State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference 1998 BIODIVERSITY INVESTMENT AREAS Coastal Wetland Ecosystems Identification of “Eco-Reaches” of Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands that have high biodiversity value Version 3 Patricia Chow-Fraser McMaster University, Biology Department 1280 Main St. West Hamilton, Ontario Canada Dennis A. Albert Michigan Natural Features Inventory Stevens T. Mason Building, P.O. Box 30444 Lansing, MI 48909-7944 USA July 1999 State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference 1998 BIODIVERSITY INVESTMENT AREAS Coastal Wetland Ecosystems Identification of “Eco-Reaches” of Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands that have high biodiversity value Version 3 Patricia Chow-Fraser McMaster University, Biology Department 1280 Main St. West Hamilton, Ontario Canada Dennis A. Albert Michigan Natural Features Inventory Stevens T. Mason Building, P.O. Box 30444 Lansing, MI 48909-7944 USA July 1999 Table of Contents 1. Background ..................................................................... 1 2. Objective and Rationale ........................................................... 1 3. Description of Databases .......................................................... 2 3.1 Existing Wetland Inventories ................................................ 2 3.2 Wetland Polygons and Shoreline Classification .................................. 2 3.2.1 ESA Database .................................................... 2 3.2.2 Natural Heritage Information Centre (NHIC) Database .................... 3 3.2.3 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services’ National Wetland Inventory (NWI) ......... 3 3.2.4 Michigan Natural Features Inventory Database .......................... 3 3.3 Limitations of Databases .................................................... 3 4. Classification, Vegetation Analyses and Inventory of Coastal Wetlands ............................................................ 4 4.1 Types of Classification Schemes .............................................. 4 4.2 MNFI Classification Scheme ................................................. 4 4.2.1 Aquatic System ................................................... 4 4.2.2 Glacial Landform (Site Types) ....................................... 5 4.3 Classification Scheme Used in this Study ....................................... 6 4.3 Vegetation Analyses ...................................................... 19 4.3.1 Lake Superior Poor Fen ........................................... 19 4.3.2 Northern Rich Fen ................................................ 19 4.3.3 Northern Great Lakes Marsh ........................................ 20 4.3.4 Green Bay Disturbed Marsh ........................................ 21 4.3.5 Lake Michigan Lacustrine Estuaries .................................. 21 4.3.6 Saginaw Bay Lakeplain Marsh ...................................... 22 4.3.7 Lake Erie-St. Clair Lakeplain Marsh .................................. 23 4.3.8 Lake Ontario Lagoon Marshes ...................................... 23 4.3.9 St. Lawrence River Estuaries ........................................ 24 4.4 Inventory of Coastal Wetlands .............................................. 25 5. Identification of Coastal “Eco-Reaches” ............................................ 33 5.1 St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario ......................................... 35 5.2 Lake Erie - Niagara River .................................................. 37 5.3 Lake St. Clair - St. Clair and Detroit Rivers .................................... 39 5.4 Lake Huron - Georgian Bay ................................................ 40 5.5 St. Marys River - Lake Superior ............................................. 43 5.6 Lake Michigan ........................................................... 46 6. Fish and Avi-faunal Use of Eco-Reaches ............................................ 55 6.1 Use by Great Lakes Fish Community ......................................... 55 6.2 Use by Breeding Birds of Ontario ............................................ 56 7. Identification of Biodiversity Investment Areas ...................................... 61 7.1 Distribution of Wetlands ................................................... 61 7.2 Value of Eco-reaches ...................................................... 61 7.2.1 General ......................................................... 61 7.2.1 Importance for Biodiversity ......................................... 62 SOLEC 98 - BIAs - Coastal Wetland Ecosystems i 7.3 Other Considerations ...................................................... 63 8. References ..................................................................... 64 9. Appendices ..................................................................... 