Most Americans support conservation – here’s how the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative got politicians from both parties on board too

In a time of political polarization, it’s easy to forget that the vast majority of Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs – 80% or more, depending on the poll – value environmental conservation. However, this support is not easily or often translated into successful, popular initiatives.

One success story is the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Since 2010, it has provided over US$5 billion to improve the quality of the region’s environment, with an overarching goal of cleaning up the water in the Great Lakes watershed. And it has survived multiple attempts to reduce its funding or eliminate it altogether.

As a water policy and politics expert and a former leader in the Great Lakes advocacy community who has worked on and analyzed the initiative, I worked with environmental historian and Great Lakes expert Marc Gaden along with a team of graduate students to comprehensively assess the initiative and determine useful lessons learned for other projects in conservation and beyond.

A bit of background

The Great Lakes contain approximately 20% of the world’s available surface freshwater, providing drinking water to over 40 million people in the U.S. and Canada and billions of dollars annually in economic activity and ecological productivity.

Throughout most of the 20th century, the ecosystem in and around the lakes was degraded and contaminated due to raw sewage, industrial waste, invasive species, loss of natural habitats and runoff pollution from development, among other issues.

Many problems remained even after the major environmental and Great Lakes laws of the late 20th century took effect. The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has funded more than 8,000 specific projects, focusing on cleaning up especially toxic locations, controlling invasive species, restoring natural habitat and educating the next generation of leaders.

Government reports, public opinion polls, economic analysis and many other accounts suggest that the initiative has not only been successfully implemented and popular but has led to positive results for water quality, habitat restoration and wildlife while boosting the local and regional economy.

Deep connection

But these results didn’t happen by accident, and they weren’t inevitable. Our research team identified converging forces, some unique to the Great Lakes but many broadly applicable, that led to this success.

Underlying each force is the iconic status of the waters themselves. People in the region feel a deep attachment to the lakes and the quality of life they enable, with more than 50% of residents engaging in walking/hiking, swimming, boating or simply being with family and friends along the lakes. As U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga, Republican co-chair of the Great Lakes Congressonal Task Force, said in mid-July 2026: “The Great Lakes aren’t a Republican issue or a Democratic issue. They’re an economic engine, a source of drinking water for millions of people, and part of our way of life here in Michigan. Protecting them is something we can all rally around.”

A 2024 poll of a random sample of more than 2,500 Americans and Canadians found 96% of the region’s residents think it’s important for governments to invest in protecting the Great Lakes – a level of near-unanimity unheard of for other issues.

A prominent launch

Shared identity and popular support are not enough to launch a major government effort without a spark and a plan.

In 2004, President George W. Bush – in part driven by the swing state electoral power of the Great Lakes region – signed an executive order declaring the Great Lakes to have “national significance” and launching the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Strategy. Developed over the course of a year through work groups involving more than 1,500 people combined with public input sessions, the strategy laid out common goals for restoration and prioritized a list of needs, such as funding to clean up toxic hot spots and sewage overflows, which was critical to securing congressional support for funding.

Diverse allies

A plan for restoration – even for an iconic resource – will not garner billions of dollars in federal funding without significant bipartisan support from all levels of government and strong community support.

Those speaking up for the new program were “not simply one group or one voice. It was governors, mayors, the NGO community and tribes,” David Naftzger, executive director of the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Governors & Premiers, which works with all the chief state and provincial executives across the region, told our research team.

Business leaders have been particularly crucial backers. They relay to lawmakers the economic value of restoration projects, providing political cover for a program that increases government spending.

The broad range of support continues today and has helped the initiative weather various efforts to reduce or eliminate its funding.

Most famously, in 2019, President Donald Trump proposed cutting the initiative’s funding by 90%. Three weeks later, while traveling with Trump to a political rally in Michigan, three Michigan congressional Republicans explained how critical the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is to the region’s identity and economy, and how popular it is. At the rally, Trump reversed course and announced he would support keeping funding levels at US$300 million per year, promising to “make the Great Lakes great again.”

At a Washington, D.C., event celebrating the Great Lakes in 2023, I saw JD Vance, then a Republican U.S. senator from Ohio, and U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat, proclaim that while they may not agree on much, they are united in their support for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

Clear communication

Our analysis found that initiative supporters have been organized and disciplined about how they talk about the program and the overall goals. State officials, local leaders, tribal nations, nonprofit groups and businesses all deliver a “coordinated, consistent kind of beating of the drum,” Erika Jensen, executive director of the Great Lakes Commission, told our research team.

This includes not only the many positive stories of success but also the economic benefits. A University of Michigan study that showed the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative boosts the region’s economic output by more than $3 for every dollar of federal spending is used often to make this case.

These coordinated messages allow political leaders to tie the initiative into their priorities and build support across diverse audiences. One key reason for this kind of powerful communication is that the initiative funds work in every congressional district in the Great Lakes watershed, so every member of Congress in the region can say they brought home federal money to make significant improvements in their own districts.

‘Secret sauce’

The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative pays for community-based work on local lands and waterways – it does not regulate industries or tread into particularly controversial territory.

Everywhere has places that need help, cleanup and care. These ecosystems are relatively easy to build support for, and when connected with other projects across a wide region, these smaller efforts can make a significant difference in environmental quality and quality of life while building political and community support for even bigger undertakings.

I believe that many of the core lessons and converging forces that make up the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative’s “secret sauce” can be applied not only to the future of the Great Lakes but to conservation initiatives across the U.S. and the world. And they may even be able to help restore bipartisanship to at least some parts of U.S. politics.