Effects of Water Level Regulation on Wetlands of the Great Lakes

Abstract

The International Joint Commission’s (IJC) Levels Reference Study Board is concluding a multi-faceted study of means to alleviate the adverse consequences of fluctuating water levels in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin. Included were studies of the effects of fluctuations on wetlands of the Great Lakes. A summary of the issues, concerns and results of Phase I studies was presented by Dr. Douglas Wilcox in Great Lakes Wetlands Vol. 1, No. 2. In this article, Dr. Wilcox explains some of the results and conclusions of Phase II studies. Dr. Wilcox has been conducting research on wetlands in the Great Lakes region since 1978. He is a wetland ecologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the National Fisheries Research Center-Great Lakes in Ann Arbor, Michigan and has participated in many aspects of the IJC Levels Reference Study. Much of the information summarized here was collected in collaboration with James Meeker and Joan Elias at the University of Wisconsin.