The St Joseph County Kettle Lakes Corridor (SJCKLC, the ‘corridor’) is more than just a collection of lakes. The region includes different wetland types, small and large, along with nearby forests and prairies. The corridor is located 12 km west of South Bend, about 2 km in width and 15 km between South Clear Lake on the Indiana-Michigan border, south to Chamberlain Lake, which represents a natural corridor for migrating animals. The corridor is an integral part of the Michiana region, but especially the City of South Bend and St Joseph County. Covering more than 24 square km, the corridor is diverse, especially from a historical and environmental perspective. Moreover, the corridor provides an opportunity for a deep and meaningful experience of the local environment. The SJCKLC is not a formal designation but is defined by the chain of lakes, ponds, marshes, and bogs (wetland types linked here) of the corridor which result from the region’s glacial history.
About 14,000 years ago, the SJCKLC was dominated, like most of the upper portion of North America, by a more than mile-thick layer of glacier ice that entirely covered the area. As Earth warmed, the Laurentide Ice Sheet melted and retreated north, revealing a barren landscape of mostly sand and rocks, largely devoid of life. Also, left behind were huge chunks of ice that became buried in sediment flows carried by ice meltwater. Eventually, those buried ice blocks also melted to create characteristic kettle holes that became lakes, ponds, marshes, and bogs that occur across the landscape. Many other features evident of past glacial activity are littered across the landscape, such as so-called ‘glacial erratics’ (rocks or boulders transported and deposited by glaciers, often miles from their source, resting on different bedrock with a different composition to local geology).
Starting 10,000 years ago, activities by indigenous Americans, and continued by European colonists in the 17th Century, have resulted in a complex landscape of primeval and regenerated forest and prairies, agricultural fields of corn and soybeans, and urban subdivisions and commercial developments. Changes in land use have had a profound influence on the wetlands because of the distinct hydrology of kettle holes and the associated aquatic habitats. Kettle holes rarely have a natural inlet or outlet stream or river, but rather fill and empty through movements of water through the ground from rainfall. The recent expansion of commercial areas, especially data centers, has the potential to significantly impact wetlands in the corridor. Lowering of the water table, during construction (so-called ‘dewatering’) and operation of data centers, compounds the impacts of climate change from increased carbon emissions. Another impact of environmental change is pollution because once contaminants enter a kettle wetland, they tend to accumulate, influencing all the organisms that live in these environments.
The ecology of the SJCKLC is important because of the large variety of habitats and associated biodiversity, and the role these organisms play in the environment from which everyone benefits nationally (see links here, here, and here) and here in Indiana (see links here, here, and here). The corridor provides important benefits to the local community, such as regulating water levels, moderating microclimates, and providing recreational opportunities, such as hiking and birdwatching. Ecosystems rarely have hard borders, and because many organisms depend on both water and land to exist, we need to protect not only the wetlands but also the land surrounding them. The corridor contributes to the small percentage of high-quality, remnant biological communities left in the state of Indiana (linked here). Each lake, pond, bog, and marsh within the corridor is unique in its own right, but together illustrates what the region would have looked like in the past. Moreover, the corridor provides a mechanism by which organisms maintain viable populations throughout the region, and likely was historically linked to other important ecosystems, such as the Kankakee Marsh (also known as the Everglades of the North, see documentary linked here) to the southwest. One concern is how the many different facets of environmental change are impacting the natural communities within the corridor.
Organisms characteristic of the wetlands associated with kettle holes include plants, vertebrates, and invertebrates. The plants and animals of the corridor have been documented by different individuals for many years, including Father Julius A. Nieuwland, C.S.C., and Fr. Peter Hebert, C.S.C, at the University of Notre Dame. Notable habitats within the corridor include wetlands dominated by Sphagnum moss and floating macrophytes, such as white water-lily (Nymphaea odorata), as well as prairies, where many wildflowers can be found, such as smooth blue aster (Symphyotrichum laeve), and forests including trees such as American beech (Fagus grandifolia) and sugar maple (Acer saccharum). Notable vertebrates within the corridor include amphibians, such as spring peeper frogs (Pseudacris crucifer), blue-spotted salamanders (Ambystoma laterale), and woodland box turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina). Notable invertebrates within the corridor include several species of dragonflies, such as the autumn meadowhawk (Sympetrum vicinum), butterflies, such as the spicebush swallowtail (Papilio troilus), and spiders, such as the orchard orbweaver (Leucauge venusta).
How you can help the SJCKLC
- Experience nature by visiting locations with public access, but doing so in a responsible way by ‘leaving only footprints and taking only pictures’. We encourage documenting what you see using apps such as iNaturalist and eBird, but also share it to the Kettle Lakes Facebook group.
- Support organizations that work to preserve and restore these important habitats, such Shirley Heinze Land Trust, St. Joseph County Parks, and Community Foundation of St Joseph County. You can volunteer your time, make financial and land donations to many of these organizations, or advocate for preservation of areas of land, especially for the benefit of future generations.
- Be good stewards of your property. Reduce or eliminate the use of harmful pesticides, such as glyphosate and neonicotinoids. Reduce resource use when maintaining landscapes by mowing less frequently, while applying less water and fertilizer. Consider converting areas of property to native plant landscapes.
- Think globally and act locally! Become aware of how we impact the environment in many different direct and indirect ways that are manifest as environmental change.