Volunteers installing an osprey nesting platform in the Huron River. Photo credit: 7 Cylinders Studio
Local osprey are being outfitted with tracking devices so you and researches can monitor their travels, a new online learning opportunity will improve your knowledge of lakes, and researchers are predicting another severe algal bloom in Lake Erie this summer. Oil and gas pipeline accountability has been in the news a lot lately. Here we pulled together three articles that will catch you up on the latest happenings. And that is what is News to Us.
DNR monitoring osprey chick migration with GPS. Several osprey chicks have been outfitted with backpacks to help monitor the bird’s movements and growth. Two of the four chicks that will be monitored are from a nest in Kensington Metropark in Milford. There is a site where you can track the birds too at michiganosprey.org.
Introduction to Lakes course coming soon to a computer near you. With over 11,000 inland lakes, Michigan is home to many lake enthusiasts. If that describes you and you have always wanted to know more, Michigan State University Extension is now offering an online course providing in introduction to lakes.
‘Severe’ algal blooms forecast this summer on Lake Erie. Researchers are predicting a more significant algal bloom this year than the one last summer that shutdown Toledo’s water supply for several days. The bloom won’t necessarily lead to issues with drinking water but will certainly impact recreation on Lake Erie and the organisms that live in the lake. Phosphorus runoff and heavy rains in June are two major contributors to the severity of the bloom. Conservationists are targeting large livestock operations for phosphorus reduction.
July has been a big month for news on oil and gas pipelines in Michigan. Here is a sampling of articles sharing pieces of the larger issue of moving oil through our state’s waterways.
Life 5 years after the nation’s worst inland oil spill – NPR’s Environment Report revisits the Kalamazoo River oil spill which is the largest inland oil spill in US history caused by a break in an Enbridge pipeline that traversed this waterway.
Report calls for heavy crude oil ban in Straits of Mackinac pipeline – The Michigan DEQ led a special task force that released a report last week on the status and future of pipelines in the state. Of particular focus is the Enbridge pipeline that runs through the Straits of Mackinac. Some say the recommendations are a big step in the right direction for safety and accountability. Others assert it does not go far enough to protect our freshwater resources.
National Wildlife Federation to Sue Dept. of Transportation over Oil Pipeline Oversight Failures — On the heels of this report, the NWF announced they plan to sue the federal government for failing to uphold the Oil Pollution Act which requires approval of a safety plan for pipelines which travel in, on or under inland waters. This lawsuit comes after much scrutiny and investigation into the safety of the Enbridge pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac.
Looking for a way to expand your knowledge about ecosystems, invasives, and the history of conservation in Michigan?
The Michigan Conservation Stewards program has been brought back to Washtenaw County by a collaboration of HRWC and peer organizations. We hope you, as a supporter of the Huron, will take the opportunity to strengthen your knowledge and thus ability to advocate for our natural resources. This 6-week course covers all the basics of conservation, introduces participants to a wide-array of topic experts, and is a great networking opportunity.
For some quiet water paddling sure to supply us with awesome wildlife viewing opportunities I take my family to Pickerel Lake. A little off the beaten path (technically the Water Trail is the main stem of the Huron), this non-motorized lake is frequented mostly by swimmers. There is a site to launch from but you need to carry the boat about 100 yards from the parking lot to the water.
We load our three small children into a canoe and paddle a slow adventure around the perimeter of the lake. Nestled within Pinckney Recreation Area, there is no development in sight. The shoreline is a beautiful mosaic of rushes, sedges and water lilies, wetlands and mature forest. The lake is spring fed making the water clean, clear and cool. The kids spend their time searching for fish and turtles. We stop to point out nesting waterfoul, sandhill cranes and great blue herons.
For a longer paddle, you can take the connecting channel up to Crooked Lake and back. Though not a fisherman myself, rumor has it you can catch some nice smallmouth bass. Also, there is a lovely hiking trail loop around the lake that takes you through some beautiful and rare ecosystems unique to this area. Paddle, swim or hike, it is a gem of a place to visit in our watershed.
Have fun, stay safe with these TIPSfrom the Trail!
