$100,000 Offered for Restoring MIchigan Coastal Wetlands

The Nature Conservancy will be awarding up to $100,000 for a restoration project to restore coastal wetland communities in North Maumee Bay in Michigan.  

 

The Nature Conservancy’s mission includes the preservation of plants, animals, and natural communities, as well as the waters and lands that support them, in order to encourage and protect biodiversity.

 

The nonprofit is seeking applicants with innovative projects that focus on the restoration of former wetlands in the North Maumee Bay area. Project proposals should involve minor infrastructure and engineering inputs, and have the potential to be applied throughout the Great Lakes region. The projects should focus on the enhancement of animal and plant communities, and supporting natural processes in the Bay area, Conservancy officials say.

 

North Maumee Bay includes a 20-square mile area on the western end of Lake Erie, north of the Ohio border. The Bay area is owned by The Nature Conservancy, the state of Michigan’s Erie State Game Area, and Consumers Energy. Due to land use practices of the last 150 years, coupled with dredging, heavy boat traffic, and invasive species, the historic estuary and wetland ecosystem has been changed to an open water area. Only 5% of original coastal wetlands remain in Western Lake Erie.