Parks Canada is part of the Lake Superior Partnership

By Chris Robinson

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way for everyone living around Lake Superior to come together to address all the threats to the lake and keep it healthy for generations to come? Well, there is, and Parks Canada is part of it!

Originally signed in 1972, the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement is a formal agreement between Canada and the United States, intended to “restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the waters of the Great Lakes.” The agreement has led to many initiatives, including a Lakewide Action and Management Plan (LAMP) for each Great Lake. Parks Canada’s Northern Ontario team is devoted to one in particular: the Lake Superior LAMP.

At its core, the Lake Superior LAMP is a 5-year action plan focused on protecting and restoring the lake’s ecosystem. The actions address all aspects of lake health by focusing on topics like education and outreach, detecting and eliminating invasive species, protecting and rehabilitating fish species and their habitat, climate change adaptation, and reducing pollution.

The LAMP itself is developed by the Lake Superior Partnership, which has members representing over 30 federal, provincial/state, Indigenous/tribal, and municipal/local governments. This partnership began in 1991, with a focus on reducing pollution in the lake, but has since evolved to focus more on fully meeting the objectives of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. Parks Canada is represented on the Lake Superior Partnership by team members from Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area (NMCA) and Pukaskwa National Park (NP). The partnership also gathers information and contributions from non-governmental organizations, academic institutions, and the general public. The latest version of the LAMP can be found on binational.net.

To implement the draft 2020-2024 LAMP for Lake Superior, Parks Canada is taking the following actions:

• Raising awareness through interpretation about issues that impact the lake, such as invasive species, shoreline and beach health, climate change, and plastic pollution.
• Monitoring for, and eradicating, invasive species including Phragmites grass, Dreissenid mussels and Rusty Crayfish.
• Assessing juvenile Lake Sturgeon populations at three locations in Lake Superior NMCA as part of the third round of lake-wide sturgeon surveys, which began in 2011.
• Monitoring water quality, water temperatures, and macroinvertebrate communities in coastal streams, as part of Pukaskwa NP’s annual ecological integrity monitoring.
• Developing climate change adaptation plans for both Lake Superior NMCA and Pukaskwa NP.
• Finalizing the formal establishment of Lake Superior NMCA.

Canada’s network of protected areas, including Pukaskwa NP and Lake Superior NMCA, play a very important role regionally as “natural solutions,” helping us adapt to and mitigate impacts of climate change, restore resilient ecosystems, and contribute to the recovery of species at risk.

Caring for Lake Superior is a team effort; consider how you might help keep it healthy for generations to come! For more information on programs and activities on and around Lake Superior visit www.parkscanada.ca/superior and www.parkscanada.ca/pukaskwa.