Join HRWC for Huron River Appreciation Day, Sunday July 10! Come along on a guided trip of the Huron River Water Trail in Dexter, paddle the Lower Huron from Flat Rock or paddle to Milford from Proud Lake, hear a talk on paddling safety and get a free life jacket, hear a river history talk or learn to fly fish! Sponsored by TOYOTA.
Evening on Little Portage Lake, on the Pinckney Chain of Lakes. Our favorite time to go boating and swimming.
Things we wonder about . . .
I live in Pinckney, and we keep a boat on the Chain of Lakes there. We love everything about it from the serenity of some of the less-traveled spots, to the camaraderie found within the local boating crowd. And we also find ourselves musing on, for lack of a better description, natural history trivia. I took some time to write down the more pressing inquiries and thought “I am going to find an expert and get some answers!’
So, of course, the first thing I did was walk into the next office to chat with our very own Dr. Paul Steen, one of our two watershed ecologists on staff. The Question: What are the creepy spider things that scurry around after we uncover the boat?
The Answer: “They are water striders. Common in rivers, streams and ponds.” Also, bugs are not creepy to aquatic entomologists. AND “It’s not a spider, it’s an insect,” Dr. Steen nicely corrects me.
My next question was based on something that almost actually happened last summer. We were anchored on Little Portage Lake and an osprey flew low over the boat, with a fish in its talons. The load was clearly either larger than expected, or unbalanced, because the flight – and the grip – appeared to be extremely unsteady. The Question: If an osprey drops a fish in my boat, can I keep it? The Answer: I had to contact the DNR for this one. “In order to possess the fish all laws would still apply, so the person would need a fishing license, it would need to be the open season for that fish, the fish would need to be of legal length, and if the person was fishing for that fish they would need to include it in their daily catch. If any of these do not apply they would need to immediately toss it back in the water. And the question comes up “well what if it is already dead?” Again, I would say throw it back. I’m guessing the osprey will come back and grab it after the boat gets out of the area, otherwise it will feed other fish/crayfish/etc.” And I was looking forward to serving pan-fried fish with puncture wounds…
Horseflies are one of the more awful boating companions, and I wanted to know why they have such a nasty bite. The Question: Why are horseflies always around water, and why is their bite so nasty? Dr. Steen had to turn to the internet for this one. The Answer: They lay their eggs near water. And only the females bite, because they need blood for egg development. The bite is nasty because they have huge mandibles with jagged edges. And yes, the pictures are gruesome.
For my swan questions, I went to Dea Armstrong, former ornithologist for the City of Ann Arbor and an active member of HRWC. The Question: We see large swan families at the beginning of every summer, but sometimes the cygnet numbers go from five to one in a short amount of time. What’s going on? The Answer: “Predators or just unable to feed itself has always been my guess. Very few hatch year birds of any species make it past the first year.” Predators can range from eagles, foxes and raccoons, to turtles and even fish.
We also are amused at the cygnets hitching rides. The Question: Why do cygnets ride on the back of mom or dad? The Answer: “Cygnets can swim right away, but spend time riding on their parents’ backs probably (like loons and mergansers) to rest, conserve heat, and avoid predators such as large fish, snapping turtles, gulls and eagles.”
Speaking of snapping turtles, a common question when floating around on noodles or inner tubes with a group of friends is about snapping turtle hazards. Specifically, the possibility of turtles going after any dangly bits. The Question: If I am floating in the lake, minding my own business, will snapping turtles bite my toes? The Answer: “Is there beer involved in that conversation?” asks Dr. Steen. The rest of his answer is hardly reassuring. “Well, they are like sharks – it’s extremely rare, but they can mistake toes for fish or other prey. But they’re just looking for food, not targeting humans.” Well, I sure feel better now.
Join HRWC for Huron River Appreciation Day, Sunday July 10! Come along on a guided trip of the Huron River Water Trail in Dexter, paddle the Lower Huron from Flat Rock or paddle to Milford from Proud Lake, hear a talk on paddling safety and get a free life jacket, hear a river history talk or learn to fly fish!
