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.

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........

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