Western Lake Erie has an island chain off the coast of Sandusky, Ohio.
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Quite beautiful. Some of the islands, such as Kellly's Island (US) - population 327 - and Pelee Island (Canada) - population 256 - are inhabited. Pelee island is, of course, Canadian and is about 10 miles from the mainland on either side of the lake.
Interesting factoid about Pelee Island. It's the largest island in the chain and you might notice it's laced with farmland. Why? Because it's one of the most ideal climates in Canada for growing grapes. Quite a few of those farms of those are vinyards.
The island chain is also home to a unique subspecies of the non-poisonous Lake Erie Watersnake, Nerodia sipedon insularum, which has recently been brought back from the bring of extinction and is now being taken off the US Endangered Species list due to local and Federal intervention.
The Lake Erie watersnake population had declined to about 1,500 adults by the mid-1990s because of human persecution and habitat loss from shoreline development. Federal and state agencies designated 300 acres of inland habitat and 11 miles of shoreline as breeding and hibernation grounds, while scientists led a public relations blitz to convince people the snake was nothing to fear.
The effort quickly paid off. By 2002, the snake had reached the government's minimum goal of 5,555 snakes. A census in 2009 estimated the population at nearly 12,000.
Ironically, the accidental introduction of the invasive round goby has helped increase the populations of these snakes as a new food source. The goby has also helped bring back the bird the double crested cormorant because of the new food source...in fact, the double crested cormorant has come back so strong because of the goby that the once struggling species is now a nuisance in parts of Lake Erie.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, these Great Lakes are more than just massive puddles. They're unique ecosystems. And they need to be protected for their own sake, for the sake of the critters that live there, for the people who live around them and vacation near them, and for the economic lift they give to the region.
Crossposted from Muskegon Critic.
Gooserock's Comments on the Lake Erie island chain...cuz apparently she's actually been to this beautiful place.
We loved chartering overnight sailboats in Ohio and spending summer vacation days docked at Scudder's Marina on the north shore of Pelee. It was a 30-40 mile sail from marina to marina almost all across open water, a daunting expedition in our younger days before GPS, so we'd often make Kelly's Island an overnight stopover each way.
There is/was a commercial fishery at the west end of the little harbor, and we'd go over after breakfast to buy walleye or perch that'd been swimming a couple hours earlier.
Put-In-Bay at South Bass Island has my favoritely-named location: The Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial. Perry's monument is very tall; in my youth sail racing days we'd pick up the light somewhere west of Avon Point or maybe Lorain in overnight races to the Bay.
The whole west 100 miles or so from Cleveland to Detroit only runs 40 feet deep, in the 20's around the islands, so the water gets warm in summer. The whole island chain area is limestone and there are countless places to run aground with a hard thunk.
There's a giantic geode on South Bass that's an underground cave 10 or so people can climb down into; Kelly's Island has a large exposed stretch of glacier grooved rock. There are vinyards also on N. Bass which I think is essentially closed to the public, and Middle and South Bass.
The west end of the lake is part of one of the largest circular geological structures on the planet: Lake Michigan, Huron and western Lake Erie. The circularity is ancient; the limestone is on top of it.
I'd like to think it's a very very ancient asteroid impact. There's a History Channel episode on the formation of the Lakes and they point out that that round structure was the first part of the system to form, but I don't recall hearing what is presently believed to have created the initial circularity. It's much older than the ice ages.
Gooserock momentarily the southernmost mammal in mainland Canada at Point Pelee, looking south toward Pelee Island./blockquote>