Plan 2014 is a proposal to change water level regulations on Lake Ontario to help restore coastal wetland biodiversity that has been lost over the past 60 years. The plan is the culmination of more than two decades of research and deliberation, a $US 20 million binational study, and a procession of earlier plans evaluated and discarded in the quest for a perfect balance between shipping, hydropower, municipal, recreational, residential, and environmental interests. Submitted to Canada and the United States by the International Joint Commission last year, Plan 2014 remains quietly stuck in bureaucratic limbo.
Thousand Islands St. Lawrence River cattails wetlands Lake Ontario Plan 2014 Canada United States water level regulation

Graphic © Kaye LaFond / Circle of Blue
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This graphic was created to accompany the story: Lake Ontario Water Level Plan Tests Attitudes Toward Environment.

is both a scientist and a journalist, she holds an MS in Environmental Engineering from Michigan Technological University, and she brings proficiency in ESRI’s ArcGIS mapping software.