Huron River Appreciation Day is sponsored by TOYOTA.
HRWC and EPA have taken action recently pertaining to 1,4 dioxane – the chemical contaminating groundwater in the Huron River watershed. During road salt season, consider alternatives to reduce impacts to our lakes and rivers. Huron River residents and the Great Lakes received good news this week on funding for natural resource protection and recreation. All in this edition of News to Us.
Dioxane makes list of 10 toxic chemicals EPA giving closer look This past summer the act that governs the regulation of chemicals in the US underwent major reform which arguably reduced barriers to regulate toxic substances. The 30 year old act had made it notoriously difficult to regulate chemicals. Under the reformed act, EPA was tasked with selecting ten substances to evaluate first. 1,4-dioxane is on that list, meaning the chemical that is contaminating groundwater under Scio Township and Ann Arbor will undergo a thorough risk evaluation over the next three years.
Huron River Watershed Council and county take legal action on dioxane Last week, HRWC filed a motion to intervene in the Gelman case that would amend the consent judgement that put cleanup of the 1,4 dioxane plume contaminating local groundwater in the hands of MDEQ and Gelman Sciences. HRWC and Washtenaw County, who also filed a motion to intervene, argue that cleanup efforts have failed. Should the court choose to open the case again, HRWC would provide a voice for the river, aquatic life and river recreation.
Road Salt Sex Change: How Deicing Messes with Tadpole Biology In the season of ice and snow, Huron River residents will be bringing out the road salt. There is mounting evidence of negative impacts to rivers and lakes due to high salt concentrations. This article discusses new research findings that implicate road salt in developmental issues in tadpoles, particularly by altering sex ratios. For some alternative practices for safe sidewalks visit our tips page.
Coalition Applauds Great Lakes Investments in Bill Great news for the Great Lakes. The federal government has authorized another round of Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) Funding. GLRI will provide $1.5 billion in funding over the next five years for projects that help restore our water resources. GLRI has funded projects in the Huron and throughout Southeast Michigan to the benefit of people, businesses and the natural resources.
Gov. Rick Snyder applauds Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund board recommendations Several projects in the watershed were awarded grants from the Michigan Natural Resource Trust fund. These projects will advance trail systems in our area including the Washtenaw County Border-to-Border (B2B) trail segment from Dexter to Ann Arbor. Trail projects also build out the Huron Waterloo loop in Lyndon Township and a segment of the Iron Belle trail in Ypsilanti Township.
New resources and training for waterfront (river and lake) property owners.
Pleasant Lake, Freedom Township, by Lon Nordeen
Michigan Shoreland Stewards provides recognition for lakefront property owners who are protecting the waterquality and ecosystems of inland lakes through best practices. These include reducing fertilizer use, maintaining septic systems, creating fish habitat with woody debris and native aquatic plants, and using native trees, shrubs and wildflowers to capture runoff and prevent erosion. The free web-based questionnaire is designed to guide you through the practices and help you determine how to achieve Gold, Silver or Bronze status. Qualifying properties get a certificate and a sign. Many of the practices can be adapted for riverfront properties.
Wisconsin’s Healthy Lakeswebsite includes five simple and inexpensive best practices that improve habitat and water quality on your lakeshore property. Factsheets, technical guidance and detailed how-to information for creating fish habitat at the water’s edge and on using native plant buffers, diversion, rock infiltration and rain gardens to capture and clean runoff. Most practices apply to riverfront properties.
Upcoming Workshops
Sat, March 25, 2017. Protecting Your Shoreline: A Workshop for Inland Lakefront Property Owners, Michigan State University Extension, Oakland County Executive Office Building Conference Center, Waterford, Michigan. For property owners interested in creating, restoring and managing natural shorelines.This workshop is designed to educate on natural erosion control methods and will discuss techniques for using natural landscaping along the shoreline for erosion control and habitat while maintaining the aesthetic value of the lakefront. Register by March 22.
