Importance of wetlands

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By Mark H. Stowers

Wetlands are easy to overlook, especially their importance. They may look like unassuming acres of native plants, wet soil, and trees, filled with frogs and other amphibians and animals. That is, until your basement floods, your favorite lake turns green, the shoreline at your lakeside home erodes, or the spring night chorus of frogs you usually enjoy goes silent. These aren’t wastelands but an assembly line of working landscapes – part sponge, part kidney, part nursery – that slow stormwater, filter runoff, recharge groundwater, protect lakes and rivers, sequester carbon, create natural greenspace and recreational areas that stimulate economic benefits, and provide shelter for fish, birds, amphibians, insects, and mammals.

According to the Global Wetland Outlook 2025, a comprehensive assessment of the state of wetlands worldwide, produced by the Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP) of the Convention on Wetlands, an estimated 411 million hectares of wetlands – 22 percent of the global total – have been lost since 1970.

Across Michigan, those working landscapes have been cut roughly in half since European settlement and the loss has been even more severe in many developed parts of southeast Michigan. Oakland County still has meaningful wetland resources, but they are under pressure from development, stormwater, invasive species, sediment, altered drainage and a changing legal landscape.

“They need to be shouted off of the rooftops,” said Lauren Eaton, monitoring manager for Friends of the Rouge. “They’re vitally important.”

But just what is a wetland? A wetland is not simply any low spot that gets soggy after a hard rain. In Michigan, wetlands are identified through three core indicators – water, wet-adapted plants and hydric soils. In more practical terms, a wetland is land that is saturated or flooded long enough, often seasonally, to shape the soil and plant community. Some wetlands hold visible standing water. Others may look dry during part of the year but still function as wetlands because the soil remains saturated during key growing-season periods.

The easiest way to describe a Michigan Wetland is if it passes three tests, according to Eaton. Vegetation, Soil and Hydrology.

“Vegetation involves calculating the percentage and dominance of plant species adapted to wet, saturated conditions. Soil refers to sampling soil profiles to identify anaerobic, saturated conditions caused by prolonged flooding or ponding. Hydrology refers to determining if water is present at or near the surface for a sufficient duration during the growing season,” Eaton said.

Professionals use wetland delineation rather than guesswork to examine vegetation, soils and hydrology on site. Maps, aerial imagery, soils data, LiDAR (light detection and ranging) and the National Wetland Inventory can help identify likely wetlands, but the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) cautions that only an on-site evaluation by EGLE or a qualified consultant can determine exact jurisdictional boundaries for regulatory purposes.

But all wetlands are not equal. Michigan has marshes, swamps, bogs, fens, wet meadows, vernal pools, coastal marshes and inland depressional wetlands. Some are even less than an acre. Others stretch across large landscapes. Some are directly connected to lakes and streams. Others appear isolated on the surface but still connect through groundwater or seasonal flow.

Randy Knapik, wetland habitat specialist with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR), explained, “Wetlands come in all shapes and sizes and come in all different types. Some are large, some are small, and some are less than an acre, but each has a role in the larger water system.”

Sciencedirect.com explains there are three types of wetlands with many subtypes in each. First, marine/coastal wetlands. These can be permanent shallow marine waters, marine sub-tidal aquatic beds, coral reefs, rocky marine shores, sand/shingle/pebble shores, Estuarine waters, Intertidal mud, sand or salt flats and several more. Second, inland wetlands. These can be permanent inland deltas or permanent rivers/streams/creeks, season/ intermittent/ ­­­­irregular rivers/ streams/ creeks, permanent freshwater lakes and more. And third, human-made wetlands such as aquaculture ponds, ponds, irrigated land, seasonal flooded agriculture land, water storage areas and even wastewater treatment plants. According to the EPA, wetlands cover 5.5 percent of the land in the 48 contiguous states, and 95 percent of those are freshwater. The loss of wetlands comes from both natural and human-induced stressors such as hurricanes, human modifications, withdrawal of groundwater, pollutants and invasive species.

