Wetlands are characterized by the presence of water that saturates the soil
or covers the land for most or all of the year. This leads to the development of
plant and animal communities that are adapted to these conditions and which
differ from those in purely aquatic (lakes, rivers) or dry land environments.
History
Twelve thousand years ago the last great ice age was coming to an end in
Michigan. As the glaciers melted, they left behind a changed landscape. Water
was everywhere. New river channels cut through the sands and gravels and drained
into broad lowlands, flowing finally into lake basins carved by the glaciers.
Massive chunks of ice became kettle lakes, while winds sculpted coastal dunes of
shifting sand.
Slowly drainage patterns stabilized, and lake levels fell. Forests returned
on the higher ground, while vast grassy marshes spread across the former
lakebeds and coastal lowlands. Over time, the shallower kettle lakes filled with
plant debris, becoming bogs. Perhaps a third or more of the state was covered by
wetland habitats. These new habitats filled with wildlife in great abundance,
including mastodons, caribou, and bear sized giant beavers. These species soon
disappeared, to be replaced by more familiar creatures.
A succession of American Indian cultures in Michigan made efficient use of
wetlands. Open waters of lakes and rivers served as transportation corridors,
while swamps and marshes produced wild game and food plants. These native
Americans understood the value of wet places. Then, about 200 years ago, an
invasion of Europeans arrived, bringing with them the view that the wilderness
was an enemy, to be subdued and conquered. Wetlands, in particular, were
considered mysterious and forbidding places-wastelands to be drained or filled
at the earliest opportunity. The prevailing attitude, reinforced by acts of
Congress and State government, led to the destruction of millions of acres of
wetlands.
This "reclaim the wetlands" attitude continued to the middle of this century,
when nearly three-quarters of the original wetland area in our state (estimated
at over 11 million acres) had been destroyed. Michigan's abundant freshwater
resources, a gift of our glacial past, have too often been squandered and
wasted. Only in recent years have we begun to realize the essential role that
wetlands play in nature, and the human economy.
But despite new laws and the efforts of government and private conservation
groups, the destruction of wetlands continues, though on a reduced scale.
Major Wetland Types
Wetlands are a blending of lands and water in varying quantities, and many
different types have been identified by biologists. The three major types are
marsh, swamp, and bog. These can be defined more specifically:
MARSHES have standing water from less than an inch to several feet deep. The
amount of water can fluctuate seasonally or from year to year. Marshes might
generally be called "flooded grasslands." They are dominated by soft stemmed
emergent plants such as cattails, grasses, sedges, rushes, arrowhead, pickerel
weed, and smartweed. In deeper water are found lily pads and submerged plants
such as elodea, milfoil, and pondweed. Marshes are critical for many fish
species that live and/or breed there. Marshes offer primary breeding and feeding
habitat for water birds (ducks, geese, herons, cranes, rails) and song birds
like the marsh wren and yellow warbler, as well as numerous frog species,
reptiles (turtles, water snakes), and mammals such as muskrats, beaver, and
otter. In Michigan, marshes are found at the edge of some rivers and lakes, in
lowlands and depressions, and in swales between sand dunes.
SWAMPS can best be described as flooded woodlands or shrublands. Unlike
marshes, they are dominated by woody plants. The soil is usually waterlogged
throughout the growing season, though some swamp soils may become dry during the
hot summer months. In Michigan, trees and shrubs found in swamps include red and
silver maple, cedar, balsam, willow, alder, black ash, elm, and dogwood. Swamps
occur most often along streams or on floodplains, in flat uplands, or shallow
lake basins. Numerous wildflower species are found in swamp habitats, including
the cardinal flower and yellow ladyslipper. Characteristic of the many swamp
living animals are wood frogs, gray treefrogs, salamanders, barred owls,
waterthrushes, prothonotary warblers, water shrews, and raccoons.
BOGS occur where accumulations of decaying vegetation form mats that
eventually cover and then fill in old ponds or kettle lakes. In some bogs, open
water may be surrounded by floating vegetation, while other bogs are totally
grown over and consist of spongy, waterlogged peaty soil covered by sphagnum
moss. Bog soils are usually highly acidic, and oxygen and nutrient deficient.
