Muskegon Lake Observatory Collaborative Receives Lake Michigan CSMI Funding

 

Bopi Biddanda’s Lab at AWRI has received a $25,000 grant from NOAA through the Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research (CIGLR) for a project titled “A Time-series Observing Collaborative Tracking Ecosystem Changes in Muskegon Lake for Science, Education and Society in the Great Lakes” under the Lake Michigan Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiative. This Muskegon Lake Observatory (MLO) project is an AWRI collaboration with NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) and CIGLR, and will run through February 2022. Anthony Weinke (GVSU), Casey Godwin (CIGLR), and Steven Ruberg (GLERL) will work collaboratively with Principal Investigator, Biddanda.

This MLO collaborative will operate a robust multi-sensor observing array in Muskegon Lake estuary – an EPA-Area of Concern (AOC) and NOAA-Habitat Focus Area (HFA) site. This project will explore the intriguing potential for Muskegon Lake to serve as a small-scale model analog for the much larger Lake Erie ecosystem that is facing similar water quality impairments. By enabling high-frequency, time-series tracking of eutrophication, hypoxia (low dissolved oxygen concentration) and harmful algal blooms, the project will advance ecosystem science, restoration, and management. This project is a low-cost GVSU-AWRI and NOAA-GLERL collaborative that utilizes GLERL-Lake Michigan Field Station’s vessel support resources and will result in the 11th year of operation of a key regional Great Lakes observing infrastructure that openly shares time-series weather and water quality data with students, scientists and resource managers to benefit both science and society www.gvsu.edu/buoy/.

Overall, this GVSU-CIGLR-GLERL collaborative will serve to carry out “Great Lakes Science for Society” by providing ready-to-use reliable weather and water quality information for advancing new scientific enquiries, strengthening scientific infrastructure, enhancing education and supporting training, and enabling well-informed restoration practices in this model Great Lakes estuary.

 

LMC Activities

December:

AWRI was represented at the 2-day Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research (CIGLR) All Partners Meeting 2020, held on December 7th – 8th. AWRI personnel attending were: Bopi Biddanda, Al Steinman, and Sarah Hamsher.

Sarah Hamsher is teaching BIO 413/580, Freshwater Algae, as a hybrid course for the Winter 2021 semester.

Jasmine Mancuso, graduate student who worked with Bopi Biddanda, received the Outstanding Thesis Award from The Graduate School at GVSU, Winter 2020.

Charlyn Partridge and Rick Rediske participated in an interview regarding the COVID wastewater project with Rapid Growth Media. Following is the link to that article, published on December 7th. https://www.rapidgrowthmedia.com/features/wastewater.aspx

Charlyn Partridge and her graduate student Meg Sanders met with Drew Rayner and members of the DNR at Pioneer Park in North Muskegon on November 30th to look at their hemlock woolly adelgid eDNA traps and discuss their potential use by the DNR in the future.

Charlyn Partridge is teaching BIO 485/585, Molecular Ecology, as an online course for the Winter 2021 semester.

Rick Rediske and his lab are completing the samples for the SARS-CoV-2 wastewater Pilot Study; all data reporting is due on December 30th. There is a one-year continuation of the monitoring program in the Governor’s Coronavirus Relief Appropriation that is under consideration in the legislature; more information is expected in January.

Rick Rediske participated in a Leadership Committee Meeting of the Rockford Community Advisory Group on December 9th with EGLE staff to plan the 2021 meeting schedule.

Rick Rediske has joined the PFAS Data Repository Group of the Green Science Policy Council that is seeking to develop a PFAS Database as a trusted source for information.

Carl Ruetz will be teaching NRM 552, Fisheries Management, as an online course for the Winter 2021 semester.

Carl Ruetz attended a strategic planning meeting for the academic majors in the Biology Department on December 2^nd. He represented AWRI for the proposed undergraduate major in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences.

Al Steinman’s lab continues their monitoring of the Bear Creek wetland restoration project; Church Lake, and the iron slag project in the Macatawa watershed.

