The Office of the Great Lakes announced Thursday that eleven projects across Michigan will receive federal grant funding.
Rachel Coale is with the Michigan office of the Great Lakes. She said the projects will improve beach safety, create public access, and develop tools to protect coastal habitat.
“In addition to individual projects there are certain initiatives that our program is really taking leadership on one of them is the coastal clean beaches program, better known as the adopt a beach program, that will leverage local resources and local volunteers to monitor beaches at about 140 beaches across the state.”
Coale said projects focus on statewide initiatives with a few individual projects in Norton Shores and Sebewaing.
“The coastal program really focuses on public access, community development, coastal hazards, coastal water quality, and coastal water habitat.”
Coale says the projects are vital for the preservation and enjoyment of the Great Lakes.
“We have the longest freshwater coastline in the nation, it’s more than 3,000 miles and these projects are going across the state and doing some pretty awesome stuff.”
The projects will benefit marinas, coastal communities, and beaches across the state.
Coale says each of the grants has a local one-to-one match with community dollars.