Under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, the governments of Canada and the United States committed to restore and maintain the physical, biological and chemical integrity of the waters of the Great Lakes.
The United States and Canada developed A Binational Program to Restore and Protect the Lake Superior Basin. This program focuses on the entire Lake Superior ecosystem – air, land and water – to restore degraded areas and protect this unique headwater lake for the people and wildlife that use it.
A call to action, as soon as we are able we send crews out to start cleaning the beaches. It is a weekly task completed by our staff and many volunteers. This program allows the department to directly engage with the community and our collective desire to maintain the serene beauty that we all have the privlige to live with.
The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative accelerates efforts to protect and restore the largest system of fresh surface water in the world – the Great Lakes. Built upon the foundation of the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Strategy, GLRI answered a challenge of the governors of the Great Lakes states. Since 2010 the multi-agency GLRI has provided funding to 16 federal organizations to strategically target the biggest threats to the Great Lakes ecosystem and to accelerate progress toward achieving long term goals.
Mining in the Upper Peninsula
Eagle Mine
Eagle is a nickel mine that operates a mine near Big Bay and the Humboldt Mill near Champion. Revex Technologies, an Eagle project partner, was selected for a Department of Energy grant to re-process mine tailings from Eagle Mine to remove sulfur compounds and nickel; the final amount of the grant has not yet been determined.
Community Environmental Monitoring Program (CEMP)
KBIC involvement with the Community Environmental Monitoring Program (CEMP) continues in cooperation with the Superior Watershed Partnership (SWP). Throughout the year NRD staff join SWP in collecting water samples in and around Eagle Mine to independently show that the company is meeting their permit conditions.
Talon Metals
Talon Metals is a mining and mineral exploration company operating the Tamarack Project in Minnesota and conducting mineral exploration in the Upper Peninsula. Talon uses historical data and also conducts electromagnetic surveys to identify suspected mineral deposits.