Fri-Sat, April 21-22, 2017. 56th Michigan Lake and Stream Associations Annual Conference, “Bridging the Resource Gaps: Enhancing the Ability of Lakefront Communities to Prevent and Manage Aquatic Invasive Species,” Crystal Mountain Resort, Thompsonville, Michigan. The conference will provide participants with the knowledge, information, and ideas to improve their lakefront community’s ability to prevent and/or manage aquatic invasive species. Learn more about the latest efforts to control invasive mussel populations, the status of starry stonewort in Michigan waters, purple loosestrife management initiatives, and the efforts of the Michigan Swimmers Itch Partnership. MiCorps Cooperative Lakes Monitoring Program will also hold its annual volunteer training at the MLSA Conference, on Friday.
In this edition of News to Us, learn some of the implications of the proposed federal budget for the Great Lakes, how HRWC is helping prepare the Huron River for climate change, the magnitude of the challenge of aging water infrastructure, and see a short film on the inner workings of a river.
Trump Proposal To Gut Great Lakes Funding Could Allow Pollution To Flourish
The fund which allocates almost $300 million each year to the protection and restoration of our nation’s Great Lakes is proposed to be completely defunded. The new administration’s proposed budget cuts the bipartisan Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) entirely as they seek to reduce EPAs budget by 31%. (This article was written before the official budget was released. Cut went from 97% to 100% at the official budget release this week.) GLRI has been in place since 2010 and has funded critical work from studying Harmful Algal Blooms to supporting cleanup efforts in our most polluted waters and so much more. The implications of this are wide reaching from serious declines in water quality and losing ground on invasive species to significant impacts to the economy of our coastal towns and job losses in tourism and research. HRWC is meeting with and talking to our Senators and Representatives and please do too–call your Senators and Representatives and ask they fight to protect the GLRI.
Issues Of The Environment: Building Resilience Along The Huron River Amidst Changes In Climate HRWC’s Rebecca Esselman is interviewed on the impacts of climate change to the Huron River and the strategies being implemented to help the river adapt to a new climate future. Protecting forests along the river and stream, restoring habitat and improving the management of flow by dams can create conditions that will help the Huron be more resilient to more extreme rainfall events, drought and higher air temperatures. Watch a short film on this topic here.
We have a lot of old water infrastructure, so what do we do about it? Our water infrastructure – the pipes, pumps and plants that deal with stormwater, drinking water and wastewater are old and failing. The price tag associated with necessary upgrades is huge and the source of that money is unknown.
The Secret Life of Rivers
And for a little fun, check out this really cool glimpse at a rarely considered, hyper-important part of a river system- the hyporheic zone. It will only add to your awe and respect for these complex ecosystems. And as an added bonus, a tardigrade makes a guest appearance and if you don’t know about tardigrades, google it. They are astounding.
*** UPDATE: On August 16, 2017, the EPA and the Army extended the comment period by 30 days for the proposed first step of the review of the definition of ‘Waters of the U.S.’ to provide additional time for stakeholders to weigh in. *** The comment period, as now extended, will close on September 27, 2017. ***
While we are working to clean up the Huron River system for a good quality of life, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is working to roll back the Clean Water Act. The current administration is rushing through a repeal of the Clean Water Rule and we have only until September 27th during public comment to try and stop it. It’s critical for your voice to be heard in D.C.
You can help by submitting a request to stop the repeal of this important rule on or before Wednesday, Sept. 27, 11:59pm EST.
Get sample comment letter language, links into the Federal eRulemaking Portal, Michigan impacts, and news articles HERE.
Background:
What is the Clean Water Rule? In 2015, the previous administration clarified and finalized protections for streams and wetlands across the country. These safeguards protected the small streams that feed the drinking water sources for nearly 1 in 3 Americans. They protected wetlands throughout the nation that filter pollutants from water, absorb floodwaters, and provide habitat for countless wildlife. In fact, industry and other permittees asked for this clarification as an end to regulatory confusion about which of the country’s waterways the Clean Water Act protects. The rule was supported by millions of Americans.
The Clean Water Rule followed a robust public process. Before finalizing the Clean Water Rule in 2015, EPA held more than 400 meetings with stakeholders across the country and published a synthesis of more than 1,200 peer-reviewed scientific publications, which showed that the small streams and wetlands the Rule safeguards are vital to larger downstream waters.
