Lake Calumet - Ecology

Ecology

The wetlands surrounding Lake Calumet were noted for being the only location where specimens of Thismia americana, an example of endemic wet prairie flora, were ever collected. Due to the profound physical changes that have taken place to the Lake Calumet catchment area, this plant is now believed to be extinct.

Although the Lake Calumet has undergone extensive human alteration over the period from 1880 through 2010, parts of the basin remain a wetland, and the basin has been designated an Important Bird Area of Illinois.