Status, Trends, and Potential of Biological Communities of the Grand Calumet River Basin

摘要

The highly modified Grand Calumet River now constitutes one of the smallest major watersheds of the Calumet region. Though only 13 miles long and with almost no natural surface drainage area, it now flows through one of the most industrialized areas in the United States. Changes over the course of Lake Michigan's geological history strongly influenced the landscape of the present Calumet region. Wind, erosion, and fluvial and Lake recession helped produce dune and swale ecosystems, and climate and hydrology encouraged wetlands, forests, savannas, and prairies. Habitat destruction has not been due to ice sheet advances but due to industrial and urban development and the introduction of non-native, invasive species. The natural ecosystems have been continually cleared, drained, and fragmented, and roads and railways cut through the dunes and wetlands for commercial and municipal development. The Grand Calumet River itself serves as a dumping site for industrial and municipal wastes.