Act

You need water, but water also needs you.

We are all connected to water. Our actions around water stewardship have a ripple effect that expands across our communities, across oceans and even over generations. We all play an integral part in creating healthy waters, healthy communities and a healthier future. A shared responsibility.

Check out how to get involved though our Streams of Engagement!

Imagine millions embarking on a virtual journey through the Great Lakes, exploring scientific discoveries, cultural connections, and personal narratives in an accessible and engaging way. The first step to connecting is learning about the Great Lakes.

• Biinaagami’s Giant Floor Map and educator resources provide curriculum-based learning opportunities for a wide variety of age groups and subject areas.
• Biinaagami’s interactive online map provides endless opportunities to explore the watershed in a new light.
• Biinaagami’s web stories provide fresh perspectives on the People, Places and Wildlife of the Great Lakes-St.Lawrence region.
• Swim Guide Beach Basics, and the Great Lakes Guide, are Swim Drink Fish content platforms, which attract half a million visitors per year in learning more about the science, people, and cultures of the Great Lakes.

Somewhere, some water body is a part of your story, and for millions of people, those water bodies are our Great Lakes.

Watermark empowers people to share these personal stories – through written accounts, poetry, music, or art – creating a vibrant online tapestry. Just as a watermark is a mark on a piece of paper that indicates where it’s from, your Watermark is an expression of where you come from. These narratives go beyond simple anecdotes; they reveal diverse perspectives, historical observations, and valuable data for project partners, informing future community-based science initiatives.

Over 2000 people have shared Watermarks in the Great Lakes, add yours today!

From observation to actionable insights. All community science relies on on-the-ground observations and reporting from concerned community members and community groups.

Countless organizations, groups and people are doing great work throughout this enormous watershed. Find out how you can get involved with a network of knowledgeable, passionate and experienced water leaders near you.

Our Great Lakes Community is a network of organizations and businessed committed to fulfilling their part of the shared responsibility towards protecting the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence watershed.

Joining the community empowers individuals and organizations to contribute their skills and enthusiasm, amplifying the impact of existing initiatives, whether it’s beach monitoring, habitat restoration, or advocacy campaigns.

For communities wanting to address specific concerns, resources are not always readily available.

We provide resources that can guide emerging or existing community groups in creating new monitoring initiatives to focus on issues of local concern including a comprehensive toolkit equipped with standardized protocols, monitoring guides, and even fundraising tools.

These resources empower communities to launch their own initiatives, adding valuable data points to the basin-wide network while tackling issues specific to their local environment.

Data alone is powerful; translated into action, it becomes transformative. 

We equip individuals and groups with resources like Niagara Coastal’s dune restoration program, the Blue Flag Award criteria, Swim Drink Fish’s Model sewage alert policy, Lake Huron Coastal Centre’s Green Ribbon Champion criteria and others that provide an avenue for local groups to champion and implement projects that measurably improve on different Great Lakes priorities.

By making use of these tools, you are joining a network of organizations to collect cohesive and comprehensive data from across the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence basin.