Description: Lake St. Clair Shoreland Landcover
A variety of land cover types occur in shoreland areas around Lake St. Clair, most classified as wetlands ranging from fens to forested swamps. Three criteria are common to most of them; wetlands have saturated soils or are flooded for at least part of the year; wetlands often have soil conditions that are different from those in the adjacent uplands; and wetlands contain plants which are adapted to flooding. Prior to European settlement, the entire periphery of Lake St. Clair was surrounded by wetlands, including emergent marsh along the shoreline and wet prairies, meadows and forested wetlands further inland. In deeper water, wild celery beds were an important source of food for migrating waterfowl. Within the project area as a whole, C-CAP satellite data show about 51,000 acres of wetland, including forested wetlands. The majority of the remaining wetlands are located around the northern end of Lake St. Clair.