Wetland loss has been critical to the state and county and has been piling up since the state was first trampled upon centuries ago by ancient discoverers. Those losses are not abstract. Eaton said Oakland County has lost about half of its wetlands, while Wayne County has lost “about ninety percent or more. Protecting our remaining southeast Michigan wetlands and restoring former wetlands is really, vitally important.”

The Mitten State once had an estimated 10 million to 11 million acres of wetlands. Today, roughly 6.4 million to 6.5 million acres remain. In broad terms, the state has lost about 40 to 50 percent of its original wetlands, with the greatest losses concentrated in the southern Lower Peninsula, where the costs of making the land fit to habitat by farming, building roads, cities and subdivisions that replaced historic marshes and swamps that if understood, could have been better preserved and used to enhance and not be replaced.

Oakland County’s numbers vary depending on the data source and method. Knapik cited an estimate of about 114,100 pre-settlement wetland acres in Oakland County and about 51,600 acres in 2005, a roughly 55 percent loss. Jim Nash, the Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner, cited more recent regional mapping data showing about 84,400 acres of wetlands in the county. The difference illustrates an important point that wetland acreage is estimated through mapping methods that change over time, while regulatory decisions still require site-specific review.

Whatever number is used, the trend is clear. Oakland County has lost a large share of its original wetland base and the wetlands that remain are especially valuable because they sit in a heavily developed landscape where stormwater, fertilizer, road runoff and flooding pressure are constant.

William “Scott” Brown of the Michigan Waterfront Alliance said the remaining wetlands in Oakland County “contribute mightily to the headwaters of several rivers and your inland lakes. The county’s wetlands are not large in statewide scale, but they are outsized in importance because they protect local water quality and downstream systems.”

The benefits of wetlands are numerous. According to Michigan State University Extension data, “A healthy wetland is a place of incredible biodiversity. Many species of waterfowl, songbirds, amphibians, reptiles, fish and mammals rely on wetlands. According to Michigan Sea Grant, close to 90 percent of Great Lakes fish species depend on wetlands at some point during their life cycle for food, shelter or spawning habitat. Many popular sport fish species including yellow perch, smallmouth bass and largemouth bass use wetlands as nursery habitat during their larval stage. Wetlands also support many invertebrate species that serve as a food source for Great Lakes fish. Wetlands provide critical habitat for migrating birds. According to Ducks Unlimited, every species of duck, goose and swan in North America relies on wetlands. Wetlands are particularly important to threatened and endangered species.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) notes that while wetlands make up only five percent of the land area in the continental U.S., more than one third of threatened and endangered species live exclusively in wetland habitat. A full 43 percent of threatened and endangered species depend on wetlands at some point during their life.

Wetlands are important to lakes, rivers and people and are beneficial to each. The most common wetland analogies is that of sponges and kidneys. As sponges, they absorb and temporarily store water, slowing the rush of stormwater into lakes, rivers, streams and storm drains. As kidneys, they filter water by trapping sediment, taking up nutrients, binding pollutants in soil, and supporting microbes that transform nitrogen before it reaches downstream waters that, if left unchecked, will generate harmful algal growth affecting water supply and recreational use.

When rain falls on pavement, rooftops, compacted lawns and roads, it can run off quickly, carrying fertilizer, oil, brake dust, sediment, bacteria and other pollutants with it. Wetlands and natural shorelines slow that water down, spread it out and give plants and soils time to capture what would otherwise move right into a lake or stream. Basically, working as a front line and first line of defense.

Wetlands are also biological engines. They provide breeding, nesting, feeding and cover habitat for waterfowl, songbirds, frogs, toads, salamanders, turtles, fish, insects and mammals. Vernal pools or seasonal wetlands that may dry later in the year and can be essential breeding places for amphibians because they lack fish that would eat eggs and larvae. Coastal and inland wetlands also serve as fish nurseries and feeding areas, supporting recreation and local economies.

Mikela Dean, watershed ecologist for the Clinton River Watershed Council, described wetlands as “incredibly valuable natural features acting like sponges,” she said. “They soak up excess water, they filter out excess nutrients and pollutants, and they help mitigate flooding and erosion issues.”

