Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Ecology, Restoration, and Decision-Support Tools
USGS scientists developed the Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Restoration Assessment (GLCWRA) decision support tool to help resource managers prioritize where to invest in restoration activities. The Functional Assessment analysis tool helps managers quantify changes in ecosystem services associated with restoration actions.
An experienced team of wetland ecologists, geographers, and software engineers worked with resource managers to develop and host a web-based geospatial application that will support the identification and restoration of potential coastal wetlands (i.e., areas that could be restored to coastal wetlands if hydrologically connected to the Great Lakes) along the U.S. coast of the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Restoration Assessment decision support tool helps resource managers prioritize where to invest in restoration activities, while the functional assessment analysis will help managers quantify changes in ecosystem services associated with restoration actions. These tools were developed to support multi-scale decision making about where to target resources for coastal wetland restoration and the evaluation of the relationship between ecosystem functions and ecosystem health, as characterized by the Coastal Wetland Monitoring Program (CWMP).
A collaborative approach was used to develop 1) a basin-wide GIS data model that assesses the restorability of wetland areas in the coastal zone and 2) web-based geospatial applications (e.g., web mapper, geonarrative) that identify and support decision making about coastal wetland habitat restoration. An online geonarrative was created to describe the Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Restoration Assessments that have been completed for several geographies around the basin: Western Lake Erie (WLERA), the Connecting River Systems (CRSRA), Saginaw Bay of Lake Huron (SBRA), Lake Ontario (LORA), Green Bay of Lake Michigan (GBRA), and the Lake Michigan and Lake Huron coasts of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (UPRA).
Data to inform the Restoration Assessment parameters (i.e., hydroperiod, wetland soils, flowlines, conservation and recreation lands, impervious surfaces, land use) were collected from Federal and State databases for the regions of interest. Online mappers were developed for each geography to display results from the restorability assessments and the six publicly accessible geospatial data layers used in the Restorability Index model. The model was created by applying geospatial, statistical, and multi-criteria modeling techniques to the input data layers.
The Functional Assessment component relied on close cooperation with the CWMP to collect fish and other samples that were analyzed to understand how wetland quality affects fish production and how the wetland health data reflect seasonal ecosystem functions (e.g., fish reproduction). Functional Assessment data collection sites were selected to reflect a range of wetland qualities across all five Great Lakes. Researchers looked to compare coastal wetland fish community compositions across seasons and investigate how water quality relates to diversity, functional groups, and juvenile fish diets. Partners with the Coastal Wetland Monitoring Program sampled fish in the Fall and Spring from 2016 to 2018 and identified over 4,300 fish constituting 58 unique species! A subsample of juvenile fishes was saved for diet analysis by USGS researchers who found a diversity of prey items including zooplankton, mollusks, oligochaetes, amphipods, isopods, insects, and other fish. When the study completed, researchers concluded that taxonomic and functional composition of fish communities in Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands vary with water quality and season (Diller et al. 2022).
Restoring Hydrology of Impounded Wetlands
Impounded wetland units across the Great Lakes basin are unable to provide critical wetland services (e.g., nutrient retention, flood mitigation) due to their being cut off from the parent water body. USGS researchers worked with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service partners at both the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge (Oak Harbor, OH) and Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge (Saginaw, MI) to restore hydrologic connections to impounded Great Lakes coastal wetlands and monitor the effects of reconnection.
Studies on nutrient flow and retention within a hydrologically restored wetland unit at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge revealed restored nutrient fluxes. At the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge, researchers and partners saw an immediate use of restored wetland habitat by aquatic-obligate species (e.g., fish) as soon as the wetland units were flooded.
Hydrologic restoration of coastal wetlands in the Great Lakes basin restores wetland functionality and services for both the human and wildlife populations.
Continuing Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Restoration
The Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Restoration Assessment decision support tool compliments other landscape-scale efforts to support decision-making and conservation of Great Lakes coastal wetlands like the GLRI-funded Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Monitoring Program. The need for this tool was articulated by the former Upper Midwest-Great Lakes Landscape Conservation Cooperative, and now the Great Lakes Coastal Assembly is actively using the tool in their grant and project decision making. Other State and Federal users continue to give positive feedback on the tool and look forward to future developments.
The Functional Assessment project allowed us to see the seasonal differences in coastal wetland fish communities and supports the need for increased monitoring of Great Lakes coastal wetlands through time and across seasons to see the full picture of habitat use and functionality. In systems where fish habitat use has been restored (i.e., in previously impounded wetlands that have undergone restoration via hydrologic reconnection), ongoing post-restoration monitoring would benefit from seasonal sampling, as in the post-restoration monitoring effort at the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge.
