Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) Budget Elimination
FY18 Budget Blueprint Proposes to Eliminate Funding for EPA’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative
What Happened?
On March 16, 2017, President Trump released his FY18 budget blueprint which promises drastic cuts to several key agencies and programs that are essential for TU’s mission and work, including the EPA’s Great Lakes Restoration Program.
- Update 3/27: Thanks @Growlermag for publishing TU’s musky man Taylor Ridderbusch opinion piece re: GLRI Funding
The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) & Proposed Budget Cuts
The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), first conceived in 2010, is a collaborative, multi-agency effort to rehabilitate the Great Lakes and the rivers and streams that feed them. These efforts include more than 2,000 projects — an investment of over $2.2 billion federal dollars — in the Great Lakes region designed to improve stream connectivity, restore riverbanks, combat invasive species and increase habitat protection.
The Great Lakes, which constitute 95% of fresh surface water in the United States, provides drinking water to over 30 million people in North America.
President Donald Trump’s budget proposal calls for a 31% cut to the EPA, including complete elimination of the immensely successful GLRI and Chesapeake Bay programs (Read more on the Chesapeake Bay Program and proposed budget cuts, here).
Why the GLRI Matters for TU:
The Great Lakes are home to a remarkable array of trout, salmon, and steelhead, and as a result, fishing is a major economic driver in the region. In recent years, fish habitat in many Great Lakes tributaries have been improving thanks to projects funded by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.
Since 2010, over 2,000 projects in the Great Lakes region have helped to maintain and improve the area’s thriving fisheries and $4 billion sports fishery industry.
Fishery improvement projects —including many spearheaded by Trout Unlimited — have been completed in places like the Pere Marquette, Little Manistee, Peshtigo, and Oconto rivers to remove barriers to fish passage and add habitat for coldwater fish. The elimination of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative would stop this work in its tracks.
How can you engage?
Stand Up — Take Action with TU
- Check out TU’s Advocacy Center at standup.tu.org to see what current campaigns are underway or to learn more about getting involved in advocacy work on behalf of Trout Unlimited.
Contact the President and your members in Congress to tell them that funding for the GLRI and other resource agency programs is vital to the conservation work of Trout Unlimited and essential to sound management of the nation’s trout and salmon fisheries and their watersheds.
Reach out — get in touch and get engaged
- Contact your local chapter to help plan or join a restoration project in a watershed near you, reach out to your state council to find out ways you might engage with state-level advocacy on topics important to trout and salmon, or reach out to TU Volunteer Operations Staff for help connecting with your local or state TU resources or locating other tools to help you engage locally;
- Check out TU’s new “Project Finder” to see what might be underway in your area.
- Contact the TU Government Affairs team to see what’s cooking in Congress or in the Budget planning process.
- Consider a Donation to TU Advocacy Efforts