Dr. Silvia Newell, Director of the University of Michigan and Michigan Sea Grant (MISG) and University of Michigan Professor in the School of the Environment and Sustainability, summarized the benefits as both ecological and economic.

“You get economic and ecological benefits. Economic in terms of tourism, drawing people to an area, rising home values and lowering insurance costs. And then ecological in terms of slowing down water, reducing flooding, removing nutrients and providing wildlife habitat,” she explained.

In the defense with flooding, it’s not only about how much rain falls. It is also about how fast that rain moves across the landscape. Wetlands work as a braking system to effectively reduce flood risk by storing water during storms and releasing it more slowly. In a developed watershed, that delay is significant. It helps reduce peak flows in streams, limit downstream erosion, and lower pressure on culverts, drains and stormwater systems.

Newell used the same image in explaining flood control.

“Wetland soils hold water and slow water movement and reduce the energy of rivers. Instead of a huge pulse moving downstream, water is released more slowly,” she said. “This helps in the reduction of erosion and flooding.”

Nash described the process simply.

“When water moving from a lake or river reaches a wetland, the wetland absorbs much of it and slows the current until the system is overwhelmed. That does not eliminate every flood, especially during extreme storms, but it can reduce how quickly water builds momentum downstream,” he said.

The same idea applies for property owners. Rain gardens, native shoreline buffers, bioswales and restored natural areas can mimic wetland functions by holding stormwater on site instead of sending it immediately into the nearest drain, lake or creek.

For lakefront property owners, Eaton connected flooding directly to land use.

“Pavement and concrete are impervious surfaces,” she said, “Rain will fall and then immediately go into a storm sewer or immediately go into the river or immediately go into the lake. Natural landscapes work differently. Rain falls and filters through the ground more slowly, reducing flooding and pollution.”

With the reduction of these hard working acres, wetlands are both state and federally protected. Michigan’s wetland protection system is unusual. In 1979, the state passed the Geomare-Anderson Wetlands Protection Act, now Part 303 of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act. In 1984, Michigan became one of the few states authorized by the federal government to administer most of the Clean Water Act Section 404 dredge-and-fill permit program itself. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency identifies Michigan and New Jersey as the two states that currently implement assumed Section 404 programs for assumable waters.

In Michigan, EGLE is the primary state agency regulating wetlands. Under Part 303, regulated wetlands include wetlands connected to or near the Great Lakes, Lake St. Clair, inland lakes, ponds, rivers and streams; wetlands larger than five acres even if not connected on the surface; and smaller isolated wetlands that EGLE determines are essential to the preservation of the state’s natural resources after notifying the owner.

EGLE’s Wetland Policy Analyst Kathryn Kirkpatrick explained that Michigan’s wetland program follows EPA’s four core elements – monitoring and assessment, regulation, voluntary restoration and protection, and wetland water quality standards.

“The state’s monitoring strategy looks not only at where wetlands are, but also at their quality, trends, permitted impacts, mitigation and unauthorized impacts,” Kirkpatrick said. “Michigan Wetlands Protection Act was passed all the way back in 1979 and shortly after that, Michigan assumed administration of the Clean Water Act Section 404 program in 1984. For over 40 years, Michigan’s regulatory wetland program has served as a national model for effective resource protection and regulatory streamlining. The Michigan Wetlands Protection Act was written specifically to support state assumption of the federal Section 404 program. The wetland program in Michigan does follow the EPA state and tribal wetland programs.”

Kirkpatrick also explained the “EPA has developed a three-tiered technical approach to monitoring assessment programs for wetlands, and our wetland monitoring strategy follows this three-tiered approach.”

Level one assessment includes landscape level assessment using GIS and remote sensing tools to assess landscape, spatial, quantity and quality of wetlands. It includes landscape level wetland functional assessment and NWI. Level two is rapid wetland assessment.