Acid tolerant plants found in or around bogs include woody plants such as labrador tea, poison sumac, tamarack, and black spruce. Many species of orchids
prefer bog habitats, as do insect eating sundews and pitcher plants. Bogs
shelter many rare animal species, including the spotted turtle and southern bog
lemming.
The bogs most people are familiar with are these acidic bogs. There is,
however, a distinctly different type of bog called a fen. Its higher alkalinity
and productivity is the result of water passing through calcareous deposits.
Fens typically have high plant diversity due to higher nutrient levels; many
plants are prairie plants such as prairie white fringed orchid, sweet grass, the
bluestems, and blazing star. Unusual animals of fens include the eastern massasauga rattlesnake and rare butterflies such as Mitchell's satyr and the
Powesheik skipper.
Vernal Ponds are small bodies of standing water that form in the spring from meltwater and are often dry by mid summer. While not usually considered in
official definitions of wetlands, vernal ponds are very important in the life
cycles of many wildlife species. In particular, many species of amphibians
(frogs and salamanders) depend on these temporary ponds for breeding sites. This
allows the vulnerable aquatic larvae (e.g. tadpoles) to mature in a place free
of fish predators.
Descriptions and photos of
wetland types used by the Michigan Frog & Toad
Survey.
Where Can Examples of these Wetlands be Seen?
The linked table lists some places where the different types of wetlands can
be found in Michigan. Remember that wetland habitats are fragile and easily
damaged by human activity. It is best to visit them in small groups, and to
avoid wading through areas of soft muck soils and shallows where sensitive
plants may occur. Many of the areas listed in the table have boardwalks
traversing the wetlands or observation towers to improve access, and to reduce
human impact.
Why Are Wetlands Important?
Because they occur where the dry land meets the water, wetlands play a
critical role in the management of our water based resources.
Acre for acre, wetlands produce more wildlife and plants than any other
Michigan habitat type. Wetland species also comprise a critically important
segment of these species. For example, Michigan boasts about 2300 native plant
species; 50 percent of these are wetland species and over 25 percent of the
wetland species are threatened or endangered. More than 40 percent of the 575
vertebrate (with a backbone) wildlife species in Michigan live in or utilize
wetlands. This includes 10 to 15 of the 66 mammals, 180 of the 370 birds, 22 of
the 28 reptiles, and all of the 23 amphibians.
Here are a few other things that wetlands do:
- reduce flooding by absorbing runoff from rain and melting snow and slowly
releasing excess water into rivers and lakes - a one acre swamp when flooded
to a depth of one foot contains 330,000 gallons of water
- filter pollutants from surface runoff, trapping fertilizers, pesticides,
sediments, and other contaminants and helping to break some of them down into
less harmful substances, improving water clarity and quality
- help recharge groundwater supplies when connected to underground aquifers
- contribute to natural nutrient and water cycles, and produce vital
atmospheric gases, including oxygen
- provide commercial or recreational value to our human economy, by
producing plants, game birds (ducks, geese) and fur bearing mammals - many
fish are directly connected to wetlands, requiring shallow water areas for
breeding, feeding and escaping from predators
- when wetlands occur adjacent to the Great Lakes, inland lakes or streams,
they serve as nutrient traps that then enrich the larger body of water of
which they are part
What Are the Threats to Wetlands?
The extent of wetland habitat was once controlled by natural processes.
Marshes along the Great Lakes and drowned river mouth lakes vary in size,
depending on rainfall trends and Great Lakes water levels. The natural filling
of old glacial lakes with plant remains and sediment will create bog habitat.
Eventually through continued succession, open water may be eliminated, replaced
with a continuous sphagnum bog or a wet meadow. Floodplain swamps may shrink or
increase with the normal changes in a river's channel over time. Over the long
term, such natural change is inevitable. Wetland areas in Michigan have been
growing, shrinking and re forming according to natural cycles since the last Ice
Age and before, and these cycles continue today.
