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Lake St. Clair Coastal Habitat Assessment: with Recommendations for Conservation and Restoration Planning

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Lake St. Clair Coastal Habitat Assessment: with Recommendations for Conservation and Restoration Planning Lake St. Clair Coastal Habitat Assessment: with recommendations for conservation and restoration planning Great Lakes Commission 2006 Lake St. Clair Coastal Habitat Assessment: with recommendations for conservation and restoration planning Acknowledgements This document is the result of a collective effort of dozens of individuals represented by a Project Man- agement Team comprised of nearly 30 different stakeholder groups from around Lake St. Clair (see Ap- pendix A). Special thanks go to Susan Campbell for her tireless research and writing, particularly on Sections IV (terrestrial ecosystem and habitat types), V (System Stressors and Responses) and VI (Overarching Responses to Stressors); her copious excellent photographs; and general coordination of the entire document and the parallel web site at http://www.glc.org/habitat/lsc. In addition, appreciation is extended to the following individuals: Dora Passino-Reader, Sandy Morrison and Burke Greer of the U.S. Geological Survey Great Lakes Science Center for writing significant text related to aquatic ecosystem and habitat types and gener- ating maps depicting stressors on aquatic habitats; Bill Parkus of the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments for his contributions regarding planning in the U.S.; Ernie Kafcas of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Mark Richardson, formerly of the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office for their contributions to case studies; and Dave Kenaga of the Michigan DEQ for his diligent commitment to reviewing this document in its many iterations as a member of the Project Management Team. Layout and design is credited to a team of individuals at the Great Lakes Commission, including Shan- non Glutting, Devra Pollack and Elizabeth Schmidt. A subset of the Project Management Team with representation from the Great Lakes Commission, NOAA Coastal Services Center, Michigan Natural Features Inventory and Walpole Island First Na- tion had significant roles and responsibilities in numerous sections of the document. Those individual include: Victoria Pebbles, Thomas Rayburn, Beth Johnson and Dave Knight of the Great Lakes Com- mission, John Paskus of the Michigan Natural Features Inventory, Alyssa Olsen Callahan of the NOAA Coastal Services Center, and Dave White of Walpole Island Heritage Centre. Funding for this project was made possible through a cooperative agreement between the Great Lakes Commission of Ann Arbor, Michigan and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coastal Services Center of Charleston, South Carolina. The project manager was Victoria Pebbles. - i - Lake St. Clair Coastal Habitat Assessment: with recommendations for conservation and restoration planning Table of Contents e Acknowledgements .................................................................................. i e Table of Contents .................................................................................... ii e Table of Figures ...................................................................................... vi e Executive Summary .................................................................................. ix e Preface ................................................................................................. 1 e I. Background ........................................................................................ 1 A. A Regional Partnership Approach ............................................... 3 B. Overview of Socio-Economic History of Lake St. Clair ...................... 5 C. Overview of Natural History of Lake St. Clair .................................. 8 e II. Socioeconomic Characterization ............................................................... 13 A. Political Jurisdictions and Institutions .............................................. 13 1. United States/Michigan 2. Canada / Ontario 3. Walpole Island First Nation B. Population and Growth/Migration .................................................. 20 C. Economic Profile ........................................................................ 27 D. Land Use ................................................................................. 31 1. Planning Framework 2. Land Use Trends e III. Physical Characterization ....................................................................... 49 A. Climate .................................................................................... 49 B. Geology/Geography .................................................................. 50 C. Hydrology ................................................................................ 