Wetlands in Metro Detroit play a critical role in flood control, water purification, and providing habitat for diverse wildlife. Planet Detroit is reporting on these imperiled landscapes because they are vital for climate resilience, biodiversity, and the region’s environmental health.

Detroit wetlands offer up urban nature

As Detroit expanded over the past two centuries, one of its most treasured natural resources receded from the city’s riverfront. Wetlands—waterlogged areas where the city’s soils bordered the Detroit River—once stretched a mile wide and rested along the land between Lake St.Clair and Lake Erie.  In the years since the Industrial Age in the 1800s,…