.The Great Lakes : A Magnificent
Freshwater System
The five Great Lakes: Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake
Huron and Lake St. Clair are the greatest
surface freshwater system on Planet Earth.
This freshwater must be protected and not drained away from their
watersheds. It is important to keep these lakes intact. The people and
ecosystems of plants and animals of North America, the United States and Canada depend on it.
The five Great Lakes are connected, a flowing system of
freshwater: Lake Superior, the highest,
Lake Michigan and Lake Huron geologically one
lake since they are at the same sea level. Lake Erie the shallowest and the
waters tumble over Niagara Falls into Lake Ontario Atlantic Ocean .
These lakes are connected through rivers: The St. Mary’s
River, The St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, the Detroit
River and they reach the St. Lawrence
River where they flow into the Gulf of
St. Lawrence to the Atlantic Ocean .
Some call the Great Lakes
the freshwater seas or the inland seas because they are so large they behave
more like oceans than lakes. Their water
is vitally important to all of us for transportation, drinking water, agriculture,
wild life and sport fishing.
On the map below notice the states and provinces in Canada that
surround these Lakes. Their watersheds are green on the map. Quebec and Ontario are Canada ’s
Great Lakes’ provinces and Wisconsin , Michigan , Illinois , Indiana , Ohio , Pennsylvania and New York
are all Great Lakes states. Lake Michigan is
the only state entirely enclosed by the United States . Notice the dotted lines going through each Great Lake
except Lake Michigan . These lines show where the lakes’ waters are
divided between the U.S. and
Canada .
This is important to know if you have a fishing license only
for one side or the other.
