Great Lakes Coastal Symposium 2024

• Opening Address
• Great Lakes Coastal Assembly Welcome
• Welcome to Rochester

Climate change is altering the Great Lakes region. Coastal disasters are becoming more frequent and more costly; slow-burn hazards like erosion and episodic flooding are also increasingly ubiquitous in the face of heavier precipitation, more rapidly fluctuating water levels, and stronger storms. Coastal resilience – an approach that holistically considers the natural, physical, cultural, and built environments along with the living beings that rely on them – has gained traction globally as the preferred way to address climate change and protect human and ecological communities.

Livelihoods and lifeways are at stake as climate continues to change in the region; ecosystems, communities, recreational amenities, public and private property, and cultural resources are all affected. Multiple players across the region – including at Canadian and U.S. federal agencies, Tribal nations, states and provinces, and non-government organizations – have been proactively involved in coastal resilience initiatives to better understand and plan for future climate change impacts on coastal areas. Increased investment in habitat restoration, shoreline management, and sediment remediation projects from sources like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (U.S.), Inflation Reduction Act (U.S.), Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (U.S.), and Climate-Resilient Coastal Communities Program (CAN) is helping grow our understanding of the impacts of and actions needed to address climate change, and how to make future investments more durable to varying conditions.

This plenary Coastal Resilience Panel will consist of agency personnel that have been leading large-scale Great Lakes resilience studies and efforts. The panelists will provide updates on these efforts and their agency’s perspectives on coastal resilience and adaptability of restoration projects. The panel will set the tone of the overall resilience theme for the Great Lakes Coastal Symposium and will provide a foundational introduction to crucial dialogue that will continue throughout the conference.

In 2016, the U.S. and Canada adopted a new water management plan for Lake Ontario and the St Lawrence River. Designed in part to overcome decades of environmental impacts from the previous water management plan, Plan 2014 takes steps to promote more natural variability of water levels, thereby improving the health of coastal wetlands, shorelines, and ecosystems. It was hailed as one of the largest ecosystem restoration projects in North America, influencing more than 64,000 acres of wetlands and 700 miles of shoreline. Unfortunately, the adoption of the plan was followed by record water levels in the Great Lakes, which led to calls by some stakeholders to revise the plan. Learn more about what’s happening now with Plan 2014.

The Waters connect us all through time and space. The Waters do not know boundaries set by man. Our Mother Earth is out of balance and the urgency in which we react is dependent on our relationship with each other and the natural world. Many Indigenous people have prophesies that speak of times that we are currently experiencing, and the overall message is always surrounding being of Good Mind and maintain our reciprocal responsibilities with our Mother EarthWe can respect each other cultures, customs, and beliefs and share the bounty of what the Great Lakes offers ALL BEINGS through the guidance of the Dish with One Spoon thinking. The wampum that signified a treaty amongst many Indigenous Nations pre-contact provides the framework necessary to accomplish big changes for the good of many.