¹Ministry of Natural Resources, Peterborough, ON
²SUNY College of Environmental Studies and Forestry, Syracuse, NY

Background

  The Great Lakes drainage basin contains 95 percent of the surface water in North America. It covers nearly 300,000 square miles in eight states and one Canadian province and boasts a rich variety of freshwater wetland communities. Prior to European settlement, however, wetland coverage was much more extensive than at present. Agricultural expansion as well as urban and shoreline development have reduced wetlands acreage in the Great Lakes basin drastically. An estimated 60-80 percent of pre-settlement wetlands have been lost in much of the basin, and 80 to 100 percent have been lost along the intensely urbanized Great Lakes coastline.
The Great Lakes region remains an industrial heartland and home to 40 million people, including 30 percent of both the U.S. and Canadian populations. Efforts to protect wetlands in a region dominated by industrial activity and expanding development inevitably encounter regulatory, economic, cultural, and political resistance.