Partners
USGS scientists developed the Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Restoration Assessment (GLCWRA) decision support tool to help resource managers prioritize where to invest in restoration activities. The Functional Assessment analysis tool helps managers quantify changes in ecosystem services associated with restoration actions.
An experienced team of wetland ecologists, geographers, and software engineers worked with resource managers to develop and host a web-based geospatial application that will support the identification and restoration of potential coastal wetlands (i.e., areas that could be restored to coastal wetlands if hydrologically connected to the Great Lakes) along the U.S. coast of the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Restoration Assessment decision support tool helps resource managers prioritize where to invest in restoration activities, while the functional assessment analysis will help managers quantify changes in ecosystem services associated with restoration actions. These tools were developed to support multi-scale decision making about where to target resources for coastal wetland restoration and the evaluation of the relationship between ecosystem functions and ecosystem health, as characterized by the Coastal Wetland Monitoring Program (CWMP).
A collaborative approach was used to develop 1) a basin-wide GIS data model that assesses the restorability of wetland areas in the coastal zone and 2) web-based geospatial applications (e.g., web mapper, geonarrative) that identify and support decision making about coastal wetland habitat restoration. An online geonarrative was created to describe the Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Restoration Assessments that have been completed for several geographies around the basin: Western Lake Erie (WLERA), the Connecting River Systems (CRSRA), Saginaw Bay of Lake Huron (SBRA), Lake Ontario (LORA), Green Bay of Lake Michigan (GBRA), and the Lake Michigan and Lake Huron coasts of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (UPRA).
Data to inform the Restoration Assessment parameters (i.e., hydroperiod, wetland soils, flowlines, conservation and recreation lands, impervious surfaces, land use) were collected from Federal and State databases for the regions of interest. Online mappers were developed for each geography to display results from the restorability assessments and the six publicly accessible geospatial data layers used in the Restorability Index model. The model was created by applying geospatial, statistical, and multi-criteria modeling techniques to the input data layers.
The Functional Assessment component relied on close cooperation with the CWMP to collect fish and other samples that were analyzed to understand how wetland quality affects fish production and how the wetland health data reflect seasonal ecosystem functions (e.g., fish reproduction). Functional Assessment data collection sites were selected to reflect a range of wetland qualities across all five Great Lakes. Researchers looked to compare coastal wetland fish community compositions across seasons and investigate how water quality relates to diversity, functional groups, and juvenile fish diets. Partners with the Coastal Wetland Monitoring Program sampled fish in the Fall and Spring from 2016 to 2018 and identified over 4,300 fish constituting 58 unique species! A subsample of juvenile fishes was saved for diet analysis by USGS researchers who found a diversity of prey items including zooplankton, mollusks, oligochaetes, amphipods, isopods, insects, and other fish. When the study completed, researchers concluded that taxonomic and functional composition of fish communities in Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands vary with water quality and season (Diller et al. 2022).
Restoring Hydrology of Impounded Wetlands
Impounded wetland units across the Great Lakes basin are unable to provide critical wetland services (e.g., nutrient retention, flood mitigation) due to their being cut off from the parent water body. USGS researchers worked with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service partners at both the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge (Oak Harbor, OH) and Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge (Saginaw, MI) to restore hydrologic connections to impounded Great Lakes coastal wetlands and monitor the effects of reconnection.
Studies on nutrient flow and retention within a hydrologically restored wetland unit at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge revealed restored nutrient fluxes. At the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge, researchers and partners saw an immediate use of restored wetland habitat by aquatic-obligate species (e.g., fish) as soon as the wetland units were flooded.
Hydrologic restoration of coastal wetlands in the Great Lakes basin restores wetland functionality and services for both the human and wildlife populations.
Continuing Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Restoration
The Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Restoration Assessment decision support tool compliments other landscape-scale efforts to support decision-making and conservation of Great Lakes coastal wetlands like the GLRI-funded Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Monitoring Program. The need for this tool was articulated by the former Upper Midwest-Great Lakes Landscape Conservation Cooperative, and now the Great Lakes Coastal Assembly is actively using the tool in their grant and project decision making. Other State and Federal users continue to give positive feedback on the tool and look forward to future developments.
The Functional Assessment project allowed us to see the seasonal differences in coastal wetland fish communities and supports the need for increased monitoring of Great Lakes coastal wetlands through time and across seasons to see the full picture of habitat use and functionality. In systems where fish habitat use has been restored (i.e., in previously impounded wetlands that have undergone restoration via hydrologic reconnection), ongoing post-restoration monitoring would benefit from seasonal sampling, as in the post-restoration monitoring effort at the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge.
Partners