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Great Lakes

Coastline of Lake Erie
DEC Great Lakes Programs

Approximately 80 percent of New York's fresh surface water, over 700 miles of shoreline, and 40 percent of New York's lands expanding over 25 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.

The 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) (286 kB).

Great Lakes Action Agenda

In 2011, New York State has updated its effort to achieve the dual goals of economic renewal and environmental restoration within New York's Great Lakes Basin. With the assistance of interested stakeholders and state agencies, an interim draft "Framework for Action" (PDF) (45 Page, 923 KB) was developed, which brings together many existing environmental, social and economic goals previously identified for New York's Great Lakes region, using an integrated ecosystem-based management approach.

This draft Action Agenda is not a new planning exercise, but rather is a synthesis of numerous existing plans, developed over many years, that established a range of important restoration, protection, and sustainable development goals for New York's Great Lakes - St. Lawrence River region. The thirteen priority goals, and many of the identified actions, are drawn from those plans.

This Agenda:

  • Highlights the most urgent actions needed to achieve restoration and sustainable management outcomes for the Great Lakes to benefit our communities;
  • Promotes coordination between the multiple entities implementing these actions; and
  • Seeks to leverage the capacity and financial resources needed to take action.

The draft Action Agenda evolved from a similar integrated, muliti-objective 25 year plan for the New York Great Lakes Basin (PDF) (2.4 MB) issued in 1992.

Comments and suggestions for additional priority actions can be submitted to glakes@gw.dec.state.ny.us.

Water Quantity Management

small map outlining New York State The Great Lakes Basin
Great Lakes Basin Map
(View Larger Image)

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) (27 Page, 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.

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.

Lakewide Management Plans

Satellite image of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario

In 1987, the governments of Canada and the United States made a commitment to develop and implement Lakewide Management Plans (LaMP) for the Great Lakes, which included both Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. The purpose of the LaMPs is to coordinate efforts between government agencies of both the United States and Canada to reduce the amounts of contaminants entering the lakes and to address causes of different lakewide problems. The DEC, in cooperation with the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Environment Canada, the Ontario Ministry of Environment and Energy, and numerous regional and local governments, industry and public interest organizations work in partnership to implement the LaMPs. Copies of the Lake Erie and Lake Ontario LaMPs and related reports are available on the U.S. EPA's Great Lakes website.

Areas of Concern

Areas of Concern (AOC) were designated by the International Joint Commission to concentrate available resources to clean up the most polluted areas in the Great Lakes. The United States and Canada committed to cooperate with State and Provincial government to ensure that Remedial Action Plans (RAPs) are developed and implemented for each AOC. In New York State, there are six AOCs- Buffalo River, Eighteen Mile Creek, Rochester Embayment, Oswego River/Harbor, Niagara River, and St. Lawrence River at Massena, NY. However, in 2006, New York successfully delisted the Oswego River AOC by having restored its Beneficial Use Impairments. The remaining five AOCs are developing updates to the RAPs that summarize existing impairments, their causes, and identifies various actions needed for full restoration. An Interim Draft Compilation of RAP Stage 2 Addenda for NY State AOCs (PDF) (43 Page, 435 kB) is now available.


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