The last century has seen a greatly increased rate of wetland loss due to
filling and drainage by man. Prior to World War 11, drainage to expand
agricultural lands accounted for most of this loss. Recently, much wetland
destruction has been caused by commercial, industrial, and residential
expansion. The estimated 11 million acres of Michigan wetlands existing in pre
settlement times has now been reduced to less than 3 million acres. Recent
legislation has slowed the loss rate somewhat but threats to these habitats,
particularly the smaller wetlands, continue in many areas.
Wetland Regulations
State and Federal legislation that regulates wetland use and alteration:
- Michigan's Goemaere Anderson Wetland Protection Act, which is now Part
303, Wetlands Protection, of the Natural Resources and Environmental
Protection Act, 1994 PA 451, as amended, is a State law that provides for the
preservation and proper management of wetlands. It is administered by the
Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). DEQ receives and reviews
applications for permits for alterations, typically construction projects, in
wetlands which fall under the jurisdiction of the legislation.
Both of the following federal laws are administered by the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers. In Michigan, the Section 404 federal authority associated with
interior (inland) waters and wetlands was assumed in 1984 by the Goemaere
Anderson Wetland Protection Act. Joint jurisdiction between MDNR and the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers still exists in commercially navigable waters and
wetlands contiguous to those waters.
- Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 is the section of a
federal law which regulates construction in, over and under navigable waters.
Regulatory jurisdiction extends landward to the Ordinary High Water Mark (OHWM)
including wetlands below the OHWM. Activities in these waters require a joint
permit application, due to overlapping State and Federal authorities.
- Section 404 of the Clean Water Act of 1972 is the section of a Federal law
which regulates the discharge of fill material into all "waters of the U.S.,"
including wetlands.
Further Michigan legislation that regulates wetland use and alteration:
- Part 17, Michigan Environmental Protection Act, of the Natural Resources
and Environmental Protection Act, 1994 PA 451, as amended, requires public and
private organizations, as well as individuals, to prevent or minimize
environmental degradation that is caused or is likely to be caused by certain
activities. Its requirements are in addition to those provided by any other
environmental law.
- Part 323, Shorelands Protection and Management, of the Natural Resources
and Environmental Protection Act, 1994 PA 451, as amended, designates certain
wetlands adjacent to Great Lakes and connecting waterways as critical
environmental areas, and requires application to the DEQ for permits for uses
in these areas.
- Part 325, Great Lakes Submerged Lands, of the Natural Resources and
Environmental Protection Act, 1994 PA 451, as amended, regulates dredging,
filling, and construction below the OHWM of the Great Lakes and Lake St.
Clair.
- Part 301, Inland Lakes and Streams, of the Natural Resources and
Environmental Protection Act, 1994 PA 451, as amended, regulates dredging,
filling and construction, in, over, and below the OHWM of the state's waters
which typically includes adjacent shorelands and contiguous wetlands.
- The State of Michigan’s Floodplain Regulatory Authority, found in Part
31, Water Resources Protection, of the Natural Resources and Environmental
Protection Act (NREPA), 1994 PA 451, as amended, requires that a permit be
obtained prior to any alteration or occupation of the 100-year floodplain of a
river, stream or drain. Wetlands are often found in floodplain areas due to
the topography and inundation of water at certain times of the year.
Other laws both at the local level and state level affect wetland areas.
Contact DEQ before initiating any project involving wetland alteration, or if
you have a question concerning a wetland development project in your community.
Plants and Animals of Wetlands
Additional References
Freshwater Marshes, Ecology, and Wildlife Management, Milton W. Weller,
University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 1987.
Wetlands , The Audubon Society Nature Guides, William A. Niering, Alfred A.
Knopf Publishing, New York, January 1987.
Michigan Wetlands Yours To Protect. A Citizen's Guide to Local Involvement in
Wetland Protection, Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council, Box 300, Conway, Michigan
49722.
Wetland Protection Guidebook, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, Lansing, Michigan 48909,1988.
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