Rare Coastal Wetlands on Lake Erie Lake Erie Management Plan Public Forum 2009 Dr. James K. Bissell Director of Conservation

1. Rare Coastal Wetlands
on Lake Erie
Lake Erie Management Plan Public Forum 2009
Dr. James K. Bissell
Director of Conservation

2. Dead Pond at Presque Isle State Park
Mixed Emergent Marsh Restored through removal of reed grass
(Phragmites australis)
Twig rush

3. Great Lakes Greater Bur-reed Marsh
Historically dominated all native emergent coastal marshes
along Lake Erie.

4. Greater
bur-reed
(Sparganium
eurycarpum)

5. Black Tern
The probability for Black Terns to nest within a marsh is
80% higher in bur-reed compared to cattail.

6. One of the
most serious
threats to
Lake Erie
Marshes
Narrow-leaf Cattail

7. Purple loosestrife
another serious threat

8. Pickerelweed/Bur-reed
Emergent Marsh free of invasive
plants at Big Pond, Presque Isle.

9. High Quality Lake Erie Marsh
Presque Isle State Park

10. Leafy tussock sedge at Dupont Marsh

11. Palustrine Sand
Plain Communities
are absent from
protected bay
shores and inland
pond shores
during years with
very high lake
levels such as
1973, 1985, 1986
and 1997.

12. Presque Isle State Park, PA
Pond 16 in 1986
Volunteers removing
reed grass at
Pond 16 in 1995

13. Palustrine Sand Plain
below was covered by
2 ft. of water in 1986.
Smith’s bulrush
East Harbor
State Park 1988
Presque Isle
1988

14. Low umbrella-sedge
One of several rare species that emerges along Sandusky
Bay and Presque Isle when Lake Erie drops.

15. Wapato
Least spikerush
Two PA Endangered species, least spikerush and
wapato, found for the first time at Presque Isle
during the very low lake levels of 2000 and 2001.

16. Bushy cinquefoil
Endangered in Ohio and PA.

17. Restoration of River Floodplain through Canary Grass control
Canary Grass is a serious threat to both coastal wetlands and all
tributary rivers entering Lake Erie. (lower Ashtabula River)

18. Common Reed Grass (Phragmites)

19. Mentor Marsh Restoration

20. Mentor Marsh Restoration efforts between 2003 and 2009 has
provided one of the more important migratory stopover sites
for several species of rare sparrows.

21. LeConte’s Sparrow

22. Nelson’s Sharp-
tailed Sparrow

23. Wheeler Creek Marsh
at Geneva State Park

24. Erie Bluffs State Park
Seepage Wetland