Native shoreline plants help hold surface sands in place and provide food and shelter for wildlife. When water levels are high, the submerged plants provide fish spawning habitat. The plants eventually succumb to drowning, but the seed bank remains. They grow again when water recedes.
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Typical range of plants along a Great Lakes shoreline
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The native bulrush known as “three-square” is one of the few species tolerant of storm waves that regularly buffet the Great Lakes shoreline. Its root system consists of stout horizontal stems (rhizomes) anchored in the underlying clay substrate that help it resist erosion. It also produces a dense mat of fine roots near the surface. These bind surface sands and further stabilize marsh sediments.
