Prior to European settlement, the The aquatic plant, “folle avoine,” A LONG THE S HORELINE shoreline of the Lake Huron to Lake of which American geographer William Erie corridor looked very different Darby wrote is wild rice (Zizania than it does today. Extensive Great aquatica) and once was common in the Lakes marshes skirted the shoreline, region’s coastal marshes. Wild rice is very especially along Lakes St. Clair and sensitive to changes in water flow. As a he natural beauty of the region lying between Erie. Upland from these marshes result of major shoreline alterations, it no there was generally hardwood swamp longer thrives. In fact, today it is listed as on poorly drained clay soils and a threatened plant species in Michigan. Lakes Erie and Huron has been recorded by all beech-maple forest on better-drained sites. Tallgrass prairie and oak savanna Great Lakes marshes are dynamic the early travelers, with words of admiration. systems. Since their topography is grew in the lakeplain’s sandy areas. ALLEN CHARTIER almost flat, they are highly influenced Many of the islands were low, and Great Lakes Coastal Marsh by fluctuating Great Lakes water The American lotus (Nelumbo lutea) is a floating plant of coastal marshes in the “T Great Lakes coastal marsh is a wetland levels. This is especially true in the St. Clair River Delta where a lower Detroit River and western Lake Erie. some of the river margins scarcely above the ecosystem distinct to the Great Lakes. Its exotic-looking white blossoms inspire the It is the most productive natural change of only a few inches Lotus Garden Club of Monroe, which works water. But all was green and peaceful. Dark system in Earth’s temperate zones, greatly affects the size and to help ensure there is good habitat for this providing habitat for mammals, position of wetlands. In threatened plant species in Michigan. forests extended to the river edge, and many ERNIE BERGEN waterfowl, shorebirds, songbirds, high-water years, strong reptiles, amphibians, fish, insects, on-shore winds produce s a tall monarch of the wood waved its gigantic crustaceans and many plant species. ufficient wave action to uproot AMELIA HANSEN CORVUS ART plants and cause erosion. In arms over the brink, and was reflected in the “All the rivers and creeks enter from low-water years, marsh habitat both sides, through low, swampy becomes more abundant. land covered with folle avoine, or Changing water levels often glassy surface which not tide or flood ever wild oats. This aquatic grain, though cause dramatic shifts in thus named, is nevertheless essential- vegetation in a short period disturbed. The marshes were luxuriant with wild ly different from either oats or rice; of time, shaping the abundance and no vegetable that I ever seen, has a diversity of habitat available to wildlife. DAN RAWLYK DAN rice that furnished a sumptuous repast to a great more beautiful appearance than is Mudflats appear in the shallows of exhibited by the immense marshes, coastal marshes when the water is low. variety of birds and waterfowl, and even a welcoming supply covered with folle avoine; it is now Mudflats provide habitat for shorebirds MARIE BOYLE in blossom, exhaling a peculiarly that stop to rest and feed during The large pink flowers of the swamp rose to the Indians. Occasional villages and bark wigwams pleasing fragrance.” migration. They use their long, pointed mallow (Hibiscus moschetos) grace the fringes of coastal marshes. Lake Erie Metropark in –WILLIAM DARBY, 1819, bills to probe exposed soil for insects enlivened the shore, surrounded with gardens and cornfields, DESCRIBING THE ONTARIO AND MICHIGAN and other invertebrates. Michigan is a good place to view them during SHORELINES ON THE DETROIT RIVER. the summertime. and the most elevated points were crowned with burial GREAT LAKES COASTAL MARSH SYSTEM grounds. Most of the shores had high banks and were covered with timber.” –Bela Hubbard, a historical address in 1879 marking the bicentennial of the discovery of Lake St. Clair by LaSalle in 1679. (Above left) The great egret (Ardea alba) hunts in the shallows of the coastal marshes throughout the Lake Huron to Lake Erie Corridor, feeding on fish, frogs, small mammals and birds. The great egret nested on Stony Island in the Detroit River from the late-1940s to 1978, but abandoned ANNE C. HAMMERSCHMIDT ANDREW FOOT that site due to high water and industrial (Left) Brighton Beach in West Windsor, Ontario is one of the last natural shorelines on the Detroit River. (Right) Twenty activity.(Above) Dawn at WILDLIFE SERVICE CANADIAN SOURCE: percent of the Canadian shoreline and 87 percent of the Michigan shoreline along the Detroit River have been modified with the mouth of the Thames bulkheading and other shoreline hardening structures. As a consequence, in Michigan, only three percent of the original The Great Lakes coastal marsh system provides a wide range of habitats: mudflats, emergent and submergent wetlands, wet meadows, and tree and shrub River at Lake St. Clair. coastal wetlands remain in the Detroit River. swamps. Each zone is occupied by a different plant community, each of which supports a different animal community. 