An Integrated Habitat Classification and Map of the Lake Erie Basin

An Integrated Habitat Classification and Map of the Lake Erie Basin

Project Description

This project, funded by U.S. EPA – Great Lakes National Program Office, will develop an integrated habitat classification and map for the Lake Erie basin that can be used to assist the Lake Erie Lakewide Management Plan (LaMP) to develop a bi-national inventory of the status and trends in the quantity and quality of fish and wildlife habitats in the basin. The integrated habitat map will be used to track improvements in habitat quantity and quality resulting from preservation, conservation, and restoration efforts and to guard against further loss or degradation from land use alterations.

The Principal Investigator for the project is Dr. Lucinda Johnson from the Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota Duluth. Other members of the binational project team include: Dr. Jan Ciborowski and Dr. Scudder Mackey from the University of Windsor; Mr. Ric Lawson from the Great Lakes Commission; Dr. Nick Mandrak from Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Mr. Dan Button from the U.S. Geological Survey; and Mr. Tom Hollenhorst from the Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota Duluth.

In early June 2005, an Experts Workshop was held at the Franz Theodore Stone Laboratory on Gibraltar Island to identify existing geospatial datasets within the Lake Erie basin and assess habitat classification schemes currently in use within the basin. Subgroups were established to further identify geospatial datasets and explore classification schemes within six natural and semi natural habitat zones, including terrestrial; inland aquatic; coastal wetland; coastal margin; nearshore; and open water areas of the basin. These experts form the core of a Habitat Working Group that continues to provide guidance to the project team during the testing and validation phase of the project. A dynamic classification scheme will be tested in two pilot watersheds – the Maumee River watershed in northwestern Ohio and the Grand River watershed in southern Ontario.

A second workshop, held in January 2006 reviewed and reached consensus on zone boundaries and an integrated hierarchical habitat classification scheme based on recommendations from each of the habitat zone subgroups. Geospatial coverages and linkages between those coverages were identified and compiled along with a list of critical attributes based on physical, chemical, and biological components for each of the six environmental zones. Ongoing sub-group discussions are guiding the development of processing algorithms to further develop the classification protocols for each of the environmental zones. Initial products should be available for review in late spring 2006.

The project team is collaborating with ongoing habitat assessment projects in the basin, including the University of Michigan’s Institute for Fisheries Research Great Lakes GIS project intended to provide fisheries resource managers with comprehensive geospatial datasets, and ongoing U.S. Geological Survey Aquatic GAP and U.S. EPA STAR projects designed to evaluate the biological diversity of aquatic species and their habitats. The project team is also developing a strategy to apply the comprehensive classification scheme to the entire Lake Erie basin, and will develop a binational habitat map data exchange website to include links to geospatial metadata and habitat coverages in the basin. The Lake Erie habitat classification and mapping project will serve as a model for developing a comprehensive basinwide habitat classification system and inventory for the entire Great Lakes basin.