Al Steinman participated in a zoom conference call with Carl Ruetz, and various local and state agency representatives on December 2nd on next steps for Muskegon Lake restoration.

Al Steinman participated in a monthly zoom call on December 3rd as a member of the steering committee for their NSF-funded Regional Collaborative Network project.

Al Steinman participated in several virtual meetings for the 2022 Joint Aquatic Science Meeting planning process.

Al Steinman participated via zoom in an IJC meeting on December 17th to discuss the next steps in developing an Early Warning System for the Great Lakes.

Al Steinman attended virtual board meetings for the West Michigan Symphony and Goodwill International of West Michigan in December.

Amanda Syers and Janet Vail are co-teaching ENS 183, Sustainability as a Lifestyle, in Winter 2021 semester.

Amanda Syers and Janet Vail continue with the MiRCLE climate change and land use project; a seminar was held on December 9th.

Janet Vail continues to work with the National Association of Marine Laboratories (NAML) Education Committee. NAML will be receiving funding for diversity and equity in marine labs seminars.

Janet Vail has been involved in planning a spring conference as a steering committee member of the Great Lakes Association of Science Ships (GLASS).

Janet Vail has been involved in the NASA “citizen monitoring for air quality” webinar series, which offers potential new GLOBE protocols. She also had a meeting with the new Midwest Collaborative group for GLOBE that includes multiple entities such as the University of Wisconsin, University of Toledo, Northern Michigan University, NASA Glenn, Bowling Green State University, Purdue University, and others.

Janet Vail attended several webinars in December, including: GVSU Virtual Staff Huddle (12/5), EPA GLRI Celebration (12/9), GVSU instructional technology seminar (12/10), Environmental Justice featuring Dr. Robert Bullard 12/10, En-Roads Climate Simulation, Groundswell Strategic Action Committee (12/14), Virtual Learning by the North American Association for Environmental Education (12/17), and Groundswell “dinner” with Crystal Scott-Tunstall (ENS Affiliate Professor).

Sean Woznicki is teaching GPY 407, Advanced GIS, for the Winter 2021 semester.

January:

Bopi Biddanda reviewed about 30 external proposals for Michigan Space Grants Consortium (MSGC). Bopi serves as GVSU’s Affiliate Representative to MSGC and is on the Executive Board of MSGC.

Rick Rediske attended the PFAS Data Repository Group of the Green Science Policy Council on January 20th.

Rick Rediske participated in the meeting of the Rockford Community Advisory Group on January 21st with EGLE staff to plan the 2021 meeting schedule.

Al Steinman had several virtual meetings with the Great Lakes Advisory Board; Al has been assigned to work groups focused on Nutrients and Invasive Species.

Amanda Syers and Janet Vail attended a meeting of the facilitators for the Michigan Environmental Education Guidelines on January 14th.

Amanda Syers and Janet Vail helped facilitate a teacher workshop on climate change for the Michigan Resources on Climate and Land Change Education (MiRCLE) series on January 20th.

Janet Vail attended the Muskegon Lake Partnership meeting on January 5th.

Janet Vail attended freshwater habitat subcommittee meetings for the Virtual Field Project on January 11th and on January 25th.

Janet Vail attended the virtual Groundswell quarterly meeting on January 14th.

Janet Vail facilitated the West Michigan Clean Air Coalition meeting on January 29th.

Sean Woznicki attended a kick-off meeting with collaborators Amanda Buday (Sociology), and Dani DeVasto (Writing) for a CSCE collaboration project titled “Connecting cities and citizens: Assessing community perspectives on lakeshore use and restoration” on January 11th. They are beginning to develop the community mail survey for Muskegon and creating the parcel-level sampling regime for surveys.

Sean Woznicki met with New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, EPA Region 2, and EPA Office of Research and Development colleagues regarding update on “Simulating flood-induced contaminated soil and sediment transport with a coupled HEC-RAS 2D and WASP Model”. The study site is in Woodbridge, NJ. The virtual meeting was on January 12th.

