A broad group of natural resource professionals are setting out to ensure that the Great Lakes are properly appreciated by lawmakers.
The group of American and Canadian institutions includes the Great Lakes Fishery Commission and The Nature Conservancy, as well as economists, social scientists and conservationists.
In a written report, they called for more complete research on the Great Lakes ecosystem.
Scott Sowa is the Juli Plant Grainger Great Lakes Director with The Nature Conservancy.
He said economic statistics only show a part of the benefit of the Great Lakes.
“What am I willing to pay to travel to Alpena to go birdwatching?” Sowa said. “In my journey, I’m actually making investments that impact local communities and impact me as an individual. If you start quantifying the value of all those non-market values, there are studies that show they’re much higher than the actual economic numbers [suggest].”
That, Sowa says, is why the group says the Great Lakes are undervalued and underappreciated.
Sowa says the group hopes to help local, state, provincial and national governments make better public policy.
You can read the entire report on the group’s website.