69 Appendix 1 ................................................................. 69 Appendix 2a ............................................................... 73 Appendix 2b ................................................................ 87 Appendix 3 ................................................................. 90 Appendix 3b ................................................................ 94 Appendix 3c ................................................................ 98 List of Figures Figure 4.1 Coastal wetland complexes and fringe wetlands occurring on the shoreline of the Great Lakes ...................................................................... 26 Figure 4.2 Coastal wetland complexes and fringe wetlands occurring on the shoreline of the St. Lawrence River .............................................................. 27 Figure 4.3 Coastal wetland complexes and fringe wetlands occurring on the shoreline of Lake Ontario .......................................................................... 28 Figure 4.4 Coastal wetland complexes and fringe wetlands occurring on the shoreline of Lake Erie . 29 Figure 4.5 Coastal wetland complexes and fringe wetlands occurring on the shoreline of Lake Huron- Georgian Bay ............................................................... 30 Figure 4.6 Coastal wetland complexes and fringe wetlands occurring on the shoreline of Lake Superior .......................................................................... 31 Figure 4.7 Coastal wetland complexes and fringe wetlands occurring on the shoreline of Lake Michigan .......................................................................... 32 Figure 5.1 Eco-reaches of the St. Lawrence River ........................................ 49 Figure 5.2 Eco-reaches of Lake Ontario ................................................ 50 Figure 5.3 Eco-reaches of Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair Area ............................... 51 Figure 5.4 Eco-reaches of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay .................................. 52 Figure 5.5 Eco-reaches of St. Marys River and Lake Superior ............................... 53 Figure 5.6 Eco-reaches of Lake Michigan ............................................... 54 Figure 6.1 Summary of fish spawning habitat in eco-reaches ................................ 57 Figure 6.2 Summary of fish nursery habitat in eco-reaches ................................. 58 Figure 6.3 Summary of eco-reaches used as habitat by breeding birds of Ontario ................ 59 ii Coastal Wetland Ecosystems - BIAs - SOLEC 98 Notice to Readers This paper on Biodiversity Investment Areas is one of three such papers that were prepared for discussion at SOLEC 98 and have been modified based on comments received at the conference. The idea of Biodiversity Investment Areas originated at SOLEC 96 for the Nearshore Terrestrial Ecosystem. This work has continued and been expanded to include Aquatic Ecosystems and Coastal Wetland Ecosystems. The authors of these papers have drawn information from many experts. SOLEC 98 - BIAs - Coastal Wetland Ecosystems iii 1. Background Coastal wetlands of the Great Lakes perform a number of economically important functions for human communities of the Great Lakes basin. They also play a vital ecological role in maintaining biodiversity and providing habitat for plants, birds, mammals, fish and invertebrates (Maynard and Wilcox 1997). For example, about 80% of the approximately 200 fish species found in the Great Lakes use nearshore areas for at least part of the year (Lane 1996), and directly depend on coastal wetlands for some part of their life cycle (SOLEC 1996). The Nature Conservancy’s Great Lakes Program (1994) estimated that nearly a third of globally significant biodiversity features [within the Great Lakes states] were strongly associated with wetlands and shoreline features of the Great Lakes. In SOLEC ‘96, Maynard and Wilcox (1997) gave an overview of the distribution and status of coastal wetlands in the entire Great Lakes basin, summarizing the extent of wetland loss sustained by each lake or connecting river system, the types of natural and human-induced stressors that affect these wetlands, and their significant biotic features (Appendix 1). However, they were not able to conduct a comprehensive evaluation because there was no binational inventory. Although most of the data for such an inventory exist for both the Canadian and U.S. shorelines, the information have not been standardized and centralized into a Geographic Information System (GIS) that would permit rapid retrieval and spatial analyses (Leger and Greenwood 1997). Another problem was that wetlands were classified according to different schemes and no study has as yet classified all of the coastal wetlands using the same criteria. In the absence of a comprehensive inventory and consistent classification