Great Lakes coastal wetlands are directly influenced by the waters of the Great Lakes and are one of the most ecologically diverse and productive ecosystems in the Great Lakes region.
All photos above courtesy of Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC)
These wetlands provide valuable ecosystem services, play an integral role in protecting Canada’s biodiversity, and provide natural adaptation solutions to climate change.
Despite their remarkable value, coastal wetlands continue to be degraded and lost due to disturbances from agriculture, shoreline development, pollution, invasive species, and the compounding impacts of climate change.
As climate change continues to accelerate at an unprecedented rate, impacts on human and natural systems will continue to intensify, making it all the more essential to protect, restore, and enhance coastal wetlands for their intrinsic values and benefits to people and the regional economy.
Understanding climate change vulnerability, adaptation, and resilience presents an opportunity to move beyond incremental conservation responses towards more strategic and transformational approaches.
With support from the Great Lakes Protection Initiative (GLPI), Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) completed a novel climate change vulnerability assessment of coastal wetlands between 2017 and 2022.
A total of 20 coastal wetland sites were assessed across the Canadian shores of the Great Lakes, covering a range of wetland types and conditions.
Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands Story Map
You can use the following interactive story map to explore the results of ECCC’s climate change vulnerability assessment in further detail, and to learn about solutions to enhance the resilience of Great Lakes coastal wetlands.
Select the image below to open up the story map in a new tab.
Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands Webinar Series
The Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands Webinar Series featured 26 speakers and was attended by over 400 people in Canada and the United States on both sides of the Great Lakes.
SESSION 1:
Climate Change in the Great Lakes Basin and Coastal Wetland Response Modelling
This webinar focused on the results of the climate, lake-level, and wetland response modelling from the coastal wetlands climate change vulnerability assessment.
PRESENTATIONS:
- Assessing and Enhancing the Resilience of Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands: Project Rationale and Approach – by Greg Mayne, ECCC
- Projections of Key Climate Variables and Great Lakes Water Levels Under Climate Change – by Dr. Frank Seglenieks, ECCC
- Evaluating the Response of Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands to Projected Climate Change Using an Integrated Ecosystem Model – by Dr. Marianne Bachand, ECCC
- Modelling Future Hydrodynamics, Including Great Lakes Water Levels, Winds and Waves – by Dr. Rémi Gosselin, ECCC
- Representing Coastal Wetland Topography and Bathymetry Through Digital Elevation Models (DEM) – by Antoine Maranda, ECCC
- Modelling the Succession of Coastal Wetland Plant Communities Under Projected Climate Change – by Dominic Thériault, ECCC
- Panel Discussion
VIEW THE SESSION 1 PRESENTATION SLIDES
SESSION 2:
Assessing Coastal Wetland Sensitivity, Adaptive Capacity, and Climate Change Vulnerability
Building on the climate and lake level projections and coastal wetland response modelling presented in Session 1, this webinar shared the assessment results of wetland sensitivity, adaptive capacity, and overall vulnerability for the 20 coastal wetland sites.
These results provide insight into how climate change vulnerability varies across Great Lakes coastal wetlands and what can be done to reduce adverse impacts and build resilience to climate change.
PRESENTATIONS:
- Assessing and Enhancing the Resilience of Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands: Project Rationale and Approach – by Greg Mayne, ECCC
- Assessing the Sensitivity of Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands to Climate Change – by Greg Grabas, ECCC
- Assessing Wetland Adaptive Capacity in the Laurentian Great Lakes – by Morgan Hrynyk, ECCC
- Bringing It All Together: Assessing Coastal Wetland Vulnerability – by Patrick Rivers, ECCC
- Panel Discussion
VIEW THE SESSION 2 PRESENTATION SLIDES
SESSION 3:
Solutions to Enhance Coastal Wetland Resilience (Part 1): Reducing Non-climatic Stressors, Enhancing Adaptive Capacity, and Protecting Littoral Cell Geodiversity and Barrier Landforms
Sessions 3 to 5 focused on enhancing coastal wetland resilience. This webinar focused on ways to reduce or remove existing non-climate stressors (e.g. land use change) that limit the capacity of coastal wetlands to adapt to or cope with climate change, as well as ways to protect geodiversity and barrier landforms (e.g. bars and beaches) that shelter coastal wetlands and the plants and animals they support from the energy of the Great Lakes.
PRESENTATIONS:
- Adapting to Climate Change: Solutions for Enhancing Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Resilience – by Greg Mayne and Anders Holder, ECCC
- ALUS: Enhancing Adaptive Capacity in the Great Lakes – by Lara Ellis, ALUS Canada
- Coastal Wetland Restoration and Management in Canada’s Largest City: 30 Years of Lessons Learned and Adaptive Management – by Ralph Toninger, TRCA
- Coastal Wetland Restoration and Creation in the Credit River Watershed: Rattray Marsh and Jim Tovey Lakeview Conservation Area – by Paul Biscaia, Credit Valley Conservation
- Protecting Littoral Cell Geodiversity and Restoring Barrier Landforms – by Peter Zuzek, Zuzek Inc.
- Restoring Wetlands and Coastal Resiliency at Braddock Bay – by Joshua Unghire, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District
- Panel Discussion
VIEW THE SESSION 3 PRESENTATION SLIDES
SESSION 4:
Solutions to Enhance Coastal Wetland Resilience (Part 2): Coping with Lake Level Extremes, Managing Diked Wetlands, and Restoring Biodiversity
This webinar focused on ways to cope with lake level extremes, manage diked wetlands, and restore biodiversity, including invasive species management.
PRESENTATIONS:
- Adapting to Climate Change: Solutions for Enhancing Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Resilience – by Greg Mayne and Anders Holder, ECCC
- An Adaptive Management Approach to Supporting Great Lakes–St. Lawrence River Outflow Management – by Mike Shantz and Joe Fiorino, ECCC
- Nature-Based Shoreline Options for Great Lakes Coasts – by Dr. Adam Bechle, Wisconsin Sea Grant
- Diking Coastal Wetlands as a Management Tool: Advantages and Challenges from a Wetland Biologist’s Perspective – by Heather Pankhurst, Central Lake Ontario Conservation Authority
- Modelling the Impacts of Climate Change on the Growth of Two Invasive Emergent Plants in Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands – by Dr. Marianne Bachand and Dominic Thériault, ECCC
- Large-scale Management of Invasive Phragmites in the Long Point Region of Ontario: Risks, Rewards and Lessons Learned – by Heather Braun, ECCC
- Novel Approaches for Collaborative Phragmites Management and Financing – by Karen Alexander, Invasive Species Centre
- Panel Discussion
VIEW THE SESSION 4 PRESENTATION SLIDES
SESSION 5:
Solutions to Enhance Coastal Wetland Resilience (Part 3): Identifying Climate Refugia, and Advancing Wetland Conservation and Protection
This webinar focused on identifying and protecting refugia, or areas that are projected to be less affected by climate change and development pressures, as well as on ways to advance wetland conservation and protection.
PRESENTATIONS:
- Adapting to Climate Change: Solutions for Enhancing Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Resilience – by Greg Mayne and Anders Holder, ECCC
- Coastal Wetlands in a Protected Areas Context – by Dr. Scott Parker, Parks Canada
- Identifying Key Biodiversity Areas to Support Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Conservation – by Robyn Rumney and Dan Kraus, Wildlife Conservation Society Canada
- Nature Conservancy of Canada’s Great Lakes Conservation – by Kristen Bernard, Nature Conservancy of Canada
- Panel Discussion
VIEW THE SESSION 5 PRESENTATION SLIDES