Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Monitoring Program

The Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Monitoring Program (GLCWMP) involves the monitoring of Great Lakes coastal wetland biota and habitat to provide information on coastal wetland condition for use in conservation and management decision-making using fish, birds, anurans, vegetation, aquatic macroinvertebrates and water quality. The main outputs from this program are a thorough assessment of the condition of over 1000 Great Lakes coastal wetlands (that are larger than four hectares in size and have a surface water connection to the lake) and the implementation of a standardized long-term monitoring program for coastal wetlands across the Great Lakes basin. This program is funded under the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO). The Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) of Environment and Climate Change Canada has been involved in the program since it began in 2011, and over that time has conducted fish, vegetation, aquatic macroinvertebrates and water quality surveys at 80 coastal wetland sites (as of 2025) primarily on the Canadian shore of Lake Ontario. Program data are available by request at: www.greatlakeswetlands.org. The data included here are a list of the 80 sites surveyed by CWS, spatial coordinates for each site, and the years that sites were surveyed.