Northeast Michigan Great Lakes Stewardship Planning Initiative: Planning Toward a Regional Network "Hub" in Support of Great Lakes and Ecosystem Education and Stewardship
Grant Type: 2007 Capacity Building Grant
Project Duration: 6/13/07–12/31/07
Grant Amount: $5,213.50
Project Description
Alpena-Montmorency-Alcona Educational Service District received a capacity-building grant through the Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative to continue a discussion in the region about how best to promote and support Great Lakes and aquatic educational programs for K–12 students. Grant funds were used to convene the second annual Northeast Michigan Great Lakes and Aquatic Education Networking Meeting in Alpena in November 2007. Thirty-five people (including 11 teachers) representing more than 30 different organizations, affiliations and businesses discussed the need for environmental education leading to stewardship.
Project Outcome
Grant funds were used to convene the second annual Northeast Michigan Great Lakes and Aquatic Education Networking Meeting in Alpena in November 2007. Thirty-five people (including 11 teachers) representing more than 30 different organizations, affiliations and businesses discussed the need for environmental education leading to stewardship. The meeting was structured to provide people with both valuable information and opportunities to contribute. Resource managers and community partners led content-based sessions about fisheries, watersheds and aquatic habitats, history and heritage, and community development through coastal access, tourism, and economic development. Each session included examples of existing or potential place-based efforts specific to northeast Michigan (e.g., the U.S. 23 Coastal Heritage Route; the Northeast Michigan Integrated Assessment project; and "Visioning a sustainable future for Northeast Michigan: Connecting Great Lakes coastal access, community vitality, tourism, and economic development”). Next, presentations about the Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative and the principles of place-based education helped everyone develop a common vision for this type of environmental education. The afternoon focused on discussing opportunities and structures for formally establishing place-based education on various levels within the region — in local schools, where work is already underway, and in the region. Among the many benefits of this grant is an impressive leveraging of additional dollars to benefit the region. Several groups that participated in the meeting subsequently incorporated place-based education and service-learning into grant proposals. As a result, Sea Grant allocated $2,500 to schools for place-based pilot projects; Cheboygan, Alcona, and Presque Isle Counties received $15,000 from Toyota and $5,000 from Dow to support their work in education; 4-H received a grant of $5,000 to offer an aquatic stewardship summer institute for high school teens. Another proposal for $25,000 from the Northeast Michigan Council of Governments to the Coastal Management program is pending and would support water quality studies on the Black River. This effort benefited from strong leadership provided by staff of Michigan Sea Grant and Michigan State University Extension (4-H Youth Development). At the end of the meeting, nearly all (96%) participants were willing to involve themselves in collaborations or partnerships to enhance Great Lakes and aquatic education efforts, a level of enthusiasm and commitment that bodes well for the development of a GLSI hub in the region.