52 D. Land cover ............................................................................... 53 E. Water Clarity and Lake St. Clair Substrate ....................................... 60 - ii - e IV. Major Ecosystem and Habitat Types of Lake St. Clair .................................. 63 A. Uplands ................................................................................... 64 1. High Intensity Developed Land 2. Low Intensity Developed Land 3. Cultivated land 4. Grassland a. Cultural grasslands and old fields b. Lakeplain prairie (mesic sand) 5. Deciduous Forest a. Dry mesic southern forest b. Mesic southern forest c. Lakeplain oak opening / oak savannah 6. Evergreen Forest 7. Mixed Forest 8. Scrub/Shrub B. Wetlands and Deepwater Habitat .................................................. 82 1. Unconsolidated Shore (beach, flat, bar) 2. Palustrine Emergent Wetland a. Inland marsh (palustrine proper) b. Lakeplain prairie (wet and wet-mesic) c. Great lakes marsh (lacustrine) 3. Palustrine Forested Wetland a. Southern swamp b. Southern floodplain forest 4. Palustrine Scrub/Shrub Wetland a. Palustrine (proper) scrub/shrub b. Lacustrine scrub/shrub c. Riverine scrub/shrub 5. Open Water a. Lacustrine (basin > 8 hectares) b. Riverine 6. Palustrine aquatic beds a. Palustrine (proper) aquatic beds b. Lacustrine aquatic beds c. Riverine aquatic beds e V. System Stressors and Specific Responses ................................................... 109 A. Land Development and Urban Expansion ......................................... 109 1. Urban Expansion 2. Stormwater 3. Habitat Fragmentation and Destruction 4. Fire Suppression 5. Agriculture 6. Soil Erosion and Sedimentation B. Altered Hydrology .................................................................... 117 - iii - 1. Water Level Changes 2. Draining 3. Filling and Dredging 4. Diking and Breakwalls C. Contaminants ............................................................................ 121 1. Nutrient Loadings 2. Toxic Contamination 3. Sediment Contamination D. Shoreline Modification, Shipping and Boating .................................. 127 1. Vegetation Removal 2. Shoreline Hardening 3. Vessel Activity and Marina Development E. Invasive Species ......................................................................... 131 1. Aquatic and Wetland Invasives 2. Terrestrial Invasives 3. Potential Invasives of the Lake St. Clair Region 4. Key Programs F. Natural Disturbances .................................................................. 143 1. Ice Storms 2. Wildfire 3. Flooding 4. Windthrow 5. Great Lakes Water Level Fluctuations e VI. Overarching Responses to Stressors ........................................................ 157 A. Existing Habitat and Land Management Programs ............................... 158 1. Walpole Island First Nation 2. Public Land Management Programs 3. Aquatic Habitats 4. Land Acquisition 5. Conservancies 6. Watershed-based Organizations 7. Programs for Private Landowners 8. Training, Technical Assistance and Additional Resources for Public and Private Habitat Projects B. Inventory and Monitoring Tools ..................................................... 176 1. Lake St. Clair Monitoring Inventory 2. Michigan Natural Features Inventory 3. Ontario Natural Heritage Information Centre 4. USGS Great Lakes Gap Analysis Program C. Local Planning Tools for Protecting Habitat ...................................... 181 1. Community Master Plans 2. Local Ordinances 3. Watershed Planning - iv - 4. Regional Planning Process e VII. New Management Tools for Lake St. Clair Coastal Habitat Restoration and Conservation ............................................................... 189 A. C-CAP Products and Application ................................................. 190 1. Development of C-CAP 2. Limitations of C-CAP 3. Examples of C-CAP Protocol Application Nationwide B. Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) Tool .................................... 195 C. Potential Conservation Area Analysis ............................................ 198 1. Element Occurrence Models a. Methodology b. Element occurrence frequency c. Element occurrence probability model d. Biodiversity value model 2. Potential Conservation Areas a. Process for delineating and ranking potential conservation/natural areas b. Priority rankings for Michigan c. Priority rankings for Ontario d. Potential conservation areas map and recommendations e VIII. Protection and Restoration Recommendations and Guidelines ........................ 215 A. Guidelines for Conservation and Restoration ..................................... 216 B. Setting Conservation and Restoration Targets: The Coarse Filter - Fine Filter Approach .......................................... 218 C. Recomendations ......................................................................... 225 1. Maintain and Restore Adequate Representation of Native Biodiversity 2. Maintain and Restore
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