Assessment of shoreline habitats in the Kalman Preserve, Emmet County, MI

Abstract

Great lakes wetlands are important habitats for fish and other biota. They are important to the lifecycles of many floral and faunal species that are ultimately crucial to food webs in other ecosystems. The Kalman Preserve is owned by the Little Traverse Conservancy and contains wetland habitats on the shore of the Little Traverse Bay in Emmet County, MI. In 2006 a group of University of Michigan students found that the preserve, which includes cedar swamp, marsh, interdunal and shoreline sections, had a Floristic Quality Index value of 61.7, which indicates that the protected area holds an extremely rare level of pre-European characteristics. When they evaluated the interdunal and shoreline area alone, the value was considerably lower, which suggests degradation of this wetland habitat. We evaluated the same interdunal/shoreline subregion of the preserve using the Wetland Fish Index (WFIBasin) to assess its quality as a fish habitat. Our results suggest that the shoreline and inshore pond are facultative habitats. Evaluation of the bay and pond together yielded a higher index value than evaluation of the bay alone, and a lower index value than the pond alone. Our findings reinforce the importance of protecting the bay, pond, and surrounding area in maintaining the extremely rare quality of the preserve.