Lake Erie is the southernmost, shallowest, warmest, and most nutrient-enriched of the Great Lakes. Together, these factors make Lake Erie the most productive of the Great Lakes, often producing more fish for human consumption than the other four Great Lakes combined. These factors also make Lake Erie Ohio's most valuable natural resource and arguably the most important lake in the world -11 million people get their drinking water from Lake Erie each day and it supports the world's largest freshwater commercial fishery.

Currently the Lake Erie ecosystem is in a state of flux (unstable) due to major changes caused by the invasion of a number of aquatic nuisance species—most notably zebra mussels and round gobies. These changes have resulted in an 80% reduction in the walleye harvest since 1988 and a resurgence in harmful, blue-green algal blooms.

To address these issues, Stone Laboratory and the Ohio Sea Grant College Program have provided leadership to a regional and international research effort to identify needs and priorities for research and education on these issues. Through a series of workshops, conferences, surveys, and focus groups, we have clearly identified needs for more accurate and comprehensive physical, chemical and biological datasets. These datasets must also include spatial and temporal variation and must be readily available to the scientific community, students, and managers. They should also facilitate development of accurate ecosystem models capable of assisting resource managers.

Stone Laboratory worked on the recovery of Lake Erie following the burning of the Cuyahoga River in 1969 and has been called "the base for the research that saved Lake Erie."

The Laboratory offers regular college courses during the summer, an educational workshop/conference/field trip program during the spring, summer and fall for grade 5 through adults, and research goes on year-round. During the summer of 2001, a total of 185 students from 18 colleges and universities and 40 high schools took college courses at Stone Laboratory. Since 1990, students from 71 colleges and universities and 292 high schools have taken college courses at the Laboratory. During 2001, our spring and fall aquatic workshop/field trip/conference program attracted 162 groups and 5,288 participants, and eleven agencies and universities conducted research at Stone Laboratory.

Vision for the Future
Our vision is to be universally recognized as the premier freshwater education and research facility in the country. Our education and research programs will be unsurpassed. Our education programs will be models for science education in this country. Our research will be solving Lake Erie environmental problems and enhancing the value of the Lake.

Mission
The mission of the Franz Theodore Stone Laboratory is to serve The Ohio State University, the Ohio Sea Grant College Program, and the people of Ohio and the Great Lakes Region as their research, education, and outreach facility on Lake Erie. We must enhance the value of, and improve the management of, our marine and coastal resources through the education, research, and outreach programs conducted at the Laboratory. The Laboratory's programs should address the needs of, and create opportunities for, the following national and regional audiences: students in grades 5-12, college undergraduate and graduate students, K-12 teachers, research scientists, decision-makers and elected officials, technical staff in state and federal agencies, and the general public.

Within this mission we have several goals:

1. Improve the quality of science education by creating high-quality, hands-on science education opportunities for students in grade 5 through adults;
2. Create opportunities for undergraduate and graduate research training;
3. Create special educational opportunities for high school students and teachers;
4. Foster more informed decision-making through education and training programs for decision-makers and elected officials; and,
5. Encourage and support research on critical issues and problems facing Lake Erie, the Great Lakes, and the environment, providing the science behind more informed management decisions.

The equipment and facility renovations requested in this proposal will greatly improve the capabilities of Stone Laboratory to support research, education, and outreach programs on Lake Erie.

Funds are requested to purchase and construct an educational kiosk beside the road between our main office and our research building on South Bass Island. We anticipate that approximately 1 million people will visit this kiosk each year.

The first floor of the Research Building will be renovated to allow and expansion of the Laboratories flow-through system for Lake Erie water and fish holding tanks. The renovation will include replacement of the existing floor with a cement floor with troughs for overflow water from holding tanks through which lake water is pumped. This system will replace our existing, fixed location, holding tanks that have square corners and are over 50 years old. The new floor arrangement will allow the placement of varying sizes of flow-through tanks around the 94' X 32' laboratory. Water and utilities will be moved to overhead locations. This will greatly increase the number of people who can use the laboratory and the kind of projects we can support, e.g. fisheries projects, zebra mussel projects, etc.

1. Three 15-passenger vans were purchased in spring 2003 and used immediately for courses and research projects at Stone Laboratory.
2. Thirty new microscopes were purchased and used for the first time in 2003 by approximately 5,000 students, teachers, and participants from the general public in the Stone Laboratory summer course program and spring and fall field trip/workshop program. Obviously, the vans and microscopes were used again in 2004 and will be used every year.
3. A new 25-ft research vessel was purchased to support the scuba diving operation and other research projects. It was used for approximately 200 research dives in 2003, 300 in 2004, and also supported a number of other research projects including projects dealing with invasive species, the Dead Zone in the Central Basin, and the Lake Erie water snake.
4. The purchase of the Gibraltar III was completed with $12,000 from this project matched by $33,000 from other sources.
5. Five computers were purchased to support the research, education and outreach program at the Laboratory.
6. New radar units were purchased and installed on the Biolab and Gibraltar III to enhance the safety of our operations.
7. Two water quality monitoring instruments and accessories were purchased and placed at the bottom of Lake Erie to monitor the Dead Zone during the summer of 2004.
8. In July 2004 an educational, 6-sided, walk-in kiosk was constructed near the Stone Laboratory Research Building where approximately 1 million visitors pass each year. The first educational materials placed in the display focused on general Lake Erie information and the Dead Zone in the Central Basin. The kiosk was completed in time for our biennial State Legislature/Congressional Day on Lake Erie that attracted 209 guests and our Annual Open House that attracted 1,300.
9. Plans are underway to renovate porches at the South Bass Island Lighthouse and to renovate the floor of the observation tower at Cooke Castle. Both structures are important parts of our education and outreach program.
10. Plans are underway to pump compressed air into the Research Building on South Bass Island and the Ichthyology and Limnology Laboratories on Gibraltar Island.