Great Lakes Restoration Initiative

The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is a project that is the first major project to restore the Great Lakes in roughly 20 years. GeoSpatial Services has gotten involved with this initiative through its expertise in wetland mapping.



To successfully protect, restore and monitor wetlands, accurate, up-to-date data on these waters and wetlands of Wisconsin are needed. Access to important baseline information helps decision makers in allocating limited resources around the basins. The legislature established the Wisconsin Wetland Inventory (WWI) in 1978 and directed the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to map Wisconsin’s wetlands. GeoSpatial Services partnering with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is digitizing eight counties including; Florence, Forest, Langlade, Menominee, Portage, Shawano, Vilas and Winnebago counties.



Upon completion, the eight digital WWI county maps will be shared directly with all state, federal and local units of government who use these products to assist them in their wetland regulatory and protection programs, resource management and land use planning. GeoSpatial Services and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources will work closely with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Great Lakes National Program Office in providing the updated information to support the Lakewide Management Plan update process.

Project Links:
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service GLRI page
Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources GLRI page