“Our assessment strategy does include rapid wetland assessment through the use of the Michigan Rapid Assessment Method or MiRAM. And then level three is the intensive site assessment. Many people are familiar with where you spend a lot of time on site actually gathering data in a wetland, and this will be the focus of today’s discussion. Our monitoring assessment strategy does include several objectives related to level three intensive site assessment as well. The Michigan Wetland Monitoring and Assessment Strategy includes eight objectives. The first four objectives are focused on that level one landscape level assessment. Objective one is to inventory Michigan’s wetland resources. Objective two is to update the National Wetland Inventory for use in status and trends reporting. Objective three is tracking permitted impacts and mitigation as well as unauthorized impacts. These are done through Mi Enviro, and objective four is application of land.”

According to Kirkpatrick, surveys are done every five years and the next one will be in 2026 and “the National Aquatic Resource Surveys are statistical surveys done across the country to assess the status of and the changes in quality of the nation’s waters. This includes coastal, lakes and reservoirs, rivers and streams, and wetlands. These are done across the country, and they’re done at a scale that allows comparison of the results from different parts of the country and between years. The National Aquatic Resource Surveys are done and funded through EPA and headed by EPA, who works with state, tribal and federal partners to design and implement these surveys. There are four categories I mentioned: the National Coastal Condition Assessment, the National Lakes Assessment, the National Rivers and Streams Assessment, and then the National Wetland Condition Assessment, which is the one that we participate in through the Wetland Monitoring Program.”

The 2021 report showed that across the country, 45 percent of wetland area was in good condition for native plants. Nonnative plants were found in less than half of the wetland areas. With lots of stressors on the environment such as physical alteration from human activities affecting vegetation, hydrology and soil. The survey noted 83 percent of wetland area was in fair or poor condition from those indicators. Nitrogen levels had increased more than eight percent to 29 percent overall.

Jennifer Hill, Executive Director of the Clinton River Watershed Council (CRWC), explained more about wetland protection. “In Michigan, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy is charged with the regulation of wetlands. EGLE's wetland regulations flow through Part 303 of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act,” Hill said. “Michigan is one of two states which have received federal authorization to administer the federal wetland program under section 404 of the Clean Water Act. Michigan has had this authority since the 1980s.”

But one Supreme Court Case has muddied the protection waters for wetlands, according to Hill.

“The most recent proposed definition of ‘Waters of the United States’ that emerged from the Sackett vs. EPA decision removes federal protections for streams and wetlands and ignores the overwhelming support that people in the Great Lakes region have for protecting clean drinking water here,” she said.

In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, a case involving an Idaho property near Priest Lake. The court held that the Clean Water Act protects only relatively permanent waters such as streams, oceans, rivers and lakes, and adjacent wetlands that are indistinguishable from those waters because they have a continuous surface connection.

The decision narrowed federal jurisdiction over wetlands, especially wetlands separated from covered waters by berms, roads, dunes or other barriers, or wetlands that are isolated on the surface. Nationally, that leaves many wetlands more dependent on state and local law.

Michigan is buffered from some of that federal narrowing because it has its own wetland law and an assumed Section 404 program. Experts interviewed for this article repeatedly emphasized that Michigan’s protections are stronger than those in many states and may continue to cover wetlands that no longer qualify under the narrower federal test. But they also warned that state protections matter only as long as they remain in place and are enforced.

Eaton made the Michigan distinction clear.

“Michigan state laws bypass those Sackett laws and that’s a good thing.”

But she added a warning.

“Because those protections are state law, they could be weakened if future state leaders chose to follow the narrower federal approach Don Uzarski, CMU Professor of Biology, is a limnologist and aquatic ecologist with a focus on measures of ecosystem health of Great Lakes coastal wetlands and leads a 15-year $30 million Great Lakes coastal wetland-monitoring program for the U.S. EPA. He said the Sackett decision “really weakened the wetland regulations. My concern is that many wetlands separated from open water by roads or development may still have ecological and groundwater connections even when a continuous surface connection is no longer obvious.”

Local governments can go further with protection of their own wetlands. Eaton noted that some municipalities, including Rochester Hills, Novi, and Canton, have adopted local wetland ordinances that may be stronger than baseline protections.

“Local action can matter because so many wetland decisions are shaped by zoning, planning and land-use choices close to home,” she said.

