{"id":22,"date":"2026-03-11T21:02:34","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T01:02:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sjcklc\/?page_id=22"},"modified":"2026-06-03T16:07:56","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T20:07:56","slug":"overview","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sjcklc\/overview\/","title":{"rendered":"Overview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Twin Lakes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The St Joseph County Kettle Lakes Corridor (SJCKLC, the \u2018corridor\u2019)<\/strong> is more than just a collection of lakes. The region includes different wetland types, small and large, along with nearby forests and grasslands. The corridor is located 12 km west of South Bend, and is about 2 km east to west, 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<\/a>) of the corridor which result from the region’s glacial history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Vernal pond at Lydick Bog<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Forest at Lydick Bog<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Laurentide Ice Sheet at its maximum extent<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Glacier and surrounding area<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Formation of kettle holes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Glacial erratics<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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 \u2018dewatering\u2019) 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Agricultural fields<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Housing subdivision<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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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<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>) and here in Indiana (see links here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>). 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, defined borders, and because many organisms depend on both water and land to exist, protection is needed 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<\/a>). 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<\/a> (also known as the Everglades of the North, see documentary linked here<\/a>) to the southwest. One concern is how the many different facets of environmental change<\/a> are impacting the natural communities within the corridor which can require active management. In general, depending upon the specific lake and the issue, management can be divided among several state, local, and private entities but most often this involves Indiana Department of Natural Resources.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/a> Notable habitats within the corridor include wetlands dominated by Sphagnum<\/em> moss and floating macrophytes, such as white water-lily (Nymphaea odorata<\/em>), as well as prairies, where many wildflowers can be found, such as smooth blue aster (Symphyotrichum laeve<\/em>), and forests including trees such as American beech (Fagus grandifolia<\/em>) and sugar maple (Acer saccharum<\/em>). Notable vertebrates within the corridor include amphibians, such as spring peeper frogs (Pseudacris crucifer<\/em>), blue-spotted salamanders (Ambystoma laterale<\/em>), and woodland box turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina<\/em>). Notable invertebrates within the corridor include several species of dragonflies, such as the autumn meadowhawk (Sympetrum vicinum<\/em>), butterflies, such as the spicebush swallowtail (Papilio troilus<\/em>), and spiders, such as the orchard orbweaver (Leucauge venusta<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sphagnum<\/em> moss<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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White water-lily<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Smooth blue aster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Spring peeper frog<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Blue-spotted salamander<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Woodland box turtle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Autumn meadowhawk dragonfly<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Spicebush swallowtail caterpillar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Orchard orbweaver spider<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

How you can help the SJCKLC<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n