Protecting Lake Superior
Water is Life
Lake Superior, also known as Gitchi Gami, and Lac Supérieur, is the largest freshwater lake in the world. This living waterscape is the source of drinking water not only for our City of Thunder Bay but for thousands of other people living around the Lake before it flows into all other Great Lakes downstream, where millions more rely on this life-giving freshwater. Lake Superior is home to hundreds of species. Lake Superior is arguably one of the most precious places on Earth needing protection. Under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, the governments of Canada and the United States have committed to protect and restore the waters of the Great Lakes. In 1987, this binational Agreement began requiring the development of Lakewide Action and Management Plans (otherwise known as LaMPs) for all 5 Great Lakes, including Lake Superior.
What Are LaMPs?
LaMPs are plans for cooperatively restoring and protecting the ecosystem of a Great Lake, to "restore and maintain the biological integrity of the Great Lakes Basin ecosystem. The first Lake Superior LaMP was developed in 1991.
EcoSuperior's Involvement
In 2007, EcoSuperior first signed a 3-year agreement (with what was then the Ministry of the Environment) to carry out the coordination, support, and implementation of priorities identified by the Chemical Committee Work Plan contained in the Lakewide Management Plan for Lake Superior.
In 2010, EcoSuperior signed a new grant funding agreement for activities, programs, and actions to support the priorities laid out in the Lake Superior LaMP. Ever since, EcoSuperior continues to work with the community, partners, and others to support the priorities identified in the Lake Superior LaMP, through annual funding support from the Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP).
LaMP Objectives
With support from the Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation, and Parks (MECP), our team continues to deliver a wide range of activities in NWO to help achieve LaMP objectives.
Some of our many activities include:
- Climate Change Education and Actions
- Stormwater Management (Rain garden installations & education)
- School Presentations & Community Outreach
- Invasive Species Monitoring
- Pollution Prevention & Plastic Reduction
- Cigarette Litter Prevention & Recycling
- Native Fish Surveys
- Open Burning Education
- Hosting 'Big Lake Reflections' (A celebration of our relationship with Lake Superior through the arts)
- & Other Stewardship Initiatives for Freshwater Protection
"If there is any magic on this planet', it is contained in water"
