An Integrated Habitat Classification and Map of the Lake Erie Basin

Overview

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 project grew out of the Lake Erie LAMP long term habitat habitat vision and strategy developed by the LAMP Technical Workgroup and the Lake Erie Millinium Network (LEMN) www.lemn.org for long-term preservaton and restoration of ecological integrity in the Lake Erie basin..

Specifically, this project will: 1) develop and implement a unified, consensus based classification of six Lake Erie habitat zones from data available in existing habitat mapping projects; and 2) develop a geospatial database that integrates classification systems at relevant scales into map layers and eventually into a single, integrated GIS habitat map of the Lake Erie basin for the United States and Canada. This project addresses the need for a unified, consensus based habitat classification system and inventory, which is a fundamental prerequisite to managing and conserving critical habitats and maintaining ecological integrity within the Lake Erie basin.

Contact
For more information about An Integrated Habitat Classification and Map of the Lake Erie Basin contact: Scudder Mackey (847-360-9820) or Jan Ciborowski (519-253-3000 ext. 2725) for technical questions; or Tom Hollenhorst (218-720-4269) for data or GIS-related questions.