The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded 11 grants to fund projects targeting aquatic and land-based invasive species in the Great Lakes region, NNC Now reported.

Under the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, the EPA is handing out $5 million in grants to state and local governments, Native American tribes and nonprofit organizations in an effort to make progress on some of the lakes' most pressing and long-running ecological problems.

"These Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grants will be used to target aquatic and terrestrial invasive species in the Great Lakes basin," Great Lakes National Program Manager Susan Hedman said in a statement. "The projects will also help to prevent the introduction of new invasive species that pose risks to the Great Lakes ecosystem."

Since the initiative launched in 2010, the federal agency has funded more than 70 projects totaling more than $40 million to combat invasive species, SCTimes.com reported.

One of the newly awarded grants, totaling $500,000, went to Michigan State University to test the effectiveness of an innovative "push-pull" technique to trap sea lamprey in the Lake Huron watershed. Historically, this species has been difficult to trap in large numbers.

A project by Loyola University project deals with unwanted plants. The university received $500,000 to target invasive plants from 355 acres of ecologically critical coastal marsh and meadow in the Lake Huron watershed. The project will convert 800 tons of harvested invasive plant material into fuel pellets that will be used as clean fuel to heat homes and small businesses.

Other EPA grant recipients include Huron Pines Resource Conservation and Development in Michigan, Friends of the Forest Preserves, Friends of the Detroit River, Michigan Technological University, Paul Smith's College, Duck's Unlimited, New York State Office Of Parks, and The University of Toledo, according to a press release.