42 EXPLORE OUR NATURAL WORLD: A BIODIVERSITY ATLAS OF THE LAKE HURON TO LAKE ERIE CORRIDOR | ALONG THE SHORELINE ALONG THE SHORELINE | EXPLORE OUR NATURAL WORLD: A BIODIVERSITY ATLAS OF THE LAKE HURON TO LAKE ERIE CORRIDOR 43 R EPTILES AND A MPHIBIANS AT R ISK Rare Birds Dependent on Coastal Marshes find Habitat in the Lake Huron to Lake Erie Corridor Reptiles of the region are snakes and wetlands where they feed, and the mortality rates. Overall, reptile and turtles. Amphibians are frogs, skinks, uplands where they nest, is critical. amphibian populations are declining newts and salamanders. Both reptiles Unfortunately, roads and development due to habitat destruction, pollutants between their nests; they breed in and amphibians rely on water and land have fragmented habitats and disrupted that cause birth defects, and nest loose colonies in shallow marshes that habitats for survival. For turtles, the this connection. Wildlife is forced predation by raccoons and other are an equal mix of open water and connection between the aquatic to cross roads, resulting in high suburban wildlife. marsh vegetation. This species was once an abundant breeder in the Lake Huron to Lake Erie Corridor. Early Detroit ornithologist Bradshaw Swales (1875-1928) described them as nesting in “immense numbers” along the Detroit River. But from 1966 to 1996, numbers of black terns declined by 61 percent in JOHN SCHAFER JOHN North America. Today, black terns ith its highly social are a species of special concern nature and striking in Michigan and Ontario. JOHN SCHAFER JOHN appearance, the black tern espite being the size of (Chlidonias niger) is Loss and degradation of inland wetlands JOHN SCHAFER JOHN SCHAFER JOHN Wcharacteristic of biologically rich are the major causes of declining black a chicken, the king rail The eastern fox snake (Elaphe vulpina gloydi) lives in coastal marshes and The spotted turtle (Clemmys guttata) has distinctive yellow dots on (Rallus elegans) is one of marshlands. During the nesting season, tern populations. Invasions of purple associated wet meadows. This harmless snake may have a copper-colored its head and shell that make it easy to identify. This animal inhabits the most secretive marsh it is found in inland marshes in much loosestrife and other exotic plant species head and will vibrate its tail when disturbed; thus it is often mistaken clean, shallow waters with a soft bottom, such as sedge marshes, Dbirds and is not often seen. The king of northern North America. It spends that alter the composition of marshland for a venomous snake and needlessly killed by fearful people. Historical sphagnum seepages, and fens. They feed on insects, mollusks, crayfish, vegetation may also play a role. and ongoing habitat destruction and persecution have greatly reduced and other aquatic organisms. Historically, this small, secretive aquatic rail nests throughout most of the the winter along ocean coasts in the Environmental contaminants also Eastern fox snake numbers. turtle was fairly common in its specialized habitats throughout eastern U.S. and is a permanent tropics, from central Mexico through southern Michigan and Ontario; however, illegal collection for resident of the south. The Lake northern South America. Unlike other may have negative impacts, as some the pet trade and habitat loss now make it rare. Huron to Lake Erie Corridor lies species of terns, which are highly marshes that appear to be appropriate within the northern edges of its colonial, black terns prefer some space habitat are not occupied by these birds. The Eastern spiny softshell range. King rails were abundant in turtle (Apalone spinifera the area around 1900, especially spinifera) has a distinctive along the Detroit River and Lake olive colored shell that is Erie’s western shore. It built nests flat and leathery looking. on shrubs or vegetation clumps that It lives in rivers, lakes, grew in shallow areas there. But he least bittern (Ixobrychus and marshes that have exilis) is the smallest member soft-bottoms and can be king rail populations have declined seen basking on logs, rocks, severely following wetland losses of the heron family. It breeds riverbanks, and sandbars. throughout their range. In addition, throughout much of the eastern lead poisoning and pesticides may TU.S. and Ontario. Winters are spent in limit rail populations in otherwise southern Florida and Texas, the West suitable habitats. Indies and parts of Mexico and Central America. It nests in freshwater or King rails are endangered in both brackish wetlands with tall, dense JAMES H.JAMES HARDING Michigan and Canada. Fewer than vegetation. Semi-open cattail and JOHN SCHAFER JOHN 10 pairs were estimated to exist in bulrush marshes are ideal habitat.