Last week, a team from NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) and Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS) met with Wisconsin stakeholders to help inform and design baseline socioeconomic and environmental assessments in support of the Wisconsin -Lake Michigan sanctuary designation.

Dr. Val Klump from the University of Wisconsin -Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences talks with NOAA team about the school's DNA sequencing lab. Credit: NOAA.

Meeting participantsidentified stakeholder research priorities and shaped plans to map important lakebed areas, compile environmental data associated with maritime heritage conservation, and design a baseline socioeconomic survey. In coordination with ONMS and state and local partners, NCCOS scientists will use new data and assessments to inform management of cultural resources, and measure environmental and socioeconomic conditions in Lake Michigan.

The study area is the 875-square-mile area of western Lake Michigan nominated by the state of Wisconsin as a national marine sanctuary in December of 2014. The area containshistoric shipwrecks of national significance, 15 of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

For more information, contact Charles.Menza@noaa.gov or Theresa.Goedeke@noaa.gov.