The Northeast-Midwest Institute (NEMWI) will host the 2026 Great Lakes Environmental Summit on Wednesday, February 11, 2026, from 1-5 p.m. The event will be held in-person on Capitol Hill at 385 Russell Senate Office Building.
The Summit serves as a convening of Great Lakes policy experts, advocates, and stakeholders to discuss the issues that are most impactful to the health of the Great Lakes. Speakers at the Summit will include Members of Congress and their staff, Congressional committee staff, and Administration officials about the 2026 federal policy agenda as it pertains to the Great Lakes. The Summit will provide an opportunity for the Great Lakes community and Congressional staff to identify and discuss regional legislative opportunities in this ever-evolving legislative and appropriations process, specifically in the form of a roundtable discussion of Great Lakes policy which will conclude the event.
Meet Our Sponsors and Co-Sponsors
We are very excited to have The Nature Conservancy (TNC) as the sponsor of this year’s Summit, and the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition, the Great Lakes Commission, and the Great Lakes Fishery Commission as cosponsors.
The Nature Conservancy helps advance conservation across six continents, including in more than 80 countries and territories and all 50 U.S. states. And, for more than 65 years, The Nature Conservancy has helped protect and restore millions of acres of lands and waters throughout the Great Lakes. Guided by science and leveraging decades of on-the-ground experience, they collaborate with countless public and private sector partners to scale innovative solutions for the biggest conservation challenges, ensuring both people and nature can thrive.
Since 2004, the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition has been harnessing the collective power of more than 200 groups representing millions of people, whose common goal is to restore and protect the Great Lakes. Learn more at HealthyLakes.org or follow on social media @HealthyLakes.
The Great Lakes Commission, an intergovernmental agency established in 1955, recommends policies and practices to balance the use, development, and conservation of the water resources of the Great Lakes and brings the region together to work on issues that no single community, state, province, or nation can tackle alone.
The Great Lakes Fishery Commission is a binational organization established via treaty between Canada and the United States in 1955 to advance freshwater science, promote cross-border collaborations, and to control invasive seal lamprey in the Great Lakes. Together with our partners, the Commission works to support a healthy and sustainable Great Lakes ecosystem through a voluntary, collaborative, science-based approach that has been delivering positive results for decades.
Thank you to all of these organizations for helping make this event possible!