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close print view
Dickinson Island/Harsen's Island Marshes
| Recognition:
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Nominated
for Legal Dedication,
The Nature Conservancy Natural Areas Registry |
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| Size: |
2,110 acres |
| Location:
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At the
mouth of the St. Clair River, 25 miles northeast of downtown Detroit |
| Management: |
St. Clair
Flats Wildlife Area |
| Activities:
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Birdwatching, canoeing, hunting,
non-motorized fishing, photography, scenic vistas |
Importance:
Besides being the largest freshwater delta in the Great Lakes Basin
(and one of the largest in the world), the St. Clair River Delta
contains the greatest area of unaltered coastal marsh in southern
Michigan and perhaps the State. It is a well-known stop-over for
migrating waterfowl, and provides nesting habitat for other birds,
including the state-threatened common tern. Only four other delta
wetlands are known in Michigan.
On Dickinson Island, small areas of wet
prairie exist between the oaks on the ancient delta formation and
sedge meadow of the younger delta wetland. Wet prairie sites on both
Dickinson and Harsen's Islands provide habitat for rare plant
species. Other animals species include great blue heron (which
nests on the islands), the eastern fox snake (state-threatened and
restricted to coastal marshes of Saginaw Bay, Lake St. Clair, and
Lake Erie), king rail (declining and listed as endangered in
Michigan), and the rare Forster's tern (nests on the channel levees
that extend west from Dickinson Island). |
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Photo by Denny Albert
Great lakes marsh
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Oaks
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