Foreword: A summary of recent research on “Connecting Waters,” a special section of the Journal of Great Lakes Research

This special section highlights interjurisdictional and multidisciplinary approaches to research and management of natural resources in Great Lakes connecting waters (i.e., St. Marys River, Straits of Mackinac, St. Clair-Detroit River System (SCDRS), Niagara River, and St. Lawrence River). Historically, these systems possessed pristine water quality and resources that supported Indigenous communities and offered numerous archipelagoes, reefs, embayments, wetlands, and tributaries that provided vast amounts of habitat for people, fish, and wildlife. The riparian lands adjacent to these channels were desirable to European settlers who required water for large-scale transportation and industry. Over time, this led to degraded water quality and habitat loss from development, urbanization, industry and associated pollutants, hardened shorelines, flow regulation, and channel modification. Healthy relationships with, and recovery of, resources in connecting waters involves interjurisdictional cooperation and collaboration. This special section presents papers from the 2024 IAGLR Conference on Great Lakes Research in the “Water Quality, Ecosystem Services, and Beneficial Uses of Great Lakes Connecting Waters” session, and other relevant submitted papers, that showcase updates on status and concerns of water quality, contaminants, food webs, fish populations, and habitats, as well as socio-economic, physical, and biological assessments. This special section builds upon past work on Great Lakes connecting waters and highlights the ongoing research and attempts to manage environmental restoration activity.