Action Agenda Executive Summary

Full report here: Action Agenda (PDF)

Momentum has been building in recent years, in both the U.S. and Canada for a large scale restoration effort for the Great Lakes Basin ecosystem. President Bush's 2004 call for creation of an Interagency Task Force and a Regional Collaboration of National Significance to coordinate restoration efforts has increased the profile and likelihood that such a large-scale Great Lakes effort will happen.

Lake Ontario's Coastal Region—A Critical Issue

The U.S. portion of Lake Ontario's shoreline and watershed lies wholly in New York State. Despite significant water quality improvements in the open, offshore waters of the Lake over the last three decades, the 300 miles of shoreline, river and creek mouths, and embayments suffer from many impairments that limit their recreational use, elevate the cost of drinking water withdrawals that serve over a million customers, including the Rochester and Syracuse metropolitan areas, and affect the region's recreation and tourism based economy and property values, reliant on high quality water resources.

The Lake Ontario Coastal Initiative Action Agenda

The Lake Ontario Coastal Initiative, a public/private, grassroots, regional partnership, proposes a fifteen year, multi-million dollar program to remediate, restore, protect and enable sustainable use of Lake Ontario's southern and eastern coastal region—New York's North Coast.

The Action Agenda advocates recognition that the coastal zone and the watershed, where most people live, work and recreate, need the same level of attention which the open, offshore waters of the Lake have beneficially received in the previous thirty years.

The Action Agenda is intended to complement and enhance ongoing international, federal and state programs. A bi-national approach is suggested that allows Canada and the United States to take a true ecosystem approach to the management of Lake Ontario.

The Action Agenda proposes remediation and restoration through collaborative practices and programs directed toward the sources of point and non-point impairments—inadequate septic systems; sewage treatment plant and combined sewer effluent; agricultural, urban and road run-off; toxic contaminants; erosion and sedimentation—and mitigation of impairments such as algae blooms, weeds, turbidity and habitat destruction.

The Action Agenda is based on a three year extensive public participation process involving a variety of stakeholders throughout the region - government officials and agencies at all levels, the research community, environmental and civic organizations, businesses, and concerned citizens.

The Action Agenda includes:

• Mapped characterizations of the coastal region's attributes;
• Identification of key issues gleaned from regional workshops;
• Recommendations for a research and monitoring program to inform adaptive management approaches;
• An outreach program;
• Framework for implementation