What is this administration proposing? Administrator Pruitt does not want to implement the Clean Water Rule. Instead, he plans to rush through the repeal of the Clean Water Rule this year, then propose and finalize a less protective rule in less than a year. President Trump signed an Executive Order instructing the EPA to propose a new rule based on former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Scalia’s opinion of which waterways the Clean Water Act protects. A rule following Scalia’s interpretation would result in drastic exclusions of wetlands and streams from protection; fewer than half of wetlands and fewer than 40 percent of streams would receive federal protection. If that scenario comes to pass, then the nation’s waters will be less protected than they were in 1975!
Who is opposing the Clean Water Rule? Lobbyists for oil and gas producers, homebuilders, and farm bureaus.
What’s at stake? Our right to clean drinking water is in jeopardy. Rolling back the rule will result in the same regulatory confusion that resulted in broad-based calls for clarity about which of our nation’s waterways the Clean Water Act protects. Rolling back the rule is bad governance, bad for businesses who rely on regulatory certainty, and bad for our communities that deserve clean water.
Michigan’s rivers play a key role in economic and community building. Here in the Huron River watershed, we know the value of a healthy river system that includes healthy wetlands and smaller feeder streams. The river and water trail are conservatively estimated to have the following economic impact:
$53.5 million in annual economic output (direct, indirect, and induced spending)
$628 million in added property value
$150 million in annual environmental value (such as clean drinking water, wetlands and floodplains that prevent flooding, and forested riverbanks that foster rich fisheries and healthy streams)
Please speak up – send a message to the EPA today. Tell Administrator Pruitt: Hands off our water. We’ve provided a sample public comment letter. We encourage you to add your own description of the value of clean water.
Postscript: Republicans, meanwhile, are targeting the rule on a second front. A section of the Defense Department spending bill (page 277, line 12) allows the administration to revoke the rule with no strings attached — strings being requirements for public consultation.
Get sample comment letter language, links into the Federal eRulemaking Portal, Michigan impacts, and news articles HERE.
For 14 years, HRWC has worked with lake residents across Michigan through the Cooperative Lakes Monitoring Program (CLMP) by training and assisting them with monitoring the water quality of their lakes. This year, thanks to support from the Oakland County Board of Commissioners in covering the registration costs, over 60 lakes in Oakland County have newly enrolled! Prior to the 2018 Oakland County Healthy Lakes Initiative, the CLMP covered approximately 250 lakes across Michigan–12 in Oakland County. To have 60 plus new lakes register in one year is both an incredible feat and a great challenge for us to tackle!
Taking secchi disc measurements (water transparency) as part of the CLMP
To onboard so many new lakes into the CLMP, HRWC hired an intern (me!) to coordinate directly with every new volunteer group. I had the opportunity to meet the lead volunteers of each lake during our May introductory training session. These wonderful people come from so many different walks of life, but they each share a passion for becoming stewards of the natural world we inhabit. I am absolutely thrilled to spend my summer visiting one-on-one with each of these individuals and touring the beautiful lakes across Oakland County.
These visits are designed to coincide with the emergence of the aquatic plants that populate the lakes. While many consider these slimy organisms to be weeds, they are in fact an integral part of the aquatic ecosystem, providing habitat for fish and bugs as well as soaking up the excess nutrients which pour into water bodies due to urbanization and agriculture. Unfortunately, Michigan’s lakes are threatened by several species of invasive plants. CLMP volunteers have taken on the task monitoring the spread of these eco-criminal offenders, namely curly-leafed pondweed, starry stonewort, and Eurasian watermilfoil. They are also on the look-out for Hydrilla, an extremely aggressive invader that has been creeping its way toward our state. Hydrilla has yet to be found in Michigan, and hopefully our network of volunteers can identify its presence early enough to prevent its spread. The volunteers will receive on-site training by HRWC staff (me again!) at their respective lakes to demonstrate the use of our custom-built plant sampling rakes in mapping out any incidents of these exotic plants.
