From the February 2013 Conservationist for Kids

A sattelite image of the great lakes showing their drainage basin

Discover the Great Lakes

a shared resource...a shared responsibility

By Gina Jack

In this issue:

Discover how we all can take care of the Great Lakes as we share them with our neighbors and with the plants and animals they support, including those we might think of as pests.

A watershed is an area of land where the water that is under it or drains off it goes to the same place. A group of watersheds that drains into the same area is called a basin.

The Great Lakes contain about 18 percent of the world's surface fresh water.

The Great Lakes Basin includes all the land area where waters drain into the Great Lakes (the shaded area on this image). It includes all the tributaries-the creeks and rivers, large and small-which feed into these lakes.

Use the acronym HOMES (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior) to remember the names of the Great Lakes.