Lake St. Clair, a destination for fun and source of life, drives $1.6 billion in impact
Sailboats in summer; blue ice in bleak winter.
Lake St. Clair's beauty crosses all seasons as its waters are nestled not just along two of Michigan's most populous counties, but along two countries.
It's popular with boaters and freighters, sunbathers and anglers, but it's also an important freshwater resource for nearby residents and creatures. Its coastline offers vistas for homes, yacht clubs, wells for thousands of pleasure boats, and jobs at marinas, shops and restaurants, especially in its coastal towns.
The lake and its coastal zones in just one U.S. county it borders, Macomb, brings a $1.6 billion economic impact to the county and region and more than 18,000 jobs, per a new study. In the next few months, the Macomb County Chamber is forming a task force to support the study and further boost the economy around the lake.
Rumrunners, shipwrecks and a big, raunchy party
The lake even has its own day — the last Wednesday in July is Lake St. Clair Appreciation Day in Michigan.
It has an interesting history. Rumrunners in boats — and even in cars when the water was frozen — sneaked across to Canada to bootleg liquor during Prohibition.
It has shipwrecks. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has recorded 13 major ones, said Gerry Santoro, program director for Macomb County's parks and natural resources, "and there's literally hundreds of vessels, if not thousands of vessels" in the lake.
It has lost settlements, including two European ones — Belvidere and St. Felicity — lost to flooding and abandoned in the mid-1800s in nearshore lake waters in Macomb County that researchers are documenting.
And it has one of the wildest parties on the water. Every June, hundreds of boaters head to Gull Island to participate in a Mardi Gras-type party dubbed the Jobbie Nooner, which started more than four decades ago. (The party has a part two in September). There’s usually music, booze … and some nudity.
While the lake's aquamarine hues shimmer in the sun, it, too, has fallen victim to invasive species and algae, beach closures from elevated E. coli levels, stormwater runoff and partially treated sewage during rain events, bringing efforts to find ways to save the lake and the properties on shore.
Where is Lake St. Clair?
It's part of the Lake Erie basin and is nestled between the St. Clair and Detroit rivers, according to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy With links to those rivers, it connects Lake Erie to Lake Huron.
It can be accessed and seen from communities in Wayne, Macomb and St. Clair counties in the U.S. and across the way in Ontario.
(If you check out a map, it's the body of water that is shaped a bit like a heart between Lake Huron and Lake Erie.)
How did it get its name?
French explorer Robert de la Salle, who arrived on the lake's shores on the feast day of Saint Clare of Assisi, gave the lake its present-day title, while Native Americans gave the lake many names, according to EGLE.
According to Lake St. Clair's historical marker from the state (which also gives the name Lac Sainte Claire), French explorers discovered and named the lake on Aug. 12, 1679.
Among the party of 34 men were voyageur Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle and Roman Catholic friar Father Louis Hennepin.
Though named for St. Clare, government officials and mapmakers later changed the spelling to the present form of St. Clair, the marker in St. Clair Shores reads, which led to some confusion as to the true origin of the name of the lake.
More: Ford House to get up to $7M to restore natural habitats in cove, Lake St. Clair shoreline
Does it have a nickname?
Yes! It's known as the "Heart of the Great Lakes," according to EGLE, though it's not one of the five Great Lakes.
(Fun fact: Four of the Great Lakes border Michigan — Erie, Huron, Michigan and Superior.)
(Second fun fact: While some may inaccurately refer to Lake St. Clair as the sixth Great Lake, there was a sixth Great Lake for 18 days in 1998 — Lake Champlain between New York and Vermont).
How deep and wide is it?
Lake St. Clair has an average depth of 11 feet and is 430 square miles in surface area, according to EGLE. It's smaller and more shallow than the Great Lakes.
The lake is 26 miles long and 24 miles wide and has a greatest natural depth of 19 feet, according to the NOAA, which adds the lake has low marshy shores and a flatly sloping bottom.
The lake has a dredged channel through it, with a federal project depth of 27.5 feet, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The channel allows commercial freighters to carry millions of tons of cargo — from coal to rock salt — domestically and internationally.
What's Lake St. Clair known for?
A lot! Here are a few things:
Fishing
EGLE touts that the lake hosts one of the largest sport fisheries in the world and that nearly a third of the annual Great Lakes sport fish caught are pulled from its waters.
Just some of the fish in the lake include bluegill, largemouth and smallmouth bass, muskellunge (muskie), northern pike, sturgeon, sunfish, walleye and yellow perch. A 2021 report by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources on the status of fisheries in the Michigan waters of Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair indicated Lake St. Clair continued to be the "premier waterbody in the state" for trophy smallmouth bass and it continued to dominate in Master Angler entries for muskellunge.
Fishermen from around the world know about the lake. The 2023 AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at Lake St. Clair was held in July and the 2023 Bass Pro Tour came for an event in June. It's the first waterbody to host two major tournaments, Santoro said.
(Fun fact: The lake ranked in the Top 10 (No. 7) in Bassmaster Magazine's 2023 100 Best Bass Lakes list).
And there's ice fishing in the winter.
Recreation, including ...
Swimming
Boating (sailboats, motor boats, pontoon boats, charter boats, tiki boats — you get the drift)
Jet skiing
Kayaking
Canoeing
Stand-up paddle boarding
Snowmobiling
Ice skating
Hockey
Habitat
In addition to fish, many species of amphibians, reptiles and migratory birds, particularly in the coastal wetlands, can be found.
Audubon Great Lakes states the St. Clair Flats (a large coastal marsh at the mouth of the St. Clair River) and Detroit River region provide important habitat for breeding, migrating and wintering waterfowl, as well as vulnerable wetland species such as the American Bittern, Black Tern and Marsh Wren.
It states the region "has been identified by Audubon scientists as one of the 12 most important coastal wetland regions across the Great Lakes that are most important to conserve or restore for vulnerable marsh birds."
Lake St. Clair, the group states, is known for supporting great congregations of Canvasbacks, Redheads and Greater Scaup.
More: Research sheds new light on reason behind Lake St. Clair’s elevated E. coli levels
Drinking water
The St. Clair-Detroit River System provides drinking water to millions of people on both sides of the lake.
The lake is the source of drinking water for the city of Grosse Pointe Farms, per the city's website, as well as more than 4 million other residents in southeast Michigan and Canada.
Mayflies (dreaded but should be loved)
There are at least 126 species in Michigan, with the giant mayfly one of the most widely distributed, according to a 2020 article by David Lowenstein with Michigan State University Extension. Their eggs are laid on water and hatch into larvae that live underwater, feeding on algae and other plant material for one to two years.
They usually fly to shore in June or July (attracted to light and become a nuisance, with piles of them causing slippery surfaces and smells of rotting fish).
But, more mayflies suggest a clean waterway, with the article stating the larvae "only thrive in lake and rivers with good water quality."
Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @challreporter.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lake St. Clair: 'Heart' of it all
