In his recent budget proposal, Governor Rick Snyder is recommending that Lake Superior State University receive funding for its planned Center for Freshwater Research and Education.
The center, which is a proposed $12 million expansion of LSSU’s existing Aquatic Research Laboratory, would be housed in a building near the west end of the Cloverland Electrical Cooperative power plant on the St. Mary’s River.
The governor’s recommendation for LSSU is one of five higher education projects that ranked the highest in capital outlay scoring evaluations in their respective categories.
LSSU’s current Aquatic Research Laboratory has been stocking Atlantic salmon in the St. Mary’s River for more than 25 years, which has created a world-class fishery in the upper Great Lakes that is valued at over $9 million to the Michigan economy. Research efforts have brought in more than $2 million just in the past five years.