From boundary waters to watersheds: Legal change and the geography of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence system

It is appropriate to recognize an evolving legal and institutional perspective on the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence system (GL-SL) as a means of furthering the understanding that is provided from established cartographic, bio-geological, historic, and cultural perspectives. This paper describes elements of that evolution from a one-dimensional legal conceptualization of the GL-SL as a boundary reflecting sovereign autonomy and state security, through a more complex recognition of the water system involving navigation, fisheries, and water supply, to a more comprehensive acknowledgment of basin-and ecosystem-oriented approaches where land-use activities and influences ranging from groundwater flows through air-borne contamination must be accounted for. The Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 and the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (1972-2012) provide general points of reference.