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A New Name!
Huron to Erie Waterways for Wildlife Project The new Huron to Erie Waterways for Wildlife Project builds on ten years of the successful St. Clair River Waterways for Wildlife Project, and extends the reach from Lake Huron all the way down to Lake Erie. Overview The Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) is a nonprofit, nonlobbying 501(c)(3) group of corporations, conservation organizations, and individuals dedicated to protecting and enhancing wildlife habitat. Created in 1988, WHC helps large landowners, particularly corporations, manage their unused lands in an ecologically sensitive manner for the benefit of wildlife. In 1995, WHC initiated the St. Clair River Waterways for Wildlife Project with the generous support of Detroit Edison, Ontario Hydro, Terra International, Environment Canada, and the Joyce Foundation. The project’s purpose was to engage an international coalition of individuals, corporations, conservation organizations, and public agencies in a voluntary, coordinated effort to enhance habitat for wildlife in the St. Clair River basin. In the decade from 1995 to 2005, the St. Clair River Waterways for Wildlife Project successfully linked people and groups for habitat protection and enhancement, played a role in several important restoration efforts, provided conservation education through the schools and to the wider public, and most recently, published the acclaimed Explore Our Natural World: A Biodiversity Atlas of the Lake Huron to Lake Erie Corridor. The area covered by WHC-certified corporate habitat programs in the St. Clair River basin grew substantially over this period. At the same time, our region’s biodiversity continues to be challenged like never before. The straits connecting Lake Huron to Lake Erie are contaminated by combined sewage overflows with each intense rainstorm, and by excess nutrients from non-point sources. Rapid residential and commercial development shrinks and isolates habitat, while also increasing the storm-water runoff that threatens aquatic systems. Awareness is growing, and several encouraging partnerships have been launched to address some of these issues. Companies, which own a large part of the local landscape, can play a leading role in its management for wildlife. The Huron to Erie Waterways for Wildlife Project is designed to encourage that participation and make it beneficial to all involved.
The Lake Huron to Lake Erie Corridor
Coastal lands, lakes and waterways have always been sought out, settled and worked by humans for their homes and livelihoods, and the corridor connecting Lake Huron to Lake Erie has had no different experience.
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