In my early post on the Great Lakes as the characters of the iconic 80s movie The Breakfast Club, I described my home lake, Lake Erie, as the black sheep of the lakes. 

If an average American with some basic knowledge of the Great Lakes was asked about Lake Erie, their response would likely be negative, perhaps thinking of it as “the worst” of the Great Lakes. Fires at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River. Algal blooms that create toxic conditions in the western basin of the lake. Water pollution from declining industrial cities like Buffalo, Cleveland and Toledo.  

All of these things are a part of Lake Erie’s history and, to some degree, part of its current reality. However, they paint an overly-dark picture of the lake to the detriment of recognizing significantly positive developments, assets and resources.

Lake Erie was recently named by USA Today’s 10Best as THE top lake in the United States as nominated by industry experts, vetted by the 10Best editors, and voted on by readers. A note that I think the “in the United States” is a bit misleading since over half of Lake Erie’s coastline is in Canada, but the US coastline lies along places that can certainly use the positive marketing – western New York, Erie, PA area, Ohio and a touch of southeastern Michigan. 

Lake Erie is the southernmost Great Lake. It is also the shallowest with an average depth of 62 feet. Compare that with 279 feet for Lake Michigan or 483 feet for Lake Superior. The lake has 871 miles of shoreline with 14 million people living near the lake basin. 11 million people get their drinking water from Lake Erie. Water flows generally from the west and the Detroit River to the east, into the Welland Canal and Niagara River before dropping off Niagara Falls towards Lake Ontario. 

Given its shallow nature, it is the warmest Great Lake. A positive of its warmth is that it is the most biologically productive of all the Great Lakes. The lake’s fish population accounts for approximately 50% of all fish inhabiting the Great Lakes. Native species include steelhead, walleye, smallmouth bass, and perch. Introduced species include rainbow smelt, common carp, and rainbow trout. The commercial fishing industry is mostly located on northern shores in Ontario while recreational fishing can be found across the lake.

It isn’t wrong to associate Lake Erie with the industrial cities along its shoreline. It is the Great Lake that has been exposed to the greatest effects from agriculture, industrialization, and urbanization. The lake has played a leading role in the steel industry, with raw materials shipped around the lake to cities like Detroit, Toledo and Erie. Waste from steel and other industries was dumped into the lake or its watershed for decades. The lake hit a low point in the 1960s when many beaches and shorelines were closed due to pollution.

However, it was the fire on the Cuyahoga River in 1969 (over the years there were actually many fires) that launched the political and environmental effort that inspired the seminal Clean Water Act of 1972. Lake Erie obviously benefited from increased regulation after its passage, and the lake’s health has generally improved since the late 1970s.

Those of you who read my blog consistently know that I have many locations along Lake Erie that hold special meaning to me. Some are visually beautiful, some of them are maybe less stunning. But they all provide me with a feeling of deep connection and perspective about my place in the world. When you stand looking out at an unending expanse of water, limits and boundaries seem to disappear, while simultaneously the sheer scope of the natural world whispers to you something that I find critical for my self-conception: You are essential, but you are also only a small element of something much bigger than yourself. Do not lose sight of this.