Anne Moser, senior special librarian for the Wisconsin Water Library, asked some of our Sea Grant staff members what the biggest challenges are facing the Great Lakes today. We are featuring their answers in a series of blog posts. This is the fifth and final post in the series. (Read Post 1, Post 2 and Post 3, and Post 4 if you missed them.)
One of the people she asked is Tim Campbell, our aquatic invasive species specialist.
Tim joined Wisconsin Sea Grant in 2011. He engages communities, organizations, local government officials and other coastal stakeholder groups and helps them incorporate aquatic invasive species (AIS) prevention actions into their activities. Tim also works closely with the numerous professionals working on AIS issues in Wisconsin to coordinate education and outreach efforts. Tim has a bachelor’s degree in environmental science from the University of Notre Dame, and a master’s degree in biology from Oakland University.
Here’s his answer to “What are the biggest challenges facing the Great Lakes today?”
· AIS can make natural systems, already difficult to model and manage, even more unpredictable.
· Many pathways that expose our waterways to AIs are already identified and addressed, but others are more hidden and also need to be addressed (such as internet trade, illegal trade, etc.)
· Encouraging people to care about AIS can be challenging when they might not directly experience the impacts of AIS.
Tim also sees opportunities within these challenges. He says we have high awareness of AIS in Wisconsin and programs are in place that work and have solid funding. Even though it may be difficult to get people to care about AIS, their actions really matter. “Every invasion is human-mediated, and human behavior can change,” Tim says, “so every invasion is preventable.”
This information and more can be found in Anne’s presentation, “The Great, Great Lakes: Challenges and Opportunities in the 21st Century.”
Anne is available to give the PowerPoint presentation to groups in Wisconsin who want to know more about the Great Lakes, and she’ll do it for FREE! If interested, you can contact Anne at akmoser@aqua.wisc.edu or by calling 608-262-3069.