Title: Great Lakes United Environmental and Ecological Issues Collection

Date Span: [ca. 1984- ca. 2004]

Acquisition Number: N/A

Creator: Great Lakes United

Donor: Great Lakes United

Date of Acquisition: May, 2007

Extent: 7 boxes; 10.5 linear ft.

Language: English

Location: Archives & Special Collections Department, E. H. Butler Library, SUNY Buffalo State 

Processed: Feb., 2008

Access: 
The Great Lakes United Environmental and Ecological Issues Collection is open for research. 

Reproduction of Materials: 
See Archivist for information on reproducing materials from this collection, including photocopies, digital camera images, or digital scans, as well as copyright restrictions that may pertain to these materials. 

Even though all reasonable and customary best-practices have been pursued, this collection may contain materials with confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the SUNY Buffalo State assumes no responsibility.

Preferred Citation: 
[Description and dates], Box/folder number, The Great Lakes United Environmental and Ecological Issues Collection, Archives & Special Collections Department, E. H. Butler Library, SUNY Buffalo State.

Biographical Note:
As per their website, http://www.glu.org, Great Lakes United “organizational members were brought together by the awareness that the world’s largest fresh water ecosystem was under very serious threat. These concerns attracted the attention of individual members who recognized the need for an integrated approach to recovery. The Basin contains twenty per cent of the world’s available surface water and is home to a broad variety of natural habitats. GLU members saw, on the one hand, a basin with abundant water resources and aquatic habitats, with biologically rich coastal waters, blue ribbon trout streams, and sparkling inland lakes. On the other hand, members were keenly aware that over two-thirds of the Basin’s original wetlands had been lost, thousands of miles of rivers had been impaired, and miles of shoreline had been degraded.” Great Lakes United works to preserve and protect the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence Seaway and their surrounding ecosystems. Their research material focuses on the eight U.S. Great Lakes states as well as the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec, and underscores the organization’s work in collecting relevant resources and petitioning the ruling bodies of the Canada, the United States, and First Nations.

Scope and Contents:
The Great Lakes United collection includes published reports, programs, journals, newsletters, handbooks, fact sheets, pamphlets and video tapes obtained from the organization’s Buffalo, NY, offices. The information gathered in this collection covers issues relevant to both the United States and Canada on the topic of the Great Lakes ecosystem and its environment. The bulk of the collection highlights concerns from and regarding the United States, but there also exists a significant amount of material collected from Canada and the International Joint Commission. Significant topics covered within the materials are issues ranging from water quality reports and protection agendas to environmental awareness publications; the bulk of the collection consists of information regarding the Great Lakes’ total ecosystem. The data spans the approximate years from 1984 to 2004.