Great Lakes, Puny Policies

We call them Great Lakes, but where are the Great Ideas to protect them? Too often we settle for policy droplets instead of policy lakes.

Since the signing of the Great Lakes Compact in 2008 and the launch of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative in 2009, the Great Lakes policy vessel has run aground. Michigan, which calls itself the Great Lakes state, is not exempt from this squishing of the policy agenda.

One man who refuses to adopt a cramped view of the policy needs and opportunities of the Great Lakes is John Bollman. I’ve known John, a lifelong Michigander who retired as Director of the Legal Division of the Michigan Legislative Service Bureau, since the early 1980s.

During his tenure, John drafted legislation for the Michigan Legislature on a large variety of topics related to natural resources and the environment. He also served on the Michigan State Capitol Commission and continues to be involved with natural resource related projects including developing the Red Cedar River Water Trail. He resides with his wife, Karen, and their golden retriever, Molly, in Williamston.

I asked John to spell out his grand ideas for the Great Lakes. Take it away, John.

“The Great Lakes unite Michiganders like nothing else. If you are from Michigan, you get it; Michigan is and forever will be the Great Lakes State. Encompassing the largest bodies of freshwater on earth, the association is a notable distinction to lean into. It is this identification with the Great Lakes and the connected abundance of other natural resources that led Michigan to be an early leader in conservation. Going forward, Michigan should build on that history by renewing a focus on the Great Lakes.

John Bollman at Les Cheneaux Islands, September 2025

“The following are ideas to highlight the Great Lakes; their importance as a resource; their significance to tourism and recreation; their importance as a symbol; and their importance as an identity for all Michiganders. Some are merely symbolic, others are included to renew a conversation on the wise use of our collective treasure.”

● Establish two high-level Great Lakes Conferences

1. Great Lakes; Great Ideas for Protecting and Preserving the Lakes. Include this event within the annual Michigan State University Great Lakes Conference. Use this event to raise up innovative ideas for protecting and preserving the Great Lakes. Find a sponsor and offer an honorarium for the best idea or presentation and bill it as the Great Lakes Water Prize.

2. Great Lakes; Great Ideas for Outdoor Recreation. Include this event within the Outdoor Summit to highlight ideas for and promoting and expanding recreation in and around the Great Lakes. Find a sponsor and offer an honorarium for the best idea or presentation and bill it as the Great Lakes Outdoor Prize.

If you are from Michigan, you get it; Michigan is and forever will be the Great Lakes State. Encompassing the largest bodies of freshwater on earth, the association is a notable distinction to lean into.

— John Bollman

● Establish the Great Lakes State Park, encompassing more than 38,000 square miles of Great Lakes waters and submerged lands within Michigan’s boundaries. With its bottomlands owned by the state and its waters held in public trust for the benefit of all, this would be the largest state park in the nation. Mostly symbolic, yes–but hugely symbolic.

● Establish the Great Lakes Waterway Canoe and Kayak Trail. While the Appalachian Trail may be the longest hiking trail in the world at 2,194.3 miles, the Great Lakes Waterway Canoe and Kayak Trail would be double that, stretching 4,530 miles along the shoreline of the Great Lakes. While only the heartiest will attempt the entire trail, it will create opportunities to highlight selective segments.

The winds of change support a new Great Lakes agenda

● Establish the Great Lakes River Pathways Initiative. Michigan’s rivers connect to the Great Lakes and provide not only fish passage, wildlife corridors, and pollinator corridors that stretch across the state, they connect communities and individuals to the greatest bodies of water in the world. Provide incentives for protecting and cleaning up rivers. Provide incentives for maintaining river corridors as wildlife corridors. Provide incentives for creating river corridors as pollinator corridors through pollinator plantings. Provide incentives to create water trails to connect people with water and include signage that not only provides the distance to the next boat launch, but also the distance to the Great Lake that the river enters.

● Establish the Michigan Water Promise, which would provide a goal for every body of water in the state to be safe for boating, fishing, and swimming by 2035. Yes, this resurfaces the mandate from the federal Clean Water Act, but it remains an important objective. Use this goal to lobby for water quality protection initiatives.

● Establish the Great Lakes State Water Fund to provide research into water conservation, water use, and the protection of water resources. Create a revenue stream from a Pennies for Pure Water campaign. Create a bottled water tax of a penny or two per bottle to fund the Great Lakes State Water Fund. Conduct a social media campaign to build support: I’ll give you my two cents; support clean water.’ (Editor’s note: FLOW Water Advocates has proposed a Clean Water Trust Fund from royalties on bottled public water.)

Other ideas are out there. Let’s raise the banner for a Great Lakes Forever campaign.”

This is an excellent agenda, more expansive than anything tried by legislators in ages. But the Lakes are big enough to inspire more great ideas.

What are yours? Get in touch so I can post them for discussion.

And thanks, John.