Overview Water resources are important in Michigan with 3,288 miles of Great Lakes shoreline, more than 35,000 inland lakes and 51,438 miles of rivers and streams. In the Muskegon Lake watershed, communities rely on the resource for recreation, sporting, tourism and industrial uses. Muskegon Lake and the adjacent wetland habitats comprise one of the four major freshwater estuary wetland complexes along the east shore of Lake Michigan. Defining Muskegon Lake and Muskegon River as part of Lake Michigan’s ecosystem provides an opportunity to assess what biological communities utilize these areas. Monitoring this habitat can help us determine improving or declining recreational, cultural, ecologic and economic benefits.

What’s the problem? The aquatic habitat within Muskegon Lake includes shallow water areas, open water, bottom (benthos), artificial structures (docks, seawalls, pilings) and natural structures (logs, rocks, and rooted plants). This habitat is disrupted by dredging, plant removal and indirectly through chemical herbicides and competition by non-native, invasive species. According to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources fish and wildlife biologists, dredging, filling, and related shoreline development continue to impair habitat critical to the survival, reproduction, and growth of most important fish and wildlife species. This is because the disruption of plants directly impacts aquatic insects, fish, birds, and mammal populations by decreasing food sources and changing or eliminating species in the food chain that may not directly utilize aquatic plants as a food source. Aquatic plants also provide structure for critical life stages of insects and fish. They also provide areas of refuge from larger predators. Although there is public concern about the destruction of Muskegon Lake’s nearshore (littoral zone), a critical fish and wildlife habitat, the shoreline continues to be altered by dredging, installation of seawalls, bulkheads, riprap, marinas and other structural developments.