide Action and Management Plans (LAMP).

The LAMPs coordinate the work of U.S. and Canadian government agencies to reduce the amounts of contaminants entering the lakes and to address causes of lakewide problems. DEC, in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Environment Canada, the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, and many regional and local governments, industry, and public interest organizations work in together to achieve the goals of the LAMPs. Copies of the Lake Erie and Lake Ontario LAMPs and related reports are available on EPA's website. Direct links are in the "Links Leaving DEC's Website" section of the right-hand column of this page.

Areas of Concern

Areas of Concern (AOC) are geographic areas around the Great Lakes that are environmentally degraded. In 1987, the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement designated 43 AOCs in the U.S. and Canada as a way to focus clean up work on these areas. Of the 43 AOCs, 26 are in the U.S., 12 are in Canada, and 5 are shared by both countries. New York State has 6 Areas of Concern: Buffalo River, Eighteenmile Creek, Rochester Embayment, Oswego River/Harbor, Niagara River, and St. Lawrence River at Massena. Visit DEC's Areas of Concern webpage for more information.

New York State Great Lakes Protection Fund

The New York State Great Lakes Protection Fund ("the Fund") provides a perpetual and dependable source of funding for regional and statewide research and field assessment projects aimed at protecting and conserving the health of the Great Lakes ecosystem in New York State. The Fund supports projects between government, academia, industry, and non-governmental groups to conduct research and exchange/apply information about remediating and sustaining the health of the plant, animal, and human elements of New York's Great Lakes ecosystem


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