Lake Michigan is in fair condition—not poor, but not good either. That assessment was shared by a more than century-old, binational commission during a webinar Tuesday evening.
Fifty people who care about Lake Michigan showed up. They wanted to make sure their voices were heard in a report the commission is crafting.
Created in 1909, the International Joint Commission, or IJS, is composed of three Canadian and three U.S. representatives.
Their task is not just to advocate for consensus based management of the Great Lakes, the IJC tends to all waters shared by the two countries.
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Every three years, the IJC issues a report on the Great Lakes' water quality that folds into how the public views the lakes' health.
“What is the current reality you’re seeing on the lake," said U.S. commissioner Rob Sisson. “Where are the gaps in knowledge or capacity? What are the opportunities on the horizon? The IJC will consider all your feedback to inform the development of our next triennial assessment of progress report.”
Sisson told attendees the IJC’s most recent assessment is based on a suite of ecosystem indicators. “The trend is that Lake Michigan is unchanging from its past conditions,” Sisson said.
The news was not greeted with delight, including by Jim Ludwig of Traverse City, Michigan.
“The fact that it’s fair means it really hasn’t improved,” Ludwig said.
He wants the IJC to look forward, rather than back, to anticipate and prevent environmental assaults before they hit the Great Lake.
“Like chemicals of emerging concern and plastics. If we don’t get a handle on where these things are coming from and try to deal with those at the sources, then we’ll always be in the posture of trying to fix the problems after they develop, rather than trying to prevent them,” Ludwig said. “Pollution prevention, which is a great slogan, has got to be practiced at a very fundamental level, where the chemistry literally hits the environment.”
Others who spoke out during the hour-long conversation shared Ludwig’s sense of urgency. One of them was Cheryl Nenn with Milwaukee Riverkeeper. Nenn was the only person from Lake Michigan’s Wisconsin shore to speak.
"Even the idea of having to wait three more years for another report, it just doesn't seem like the way that our systems are set up right now are really sufficient for the urgency of the problem when you look at things like PFAS and climate change for that matter," Nenn said.
Nenn said too few people know the IJC exists, and even less know of its efforts to encourage binational advocacy for the Great Lakes.
"Having more of that broad lens, I think, is really important as well and just being able to collaborate more and synthesize the information and bring people together," Nenn said. "I know people were talking about maybe coming up with some sort of a Great Lakes council or a body that could coordinate all of the government agency work. I think that would be really cool."
Commissioner Rob Sisson thanked people for speaking out saying they highlighted what he called front-burner issues.
“If I had a magic wand, I think I would replicate everyone that’s participating in this call into the thousands, so that we have this kind of passion, insight and knowledge working together all across the basin,” Sisson said.
While the triennial reporting system may frustrate folks, Sisson said the IJC is taking Great Lakes advocates' concerns to heart. He said the IJC is working on an ambitious, forwarding-thinking project — a 10-year science plan for the Great Lakes.
“We are developing in collaboration with just about any state or federal agency you can think of a decadal science plan for the Great Lakes. The commissioners are supposed to see the first draft of that I think in December. Probably you might start to hear about that a little more this winter, early spring because it’ an enormous undertaking that brings literally every organization or group and people that are working on Great Lakes issues together to brainstorm,” Sisson said.
As for the triennial process, commissioners will continue their virtual tour of the basin through mid-December. Public comment continues until Dec. 23. The IJC will release that review sometime next year.
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