Before any construction on or near a wetland, permits are required because filling, dredging, draining or building in a wetland can damage public resources even when the project occurs on private property. Wetlands store floodwater, clean water, recharge groundwater, support fish and wildlife, and protect downstream property owners. When a wetland is filled or drained, those services may be lost or shifted elsewhere.

EGLE’s permit review generally asks whether the project is in the public interest, whether the activity is lawful and necessary, whether unacceptable disruption to aquatic resources would occur, and whether the applicant has avoided and minimized wetland impacts to the greatest extent possible. If impacts cannot be avoided, mitigation may be required.

Kyle Rorah, Managing Director of Regional Policy for Ducks Unlimited, described Michigan’s assumed Section 404 program as a practical “one stop shop.” In many states, a developer or restoration organization may need to work separately with federal and state regulators. In Michigan, EGLE administers much of that federal wetland permitting authority along with state law, which can streamline review while still maintaining protections.

“If you’re interested in impacting a wetland, draining it, filling it, et cetera, you have to secure a permit,” Rorah said. “In Michigan, the assumed Section 404 program makes permitting more efficient because applicants generally work through EGLE rather than navigating separate state and federal processes.”

Hill noted that “Other agencies and organizations play important roles in protecting wetlands. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources works on habitat, public lands and restoration. County water resources commissioners and drain offices manage drains, erosion control and stormwater concerns. Local governments may adopt wetland ordinances, and some communities have stronger local protections. Federal agencies include the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA and the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Nonprofits and research partners such as Ducks Unlimited, watershed councils, land conservancies, universities and groups such as Friends of the Rouge all help monitor, restore, educate and protect.”

There are many projects around Michigan where wetlands are being renovated or restored. Knapik described restoration as either “taking an area that was wetland but is currently not wetland and restoring it back to wetland,” or “restoring function to an existing wetland that has been degraded by invasive species, partial filling, drainage tiles, ditches or altered hydrology.”

Wetland restoration usually means one of two things. Returning wetland conditions to land that used to be wetland or improving the function of an existing but degraded wetland. Often, the first step is restoring hydrology or getting water back into a basin where historic ditches, drain tiles, berms or other alterations removed it. Restoration may also include controlling invasive plants, reconnecting floodplains, reducing sediment, removing barriers, reshaping basins, planting native vegetation and improving water-control structures.

Corey VanStratt, Ducks Unlimited’s Michigan regional biologist, said the Seneca State Game Area project began as a pilot to show “the capabilities of wetlands in reducing nutrient and sediment runoff into lakes such as Lake Erie.” The project also expands public land, wildlife habitat and hunting opportunities.

Alex Wieten, Water Resource Specialist for Ducks Unlimited, said Seneca is designed around a simple idea.

“Get water out of three county drains that converge on this site and restore hydrology so the wetlands can filter nutrients and sediment before they reach the Western Lake Erie Basin,” he said.

Wieten noted the project grew out of a practical opportunity. “

“The marginal muck and peat soils that were increasingly difficult for farmers to work. Specialized equipment, narrow seasonal windows and saturated ground made farming harder, while the same soils made the property a strong candidate for wetland restoration. It was almost like we were able to provide a way out for some of these farmers on some of these lands that were being harder and harder to work,” he said.

The Seneca effort began with land acquisition and willing landowners. Wieten said the project had reached about 450 acres, with another 80 acres expected to close. Ducks Unlimited typically buys land through Wetlands America Trust, holds it temporarily, and then transfers it to the Michigan DNR for long-term public management as part of the state game area system.

Land protection is only the first step. The restoration design is phased because the project depends on hydrology, grants, land transactions and weather. Wieten explained phase one had been completed and phase two was under design, with construction expected to start during the colder months because the site is so mucky that heavy equipment could sink during summer work.

VanStratt described the engineering side of that work.

“Ducks Unlimited brings more than fundraising to these projects. It has engineers, engineering technicians and construction-management crews. Teams complete topographic surveys, design wetland basins and water-control structures, develop stamped engineering plans, bid the work to contractors, and monitor construction to make sure the restoration is built to specification,” VanStratt said.

