A brief review on restoration projects on Lake Superior coastal wetlands in Ontario, Canada

Abstract

In recent years, human beings have done much damage to the lakes and wetlands, resulting in some irreversible effects. It is, therefore, necessary to restore and protect the remaining wetlands. The most representative is the Great Lakes wetland ecosystem. The wetlands along the great lakes cover an area of more than 500,000 acres and span the great lakes basin. They play an essential role in the great lakes ecosystem and support many beneficial ecological functions. Among them, Lake Superior wetland is the principal research object. To successfully restore the wetland, this paper will adopt scientific methods to repair it. We will conduct field tests in four areas: eliminate sediment, ecological, hydrology and chemistry. Eliminate sediment remediation is the proper control of erosion of agricultural land, restoration of gully wetlands and effective management of beach, dune, ridge and marsh systems to control the coastal sediment problems that lead to wetland restoration. Ecological remediation is the restoration of wetland productivity by increasing the diversity and habitat of target organisms. Hydrologic remediation is a test to restore the essential hydrologic relationship through the preliminary study of the hydrologic relationship of constructed wetland and the fluctuation of the natural water level. A variety of chemical sediment remediation techniques can be used to rehabilitate existing contaminated sites, including tree planting, erosion control, riverbank reinforcement, buffer zones, reconstruction, diversion of surface drainage systems and drainage of wetland sewage.