Great Lakes Areas of Concern

For decades, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the International Joint Commission have worked with partners across the Great Lakes region to identify and restore the most environmentally degraded sites in the watershed. Known as Areas of Concern, these locations bear the lasting impacts of industrial pollution, habitat destruction, and contaminated waterways. This photography project documents and surveys these places today, exploring the visible traces of environmental degradation alongside the ongoing efforts to restore and reimagine some of the most polluted landscapes in the Great Lakes basin.