Participating Organizations
Marine debris is being addressed through the dedicated work of organizations and partnerships around the Great Lakes region. Organizations listed below are actively engaged in the Great Lakes Marine Debris Collaborative and associated action plan. For contact information, please visit the organizational websites.
The Alliance for the Great Lakes works to protect the Great Lakes for today and tomorrow. We involve tens of thousands of people each year in advocacy, volunteering, education, and research to ensure the lakes are healthy and safe for all.
Our staff are headquartered in Chicago, with field offices in Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee. Our Board of Directors represent a wide range of interests and expertise from around the Great Lakes region.
The Office of Sustainability leverages Cleveland’s wealth of assets by collaborating with the community to improve the economic, environmental, and social well-being of its citizens. Sustainable Cleveland 2019 is a 10-year initiative that engages people from all walks of life, working together to design and develop a thriving and resilient Cleveland region.
The Southern Lake Michigan region faces many environmental challenges. Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG), with its unique mandate to bring the latest science to those who can best use the information, serves a critical role in empowering people to solve problems in sustainable ways.
One of 33 Sea Grant Programs in the U.S., IISG is focused on the southern Lake Michigan region--104 miles of heavily urbanized and industrialized shoreline in Illinois and Indiana. One third of the population of the Great Lakes lives along the shore of Lake Michigan between Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Michigan City, Indiana.
The program is funded through National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the University of Illinois and Purdue University, but IISG also works in partnerships with key organizations, institutions, and agencies in the region to reach more audiences and multiply opportunities for success. IISG brings together scientists, educators, policy makers, community decision makers, outreach specialists, business leaders, and the general public to work towards a healthy environment and economy.
As a non-profit organization located in Suttons Bay, Michigan, our mission is to inspire Great Lakes curiosity, stewardship, and passion. Our goal is to provide people with the information they need to become stewards of the Great Lakes. Over the last 30 years we have reached more than 125,000 participants through our programming. We aim to provide authentic experiences that provide opportunities for students (of all ages) to connect with the Great Lakes as well as with the people who have made a career of studying the Lakes. We are always looking to grow our partnerships with Great Lakes researchers: you have the most up-to-date information, we have the outreach platform.
To learn more and reach out to us directly, visit Schoolship.org
A leading national nonprofit, Keep America Beautiful inspires and educates people to take action every day to improve and beautify their community environment. We envision a country in which every community is a clean, green, and beautiful place to live.
Established in 1953, Keep America Beautiful provides the expertise, programs and resources to help people End Littering, Improve Recycling, and Beautify America's Communities.
The organization is driven by the work and passion of more than 600 community-based Keep America Beautiful affiliates, millions of volunteers, and the support of corporate partners, municipalities, elected officials, and individuals.
The Northeast Michigan Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative (NEMIGLSI). The NEMIGLSI network is network and partnership of education and community partners collaborating to protect our Great Lakes and natural resources of northeast Michigan through hands-on, place-based stewardship education (PBSE) efforts. The NEMIGLSI network is part of a larger, statewide network and partnership, the Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative (GLSI). Established in 2007 with funding from the Great Lakes Fishery Trust, the GLSI supports place-based stewardship education in schools and communities across Michigan.
Leadership and programming support for the NEMIGLSI is provided in partnership by: Alpena-Montmorency-Alcona (AMA) Educational Service District, AMA/Iosco Math and Science Center, Cheboygan-Otsego-Presque Isle (COP) Educational Service District, Michigan State University Extension 4-H Youth Programs, Michigan Sea Grant, Community Foundation for Northeast Michigan, Northeast Michigan Council of Governments, NOAA Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Huron Pines, and area schools.
PBSE is a proven method for developing knowledgeable and active stewards of the environment. More than just a project, PBSE is a process that gets students outdoors while applying classroom learning goals. With hands-on learning, students connect to careers, have fun, and make a difference in their local community. Some of these PBSE efforts connect to marine debris. Area students complete Alliance for the Great Lakes Adopt-a-Beach efforts, trawl for microplastics in local rivers and Lake Huron, raise awareness about the impact of single-use plastics, campaign at area restaurants, reduce waste in the cafeteria, and much more.
Learn more at our website www.nemiglsi.org.
For more than 30 years, Ohio Sea Grant has worked to protect the environment of Lake Erie and the Great Lakes. With a strong combination of research, education and outreach efforts, as well as partnerships with academia, governmental agencies and the private sector, Ohio Sea Grant works with the Lake Erie community to solve the region’s most important environmental and economic issues.
Stone Laboratory, Ohio Sea Grant’s education and outreach facility on Lake Erie, serves scientists from across the Great Lakes region, offering lab facilities, field work equipment, research vessels and housing for researchers studying Lake Erie.
Together, Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Lab provide the science behind informed policy and management decisions on science education, the Lake Erie ecosystem and its economic impact on the region.
Ohio Sea Grant, located at Ohio State University’s Columbus campus, is part of NOAA Sea Grant, a network of 33 Sea Grant Programs dedicated to the protection and sustainable use of marine and Great Lakes resources.
Please visit our website at ohioseagrant.osu.edu
Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Reserve is part of a network of 28 coastal reserves connected nationally through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to address state and regional coastal management needs through research, education, and stewardship. The National Estuarine Research Reserve System uses its network of living laboratories to help understand and find solutions to crucial issues facing America’s coastal communities.
Partners for Clean Streams Inc. is striving for abundant open space and a high quality natural environment; adequate floodwater storage capacities and flourishing wildlife; stakeholders who take local ownership in their resources; and rivers, streams and lakes that are clean, clear and safe. We work to educate and engage the public in protecting our waterways and promoting stewardship and conservation. For more information, check out our website: www.partnersforcleanstreams.org
The Pennsylvania Sea Grant College Program was started in 1998 as an outreach project primarily focused on the 76.6 miles of Lake Erie shoreline, in Erie, PA. Over the past twenty years PA Sea Grant has expanded, both in the scope of programs offered and also geographically.
Today, PA Sea Grant offers adult and K-12 educational programs, funds cutting-edge scientific research, provides valuable Great Lakes and coastal resources and expertise to communities, decision-makers, and individuals throughout the Commonwealth. Our offices and staff are located in Erie, Chester, and Harrisburg, PA - covering Lake Erie, the tidal Delaware River Basin and the Susquehanna River Basin.
The State University of New York is committed to fostering a diverse community of outstanding faculty, staff, and students. Fredonia educates, challenges, and inspires students to become skilled, connected, creative, and responsible global citizens and professionals. The university enriches the world through scholarship, artistic expression, community engagement, and entrepreneurship. Researchers from the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences are investigating marine debris in the Great Lakes.
Established by the Marine Debris Act of 2006, the NOAA Marine Debris Program is the lead U.S. federal agency for marine debris. The mission of the program is to investigate and prevent the adverse impacts of marine debris in our oceans and Great Lakes. Our work centers around research, removal, and prevention of marine debris, as well as emergency response and regional coordination. The Great Lakes Regional Coordinator resides in Ohio. https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/
A top-ranked public university, the University of Michigan has a tradition of excellence in research, learning and teaching, sports and the arts, and more. Researchers from the schools of Natural Resources & Environment as well as Engineering are investigating marine debris in the Great Lakes.
Wisconsin Sea Grant is a statewide program of basic and applied research, education, and outreach and technology transfer dedicated to the stewardship and sustainable use of the nation's Great Lakes and ocean resources. Headquartered at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the institute is housed in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education's Aquatic Sciences Center.