A new four-year, $5 million conservation initiative will protect water quality and build climate resilience in five lakes within Michigan’s 1836 and 1842 Treaty territories. Entitled Ganawendan zaaga’iganan genawenimigoyaang (“Take care of those lakes that take care of us”), the project is backed by a $5 million grant from the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) with support from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service as part of the America the Beautiful Challenge.
The LakeCare program is coordinated by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), but Michigan Tribes are helping design the work. EGLE is co-developing the program with GLIFWC, the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission; Keweenaw Bay Indian Community; Little River Band of Ottawa Indians; and Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians. Other partners include the Michigan DNR, Michigan State University Extension, and the Chippewa Ottawa Resource Authority (CORA).
Projects will protect habitats identified by Tribes as well as culturally significant species including ogaa (walleye); odoonibiins (cisco); adikameg (lake whitefish); nme (lake sturgeon); and manoomin (wild rice).
LakeCare will also support voluntary shoreline restoration and conservation easements while exploring opportunities to establish public and Tribal rights to hunt, fish, and gather on protected properties.
As GLIFWC’s coverage explains, the program’s leadership structure is intended to ensure that Indigenous knowledge and a “two-eyed seeing” perspective guide every phase of the work.
- “Healing the Waters Together: Frontline Tribal Conservation Priorities Drive New LakeCare Program,” Mazina’igan, Fall 2026, at 1, 23
- “New LakeCare Initiative Expands MSU Extension’s Shoreline Stewardship Work in Northern Michigan,” MSU Extension
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