David Higby is director of federal government relations for The Nature Conservancy in New York. David Klein is senior field representative for The Nature Conservancy in Central & Western New York. Make a Difference From the rugged forests of Zoar Valley to the sand dunes of Lake Ontario, with your help we can keep central and western New York protected for nature and for people. Go Deeper Lake Ontario: This is New York's only freshwater barrier beach ecosystem. Its dunes and beaches, marshes, fens and swamps support migrating shorebirds, waterfowl, raptors, songbirds, spawning fish and rare plants. The Great Lakes Initiative:  The Nature Conservancy’s Great Lakes Program and the Nature Conservancy of Canada have collaborated to develop a binational conservation blueprint that highlights areas in critical need of conservation in both the United States and Canada.

With little fanfare, the world’s largest freshwater system got some much needed protection signed into law in September, 2008.

Known as the Great Lakes Compact, the new law ensures the waters of the Great Lakes will never be diverted or exported on a commercial scale in a way that would adversely affect the natural balance of the Great Lakes watershed.

The Compact had to not only be approved by the eight states ringing the Great Lakes, including New York, but also several other levels of government.

“Seven years ago when we started down this road, my skeptical friends said it would be impossible to get two countries, the President, Congress and the governors of the eight states to agree to tough environmental rules designed to protect the waters of the Great Lakes,” says David Higby, director of federal government relations for The Nature Conservancy in New York.

“Today I can turn to those friends and say, ‘Ha!’” he adds, smiling.

Nature.org asked David Higby and David Klein, senior field representative for The Nature Conservancy in Central & Western New York, to weigh in on this momentous decision.

 
nature.org: David Higby, why was the approval of the Compact so important?

David Higby: The Great Lakes hold one-fifth of the world’s supply of freshwater, which amounts to ninety-five percent of the surface fresh water in the nation. We tend to take this vast natural resource for granted. However, a 1998 proposal by a Canadian firm to ship Great Lakes water via tanker to Asia served as a public policy wake-up call by demonstrating the lack of regulatory and statutory barriers to large water withdrawals from the lakes.

Large diversions and withdrawals represent a major threat to the integrity of the Great Lakes hydrological system. Decreased water levels could result in a multitude of serious consequences, including: significant shoreline erosion, accelerated susceptibility to invasive species and increased water pollution.

nature.org: So where does New York go from here?

David Higby:  The Compact requires the states to adopt policies for managing water use. Under legislation passed by the NYS Legislature and signed into law by Governor Spitzer, the Department of Environmental Conservation must now convene an advisory council to make recommendations for legislation, rules and regulations necessary to implement the Compact.

nature.org:  David Klein, give us the science context. What does this mean for New York's environment?

David Klein: The Compact has huge implications for the ecosystems connected to the Lake Ontario and Lake Erie because it encourages the states and provinces to measure and monitor the impacts of withdrawals on the natural flows of the tributaries that feed the Great Lakes, and it fosters water conservation as a necessary complement to withdrawals.

In a way, the Compact gives the plants and animals that depend on the Great Lakes watershed a voice in how much water can be withdrawn from the system. This means the natural flows of each tributary will be the standard against which any significant impact of water withdrawls will be assessed.

nature.org: Does this mean we don’t need to do any more conservation on Lake Ontario?

David Klein: The Compact addresses the issue of water quantity not quality. It does not address the spread of invasive species, like zebra mussels, depleted fisheries, or shoreline restoration. So the Compact helps us protect the water we have in the Great Lakes but we still have a lot of work to do in other areas.

Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Carl Heilman II (Lake Ontario); Photo © Derrick Hamrick (dragonfly); Photos © TNC (David Higby and David Klein).