Western Great Lakes forests


The Western Great Lakes forests is a terrestrial ecoregion as defined by the World Wildlife Fund. It is within the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome of North America. It is found in northern areas of the United States' states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, and in southern areas of the Canadian province of Manitoba and northwestern areas of the province of Ontario.

Setting

The Western Great Lakes forests, in large part, lie in the northwestern Great Lakes Basin near the shores of Lake Huron, Lake Michigan and Lake Superior, including the entire Upper Peninsula of Michigan and large parts of Northern Wisconsin, around Lake Superior into much of northern Minnesota and a smaller section into Canada. In the west, the ecoregion surrounds the lakes and rivers that divide Minnesota from Ontario, including Lake of the Woods and Rainy River, and it extends near the Winnipeg River into southeastern Manitoba.
This region has warm summers and cold, snowy winters. This region is generally similar in climate and condition to the Eastern forest-boreal transition to its east, except that it is generally somewhat drier and, especially in its southern and central areas, its soil is much thicker and less acidic, which makes for more varied vegetation.

Flora

This ecoregion is a transition area between the taiga to the north and the temperate deciduous forest and tallgrass prairie to the south and west and thus contains a variety of habitats including northern coniferous forests, northern hardwood forest, boreal hardwood-conifer forest, swamp forest, and peatland, in addition to freshwater marshes, bogs, fens, and hardwood river basins and conifer swamps, and large hardwood and conifer stands. Trees of the woodland include White pine and Red pine with paper birch and Quaking aspen, and Jack pine forests, Black spruce, White spruce, Balsam fir, Tamarack, Northern white cedar, Northern pin oak, and hazel. "Common species of the northern hardwoods include sugar maple, red maple, American beech, hop hornbeam, basswood, yellow birch and eastern hemlock " and Northern pin oak.

Fauna

The Western Great Lakes forests are very rich in wildlife. Wildlife "include moose, black bear, lynx, snowshoe hare, white-tailed deer, and woodchuck. Bird species include ruffed grouse, hooded merganser, pileated woodpecker, bald eagle, turkey vulture, herring gull, and waterfowl. American black duck and wood duck occur in the eastern part of the ecoregion." After being nearly extirpated from the conterminous United States, gray wolves survived in the remote northeastern corner of Minnesota and Ontario. The repopulation of wolves in this region has occurred naturally as they have expanded their territory.

Threats and use

While the area does now have large protected sections, historically logging has changed many sections and continues today. Agricultural development, especially orchards in Lower Michigan has also reduced the habitat. In addition, the establishment of roads and lakeside homes significantly impacts the forests.

Protected areas

Large protected areas of the Western Great Lakes forests include: