GIBRALTAR — Jamie Saenz has seen eagles and hawks soar in the sky near Carlson High School.

“We used to have an eagle’s nest I would see riding down Woodruff (on the school bus) my freshman year,” the 17-year-old high school senior said.

“I didn’t know we had a marsh. I’ve driven past it many times and didn’t know it was there, protected.”

Humbug Marsh, which has been called the jewel of the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge, is the last mile of natural shoreline along the Detroit River on the mainland United States.

A ceremony was held at Carlson High School on Feb. 2, which was International Wetlands Day, recognizing Humbug Marsh as a “Wetlands of International Importance” under the Ramsar Convention of 1971. A signing of the treaty was re-enacted.

Humbug Marsh is a habitat for 51 species of native fish, 90 species of native plants, 154 species of native birds, seven species of native reptiles and amphibians, and 37 species of native dragonflies and damselflies.

It is the first wetlands in Michigan to receive the designation. Only 26 wetlands in the nation and 1,886 worldwide have the designation. The designated wetlands cover 45 million acres of land.

Saenz has never been to Humbug Marsh and said now he is looking forward to when his ecology class starts next trimester.

He is taking the class with his friend, Travis Walus, who also attended the ceremony and said he’ll have a better understanding of wetlands and the environment when his ecology class starts next month.

Both teens said the presentations at the ceremony were interesting and taught the significance of Humbug Marsh.

Grosse Ile actor Mark McPherson, portraying President Theodore Roosevelt, talked about the conservation movement in America and challenged the students to be the “rough riders” of the “noble cause” of protecting Humbug Marsh.

The Rough Riders were the first U.S. Volunteer Cavalry under the leadership of Theodore Roosevelt in 1898 in the battle of San Juan Hill, Cuba, during the Spanish American War. Roosevelt went on to become the 26th President of the United States, serving from 1901-09.

Dorothy McCleer, program coordinator for the environmental interpretative center at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, gave a slide show presentation on all things living in and around the marsh and why it is valuable to the community, region and world.

“The marsh is a rest area for all kinds of birds passing through the area,” McCleer said. “It is one of the greatest raptor migration areas in the country.”

Osprey, hawks, eagles and an array of other birds and raptors can be seen there, she said. Of the 51 species of fish found in Humbug Marsh, 90 percent are endemic, meaning they belong there and weren’t imported, she said.

The Ramsar Convention designation means Humbug Marsh is as significant in its role in nature here as the Florida Everglades, or the Upper Mississippi flood plain are in their regions, she said.

“What is good for the health of fish and ducks is good for the health of people, and (by preserving Humbug Marsh) you’re serving the people,” she said.

Receiving the designation is a significant step for the community, residents and the wetlands, Carlson Principal Bill Stevenson told his students and members of the community gathered in the auditorium.

He told them they were sitting in the same seats where more than 1,000 residents sat in a meeting in September 1998, seeking to stop residential development of Humbug Marsh.

“This is a triumph of the democratic process where several years ago community members gathered together in this auditorium to save Humbug Marsh,” Stevenson said.

In 2010, the students are seeing the fruits of the labors that started when many of them were just starting elementary school, he said.

Development of Humbug Marsh is something members of their community didn’t want to see, he said. So they joined together to fight it and to bring about a change they thought would make Gibraltar and the Downriver area a better place.

Stevenson said those actions more than a decade ago are a challenge to students today to look at the world around them and if there is something they want to see changed to help make that change.

It was the work of many that led to U.S. Rep. John Dingell (D-15th District) introducing legislation to establish the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge, which Humbug Marsh is a part of, he said.

A wetlands expo and reception was set up in the school’s library after the ceremony.

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