Stressors of Aquatic and Terrestrial Habitats. Aquatic Habitats High Water Levels, Backstopping The development and maintenance of the nearshore water-based habitats is a dynamic process controlled by along-shore sediment (sand) load in currents, the degree of shoreline indentation and structure, water levels and storms. Historically, the nearshore habitats moved inland or lakeward in response to changes in water levels. One of the major stressors on nearshore habitats (wetlands, sand/cobble beaches, unconsolidated shore bluffs, interdunal wetlands and sand dunes) in the past 30 years has been high water levels, particularly when coupled with shoreline hardening or development. The shoreline habitats have not been free to move inland, but rather are trapped in a narrow area between the water and man-made structures. When shoreline habitats are trapped, they are much more susceptible to the impacts of strong storms that not only severely alter their physical features, but also flush out detrital and planktonic matter into the nearshore margins faster and in higher amounts than what normally occurs from the marshes. Sand bars and wide stretches of beach and/or submergent vegetation normally dissipate the force of these storms. Dikes were built or improved in the 1970s to protect the remaining marshes along the south shore of the western basin, which otherwise would have been lost (Xxxxxxx, Boggy Bottoms, Deer Park Refuges, Mallard, North Bay, West Bay, and Green Creek Clubs, Magee, Navarre, Toussaint, Trenchard’s, Rusk, Moxley, and Erie Marshes, Ottawa and Winous Point Shooting Clubs, Little Portage, Xxxxxxxxx, Little Portage, Pickerel Creek, Willow Point, Pipe Creek, and Pointe Mouillee Wildlife Refuges, Cedar Point and Ottawa National Wildlife Areas). The vast biodiversity of the wetland wildlife communities are dependent on a vegetated wetland complex. Dikes to protect the remaining wetlands from the combination of high lake levels and backstopping (to protect human use areas from the lake), storm surges, non- native species (i.e. carp, purple loosestrife, and xxxx-xxxxxx grass), have been the only means of survival for these diverse communities. While isolation of these wetlands from the lake has provided the sole remaining habitat for many wildlife, invertebrates and bird species, it has also impaired their use as fish habitat. Many fish species utilize wetlands at some point in their life. To fully rehabilitate the fish community in Lake Erie, coastal wetlands must be re-connected to the lake. An e...