At Seneca, Ducks Unlimited is also working with LimnoTech on hydrologic modeling, with the Lenawee County Drain Commissioner on county drain connections, and with state partners including the Michigan DNR, EGLE and the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. The restoration is designed to accept water during high-flow events, slow it down in basins and wetlands, allow sediment to settle, and give plants and microbes time to capture nutrients before that water moves toward Lake Erie.

The project is also a public access story. Once land is transferred into the Seneca State Game Area, it becomes public land. Wieten explained visitors can walk it, hunt deer, hunt ducks on the restored wetlands, and use it like other public state game areas. In that sense, Seneca is not only water-quality infrastructure, but also a conservation investment that creates habitat and gives people a place to experience wetlands firsthand.

The project also illustrates a broader shift in wetland conservation. Ducks Unlimited may be best known by hunters, raffles and banquets, but VanStratt emphasized that DU is a wetland conservation organization supported by duck hunters, not simply a duck hunting club.

“It’s modern work includes water quality, nutrient reduction, carbon, working lands, public access, flood resilience and ecosystem services that benefit both wildlife and people,” he said.

Rorah said the state legislature has helped accelerate this work by creating a DNR budget line item for wetland restoration and land acquisition. He said the effort began with a $12.5 million allocation several years ago that included federal ARPA dollars and continued with a recent $2 million allocation.

“Over the last five years, those dollars have supported close to 5,000 acres of wetland restoration work statewide,” Rorah said.

Closer to home in Oakland County, the wetland restoration story is also unfolding in Pontiac, where county, state, local and nonprofit partners are trying to protect and rebuild wetland functions in a heavily developed urban landscape.

VanStratt pointed to the Pontiac Oaks project near Krieger Lake as one example.

“Ducks Unlimited granted Oakland County Parks and Recreation Commission $425,000 to purchase 17 acres of shoreline wetlands around Krieger Lake, expanding Pontiac Oaks, formerly known as Hawthorne Park,” VanStratt said. “The acquisition was completed in spring 2025 and should allow better long-term wetland management while increasing recreational opportunities for the surrounding community.”

The Murphy Park project in Pontiac is more complicated. VanStratt described it as an urban wetland restoration effort in Pontiac with the Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner, working on behalf of the drainage district, to design and build restoration that could eventually improve up to 62 acres of wetlands. Phase one focuses on erosion problems and preventing sediment and nutrients from entering the Clinton River.

“The original hope was to reclaim a much larger wetland area east of Murphy Park, but field conditions changed the plan,” Nash said. “We had to curtail some of it because we found some contamination issues that had to be avoided. Instead of disturbing contaminated ground, the project shifted toward stabilizing serious upstream erosion so that less sediment would continue washing into the wetland.”

The compromised project still matters as sediment can smother wetland function, filling low areas and reducing the wetland’s capacity to hold and clean water.

“This is the kind of thing you run into with projects,” Nash said. “You just never know how conditions are in the ground. By controlling erosion now, the partners can prevent the wetland from getting worse while longer-term options are considered.”

Nash also described two nearby Pontiac park projects that are more green infrastructure than classic wetland restoration.

“They are designed as attractive prairie-like landscapes that capture runoff, reduce erosion and filter stormwater before it reaches drains and waterways. They will be beautiful and practical, showing residents that stormwater projects do not have to look like concrete basins to work.”

For a county filled with roads, roofs, parking lots and manicured lawns, these smaller urban projects matter because they reduce the burden on remaining wetlands. Every pound of sediment stopped upstream and every gallon of runoff slowed before it reaches a creek gives downstream wetlands, lakes and rivers a better chance to function.

Nash said Oakland County’s soil erosion and sedimentation-control work is one of the county’s most direct wetland-protection tools.

“My office handles erosion control for 48 of Oakland County’s 63 communities. Construction sites near water, wetlands or large disturbed areas may need silt fence and other controls to keep soil from washing away. That matters because sediment is not just dirt. It can carry phosphorus, nutrients and pollutants into wetlands, lakes and streams.”

Nash also raised the idea of watershed trading and larger shared storage projects. In dense areas where roads cannot easily capture all runoff at the source, he said communities and road agencies may be able to invest in larger storage and wetland-style projects elsewhere in the same watershed. The goal is the same. Keep polluted runoff from rushing untreated into storm drains, creeks and lakes.

