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Depletion of wetland areas
Great Lakes coastal wetlands are highly productive and diverse communities of plant and animal life. They are essential to the well-being of the Great Lakes ecosystem. Their unique vegetation provides cover and food for wildlife, helps protect shorelines from erosion, and helps improve water quality by filtering pollutants and trapping sediment.
These wetlands are home to a wide variety of wildlife species – some of which are classified as rare, endangered, or threatened. Many fish species depend on Great Lakes wetlands for spawning, resting, and feeding. Wetlands are also critical for waterfowl as both nesting and migration habitat. In fact, it is estimated that 68 bird species are either totally or partially dependent on Great Lakes basin wetlands. About 20 species of mammals, 28 species of amphibians, and 27 species of reptiles have been associated with the marshes of Lake Erie.
Wetlands are also important to humans. We use them for wildlife observation, water supplies, sportfishing, waterfowl hunting, trapping of furbearing animals, harvesting of trees, berries, and other vegetation, adult and public school education, and a variety of recreational pursuits.
Unfortunately, humans also alter and fill in wetlands in order to use them for other purposes. About two thirds of the original wetlands in the lower Great Lakes basin have already been lost, and they continue to disappear. For instance, the estimate of wetland loss in southern Ontario is 1000 hectares per year. As the area of Great Lakes wetlands shrinks, the importance of remaining wetlands becomes even greater.
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