Background

The Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) is located on western Lake Erie in Oak Harbor, Ohio; approximately 30 minutes east of Toledo. The refuge provides habitat for many fish and wildlife species, and is the site of renovation of a degraded coastal wetland. Alpena FWCO has provided fish and habitat restoration assistance to the refuge since 1994. Activities included: shoreline habitat restoration, monitoring of fish passage between Lake Erie and the recently restored coastal wetland at Metzger Marsh, and fish communtiy monitoring in Crane Creek which is a tributary to Lake Erie.

Projects

Metzger Marsh Wetland Restoration - Fish Control Structure Monitoring Project

Metzger Marsh is the site of a recently restored wetland. It is located on Lake Erie approximately 30 minutes from Toledo. The marsh is 367 ha in size. It is jointly owned and managed by the Ohio Division of Wildlife (ODOW) and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge (ONWR). The wetland restoration project involves many partners including: Ducks Unlimited, Lake Erie Waterfowlers, Ohio Decoy Carvers and Collectors, US geological Service – Great Lakes Science Center, Maumee Valley Audubon Society, Wolf Creek Sportsmen’s Club, Ohio Division of Natural Resources – Division of Geological Survey, and Blufton Sportsmens Club. read more>

Temporal Fishery Monitoring of Crane Creek

The mouth of Crane Creek enters Lake Erie from the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge. At the mouth of the creek it becomes an open water estuary that is affected by Lake Erie seiche activity. Crane Creek still holds a connection with Lake Erie. The estuary comprises some of the few remaining wetlands along the Western Lake Erie shoreline. read more >

Resource Materials

Report - Metzger Marsh Fish Passage Structure Monitoring 1999-2002 Final Report. December 2002. (pdf - 933 Kb)

Report - Metzger Marsh Fish Passage Structure Monitoring 2000-2001 Progress Report. August 2002. (pdf - 940 Kb)

Report - Crane Creek Fishery Monitoring 1999 Progress Report. January 2001