Monitoring happens at several scales. EGLE’s Wetlands Map Viewer uses data such as the National Wetland Inventory, land cover and soils to help identify likely wetlands and compare historic and current conditions. The state’s wetland monitoring framework also uses a three-level approach: landscape-level assessment, rapid assessment through the Michigan Rapid Assessment Method, and intensive site assessment.

At the intensive level, field crews may survey vegetation, soil, hydrology, water chemistry, macroinvertebrates and habitat structure. Don Uzarski’s Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Monitoring Program, supported through EPA and Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funding, tracks coastal wetlands across all five Great Lakes. Local groups add another layer: Friends of the Rouge uses frog and toad listening surveys as indicators of wetland health because amphibians are sensitive to habitat and water-quality changes.

Donna Kashian, Professor of Biological Sciences at Wayne State University ,has worked in Great Lakes coastal wetlands and marshes, including projects involving invasive common reed, or phragmites. She described hands-on monitoring in plain terms.

“Plants are surveyed along transects with small plots, insects can be sampled with sweep nets, and fish can be sampled with seines or trap-like nets,” she said. “The best way to help wetlands is to write letters to your representatives to enforce and strengthen our wetland protection laws/policy. Be involved with your local planning commissions- or better yet- run for positions on them and work to prevent further destruction.”

For lakefront and waterfront homeowners, wetland protection begins at the property line. Keep natural shoreline buffers where possible. Plant native species with deep roots. Reduce or eliminate lawn fertilizer, especially near water. Never dump oil, chemicals, yard waste or soil into storm drains, wetlands or waterways. Maintain septic systems. Control invasive plants such as phragmites, reed canary grass, purple loosestrife, buckthorn and multiflora rose. Avoid mowing to the water’s edge where a native buffer could filter runoff.

Homeowners can also support broader protection. Conservation easements can protect private wetlands long term. Local planning boards and wetland ordinances matter. Reporting suspected illegal wetland filling or dumping helps regulators respond. Volunteering with a watershed council, land conservancy, Friends of the Rouge, Ducks Unlimited or the Michigan Vernal Pool Patrol turns concern into data, restoration and stewardship.

Oakland County residents can also look up the Water Resources Commissioner’s “Waterfront Wisdom” guide for practical stormwater and shoreline advice. Nash said residents who see dumping into a storm drain can call the county pollution hotline at 248-858-0931.

Brown framed the homeowner message as education.

“There’s no excuse for being uneducated about the benefits and importance of maintaining wetlands,” he said. “There are plenty of public resources, local organizations and state agencies that explain why wetland buffers matter to inland lakes.

Dean urged residents to “protect them” first.

“If someone sees a wetland being harmed, report it to EGLE. On a personal level, reduce trash, pesticides, fertilizers, oil and other pollutants. Plant natives and volunteer with local watershed councils or statewide monitoring efforts such as the Michigan Vernal Pool Patrol.

Wetlands are not leftover land waiting for a better use. They are infrastructure – natural infrastructure working every day to reduce flooding, cleaning water, supporting fisheries and wildlife, recharging groundwater, protecting property and adding beauty to communities.

Knapik’s advice was both practical and civic.

“Control invasive plants, use native landscaping, maintain septic systems, dispose of chemicals properly, follow fertilizer and pesticide labels, support restoration programs, and vote alongside your worldviews for leaders who reflect the wetland future residents want,” he said.

For Eaton, the simplest message may be the most durable.

“Homeowners, local governments and volunteers can all help wetlands by protecting what remains, restoring what has been damaged, and supporting organizations doing the work. Hopefully, people can connect their land and what they’re doing to the creatures and other impacts they have on the land and the water,” she said.

Michigan has lost too much of that infrastructure already. Oakland County’s remaining wetlands are especially important because they sit among lakes, roads, homes, lawns and rivers that need every available buffer. Protecting them is not only an environmental goal. It is a practical investment in cleaner lakes, safer neighborhoods, stronger wildlife habitat and a healthier Michigan.