Presentations and Publications

AWRI staff are bolded, undergraduate students are denoted with a single asterisk*, graduate students are denoted with two asterisks**, and post-doc researchers are donated with three asterisks ***.

Publications

Bopi Biddanda recently had an article published in the GVSU Regional Math and Science Center publication InterChange:
Biddanda, B. 2020. MSGC2020B: NASA’s Michigan Space Grant Consortium Fall conference 2020. InterChange, December 2020.
https://www.gvsu.edu/rmsc/interchange/2020-december-connections-msgc-1621.htm (outdated link)

Presentations - (Presenter listed first)

December

Rick Rediske gave a presentation on the GVSU SARS-CoV-2 wastewater samples collected at on and off campus housing units to the GVSU Virus Action Team on December 18th.

Sean Woznicki was a co-author of a presentation at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) annual conference held on December 7th titled “Simulating flood-induced contaminated soil and sediment transport with a coupled HEC-RAS 2D and WASP Model”. Afshin Shabani (EPA) was the presenter.

January

Rick Rediske gave a presentation about the “SARS-CoV-2 Testing in Wastewater” project to GVSU’s Virus Action Team and Facilities Services Department on January 22nd.

Al Steinman gave a virtual presentation titled: “Restoring the Everglades: Reality or Insanity?” to The Breakfast Club of Grand Rapids on January 27th.

Janet Vail was invited to present about AWRI and Project WET at the joint education committee meeting of the Michigan Chapter of the American Water Works Association and the Michigan Water Environment Association. This event was held on January 4th.

Janet Vail gave a presentation on climate change science during a West Michigan Environmental Action Council webinar on January 28th.

Grants, Contracts, Awards, and Recognition

Grants & Contracts

December:

Bopi Biddanda’s Lab has received a portion of the 2020 Lake Michigan Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiative. The project title is “A time-series observing collaborative tracking ecosystem changes in Muskegon Lake AOC-HFA for science, education and society in the Great Lakes” in the amount of $25,000, running from 7/1/2020 – 2/28/2022.

Al Steinman’s Lab received the 2020 Lake Michigan Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiative award to continue their Dreissena project in the amount of $65,457, running from 1/1/2021 – 12/31/2021.

January:

Mark Luttenton received a contract from the Muskegon River Watershed Association to assist them with their Muskegon River Watershed Plan update. This runs from 10/1/2020 – 10/31/2022, in the amount of $6,200.

Al Steinman received an award from University of Michigan CIGLR for the 2020 Lake Michigan Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiative. This runs from 1/1/2021 - 12/31/2021, in the amount of $65,457.

Megan Sanders was awarded a Presidential Research Grant through the GVSU Graduate School. Her proposal was titled “Development of modified airborne eDNA techniques for the early detection of hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae)”.

Carl Ruetz received funding from NOAA via a sub-contract from the West Michigan Shoreline Regional Development Commission to do fish monitoring as part of restoration of Little Cedar Creek in the amount of $9,500.

Al Steinman received a 12-month extension, extending the award date to 12/31/2021, and $82,151 in funding to continue his collaborative work with University of Michigan Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research on the Great Lakes Long-term Ecological Research Program.

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

Al Steinman was selected as a Fellow of the Society for Freshwater Science as part of the 2021 class.

AWRI News and Events

AWRI IN THE NEWS

Charlyn Partridge and Rick Rediske participated in an interview regarding the COVID wastewater project with Rapid Growth Media. Following is the link to that article, published on December 7th. https://www.rapidgrowthmedia.com/features/wastewater.aspx

Al Steinman was interviewed by Great Lakes Now on the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.  Dr. Steinman, along with former “Great Lakes czar” Cam Davis,  is featured in a Great Lakes Now video about the investments that have been made in the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which has spent over $2.7 billion in more than 5,400 projects across all eight Great Lakes states. https://www.pbs.org/video/agenda-investment-kb3rid/

LMC EVENTS

There were no events held at the LMC this month.