Habitat

The Netley- Libau Marsh is an expansive coastal marsh comprised of over 24,381 hectares of upland and wetland habitat. The marsh is a complex of lakes and streams whose water levels are influenced by Lake Winnipeg. Located at the southern end of Lake Winnipeg, south of the beach ridge, and approximately 65- km north of Winnipeg, the marsh is a remnant of glacial Lake Agassiz.

Netley/Libau Marsh is very flat and contains many small bodies of water which are all connected by channels into which the Red River and Lake Winnipeg feed the marsh's water supply.

Fluctuating water levels , from drought years to wet years and everything in between, are vital to Netley Marsh. A healthy marsh is always in a state of flux. Dry years allow the plant life to reclaim the marsh, while wet years kill off the vegetation.

Due to stabilized water levels on Lake Winnipeg, the marsh is slowly dying from high water. High water is threatening to wash the marsh out to nothing more than a extension of Lake Winnipeg. For example, in 1960 there approximately fifty individual water bodies in the Netley/Libau Marsh. In 1980 that number had been reduced to 17 water bodies. From a study done in 2001 it has be concluded that there has been significant loss of aquatic vegetation and upland habitat within the marsh.