Acknowledgement
We first acknowledge that the Great Lakes Basin is the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary lands and waters of many Indigenous nations, including the Anishinaabeg—the Three Fires Confederacy of Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi peoples. We also acknowledge our many more- than-human relatives who call this region home and have done so since time immemorial. As the original caretakers of these lands, waters, and ecosystem relations, we extend our gratitude and thank you for the integral care that continues today in partnership with entities throughout the Great Lakes.
Statement of Purpose
Ecological restoration requires a high degree of transdisciplinary knowledge drawn from ecological and evolutionary sciences, biogeochemistry, traditional knowledge, technology, civil and environmental engineering, and social sciences. Unfortunately, scientific restoration knowledge is currently lagging behind environmental degradation, especially as the Earth is rapidly changing, leading to more and more of the earth’s surface being non-productive. We proposed to establish the Environmental Restoration Hub (ERH) that will promote advances that push the frontier of restoration science by bringing together Michigan Tech institutes and centers, scientists, communities, NGOs, government entities, and industry partners to champion successful restoration efforts and approaches, develop new advanced restoration techniques and provide training for those entering this developing field.