The EPA on Sunday, Feb. 21, 2010, released an action plan to guide efforts to restore the Great Lakes. The action plan, which EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson unveiled at a meeting with governors from the Great Lakes states, lays out the most urgent threats facing the Great Lakes and sets out goals, objectives and key actions over the next five years to help restore the lakes.

The action plan directs aggressive action under five priority "focus areas" the task force has identified as vital for restoring the Great Lakes. They are:

• Protection and cleanup of the most polluted areas in the lakes: The task force will work with state and municipal partners to clean up toxic hotspots so that these critical "working waterways" are put back to work for healthy fishing and recreation.
• Combating invasive species: Invasive species pose a unique threat to the Great Lakes, and the plan outlines a number of steps to keep such species out of the lakes. Asian carp were pointed at as one area to be addressed with funding from the initiative.
• Protection of high priority watersheds and reduced runoff from urban, suburban and, agricultural sources. Initiative funding will be targeted toward, among other things, reducing pollution at beaches.
• Restoration of wetlands and other habitats: The action plan includes a first-ever assessment of the entire 530,000 acre Great Lakes coastal wetland, to help the task force begin to restore troubled areas;
• Implementation of accountability measures, learning initiatives, outreach and strategic partnerships.

In his 2009 budget, President Obama proposed $475 million for a Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, the largest federal investment in the Great Lakes in two decades. The action plan, which covers FY 2010 through 2014 and was developed by 16 federal agencies as part of the federal inter-agency task force chaired by Administrator Jackson.

More information on the full plan can be found at www.greatlakesrestoration.us.