In this section you'll find links to resources that will help you Help the Lakes. You'll also find links to local, state, regional, national and international agencies, so you can contact and keep tabs on your government officials.

Let us know if you think we're missing a Great Lakes link. Email Brenna Wanous, Town Hall Manager, at brenna@greatlakestownhall.org.

Help the Lakes

A Primer On Fresh Water: Water Dos & Don'ts
Provided by Environment Canada, this webpage provides detailed advice on how to conserve water in your bathroom, kitchen, laundry room, garden and yard.

Yard Care & the Environment
Fact sheets from the University of Wisconsin Extension program on how to keep harmful lawn pesticides and fertilizers out of our rivers and lakes, including "Rethinking Yard Care", "Lawn Watering", "Managing Leaves & Yard Trimmings", "Lawn & Garden Pesticides", "Shoreline Plants & Landscaping", "Lawn Weed Control" and "Lawn & Garden Fertilizer".

Saving Water Indoors
Although this webpage is provided by the St. John's River district in Florida, it's an incredibly concise and informative resource on how to conserve water in your home.

Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers!
A must read for all recreational users! Specifics on how to treat your clothing, gear and equipment when you travel from one lake, stream or wetland to another. Be sure to read suggestions about how to share your knowledge with your neighbors and friends.

Landscaping with Native Great Lakes Plants
Provided by the US Environmental Protection Agency, this webpage contains factsheets, slide-shows and state-by-state resource lists to help you create native landscapes in your backyard and neighborhood park.

Wild Ones: Native Plants, Natural Landscapes
Wild Ones is a non-profit organization promoting environmentally sound landscaping practices to preserve biodiversity through the preservation, restoration and establishment of native plant communities. Be sure to look for a Wild One chapter in your community.

Great Lakes Green Book
A stripped down version of the "Citizens Action Agenda to Restore the Great Lakes" that provides specific policy recommendations to address threats to the Great Lakes ecosystem.

Great Lakes Natural Resource Center
Provided by the National Wildlife Federation's Great Lakes Field Office, this website details federal policies that effect the Great Lakes ecosystem.

Use the links below to find contact information for your state or provincial officials.

Illinois
Indiana
Michigan
Minnesota
New York (State Assembly & State Senate)
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Wisconsin
Assembly of Ontario

Great Lakes Cities Initiative - The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative helps mayors and other local officials develop and advocate programs to improve the resource.

Federal Officials & Agencies:

Congressional legislative information from the Library of Congress
Find your U.S. Representative
Find your U.S. Senators
Information on Canadian Parliamentary legislation
Find your Member of Parliament or Senator

Environment Canada
Communicate with Environment Canada, the Canadian national agency responsible for environmental protection of freshwater and other resources.

EPA's Great Lakes National Program Office
Communicate with the Great Lakes National Program Office of the Environmental Protection Agency, responsible for coordinating U.S. Environmental Protection Agency efforts on the Lakes.

Council of Great Lakes Governors
Communicate with the Council of Great Lakes Governors, which seeks to encourage and facilitate environmentally responsible economic growth.

Great Lakes Commission
Communicate with the Great Lakes Commission, an eight-state body that coordinates transportation, economic development and environmental policy among the Great Lakes states.

Great Lakes Regional Collaborative
Find out more about the Great Lakes Regional Collaborative, a wide-ranging, cooperative effort to design and implement a strategy for the restoration, protection and sustainable use of the Great Lakes.