Habitat management lessons from the environs of the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge

The Detroit River and western Lake Erie, located in the heart of the Great Lakes basin, support a great diversity of fish and wildlife, and their habitats, despite the enormity of habitat losses due to urban development and industrialization. This ecosystem also links Canada and the U.S. who share a long history of cooperative conservation. The river and lake are: at the intersection of two major North American bird migration flyways (i.e., the Atlantic and Mississippi); a significant fish migration corridor; and well recognized for their unique biodiversity. Over the past three decades much has been done to improve environmental conditions and to restore and conserve habitats. This paper reviews habitat management efforts within the environs of the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge and provides advice to improve such efforts in the future. Ecological improvements resulting from these habitat projects, as well as the cumulative effects of these changes, have yet to be quantified or evaluated against existing program goals or targets. Habitat management remains a fragmented responsibility among many agencies and interests, which is often an obstacle to realizing ecological improvements, recovery, and sustainability. Moreover, cumulative habitat modifications are not reviewed often enough with respect to their impacts on the goals and targets established in existing programs, as well as their impacts on ecosystem results (e.g., fish or wildlife productivity). Clearly, there is a need to share experiences, synthesize science, learn from mistakes and successes, coordinate activities, and transfer knowledge on best practices and ecological effectiveness of habitat management.