Demonstrating use of the aquatic plant sampling rakeDisplaying some aquatic plants dredged up using aquatic plant sampling rake
Why monitor these lakes? How is the data used? Our volunteers over the course of this summer and into the future will collect a wealth of data, a sample size that would be difficult to achieve by a lone government agency or academic institution, which is uploaded onto an accessible online data exchange on micorps.net. Because of this, data sets collected by volunteer programs are being increasingly looked to as a source for long term and geographically-broad data, which is coveted by scientists trying to track the spread of invasive species and the effects of environmental stressors such as climate change, pollution, and urbanization. These data sets can also be used to justify funding for restoration projects, inform decisions about real estate values, and to influence local and statewide environmental policy. For these reasons, as well as for their own better understanding of the health of the lakes they love, our volunteers are performing an invaluable public service. I would like to close out this blog post by thanking our them dearly for their contributions. A little bit of monitoring goes a long way!
-Niklas Krantz is our CLMP Invasive Plants Intern this summer. He is majoring in Biological Sciences at Wayne State University. You can catch Nik featured in a recent story from the Environment Report, “Bugs can tell us whether a river is healthy,” by Lester Graham.
Bruce Lichliter, a volunteer on Big Glen Lake, collects a chlorophyll-a sample. Credit: MiCorps
Michigan is the land of 11,000 lakes. Indeed, our state is nearly overflowing with lakes, and as Michiganders we should be proud of this and at every possible opportunity remind Minnesotans that Michigan has more lakes. This wealth of freshwater is an invaluable resource both from a human and a natural perspective. Lakes are wonderful places to live, boat, fish, and play. They become cherished and important places where people spend their lives and learn to appreciate nature. Lakes become peoples’ homes, and residents take pride in them. At the same time, lakes are homes to all sorts of fish, birds, frogs, and insects, which rely on the ecosystems for protection, reproduction, and food.
Yet with great resources comes great responsibility. A common phrase you will hear from a freshwater scientist is that “Michiganders are loving their lakes to death.” With so many human activities on lakes, and with so much development along lakeshores, lakes are far from the pristine locations we may imagine when gazing at a photograph of a loon swimming at sunset. The lake in that idyllic photo may be overgrown with invasive plants, it may be full of algae, or there might be so many seawalls along the shoreline that the loon can’t even find a place to lay her eggs. For lakes to continue to thrive, humans need to recognize their own impact and wisely manage lakes to support human activities and ecosystem functions.
Invasive aquatic plants
Consider the management of aquatic plants, one of the dominant lake management problems for Michigan lake riparians. Rooted aquatic plants are a natural and essential part of a lake, just as grasses, shrubs and trees are a natural part of the land. However, sometimes a lake is invaded by an aquatic plant species that is not native to the region. Some of these exotic invasives, like Eurasian milfoil and starry stonewort (a macroalgae), can be extremely disruptive to the lake’s ecosystem and recreational activities. These invasive plants can “take over” a lake by crowding out beneficial native species, and they can negatively affect fish populations and human recreation.
Lakes with extensive invasive plant coverage are not enjoyable for boating or swimming, as they get tangled in motors and legs. Studies have shown that invasive plants in lakes can reduce property values by about 13%.1,2 Starry stonewort forms a thick mat that makes a barrier on the bottom of the lake, preventing or reducing fishes’ ability to create spawning nests. Fish are forced to go to suboptimal locations to spawn, diminishing their reproductive effectiveness and opening predation opportunities on themselves or their eggs/young.3
An ounce of prevention
Many lake communities use herbicide treatments to control the quantity of invasive plants on their lake, yet these are not simple management decisions to make, as treatments are costly and often need to be repeated annually since the roots of the plants are not affected. The use of herbicides is often contentious and can turn neighbors against each other. Mechanical harvesting is costly as well. The process is slow and labor intensive, and as some plants spread by fragmentation, harvesting can make an infestation of invasive plants worse in the long term.
The best management technique for dealing with invasive plants is to never get infested in the first place. This is where monitoring comes in, and a concept called Early Detection and Rapid Response. Lakes need to be monitored for exotic invasive plants so that they can be identified when their populations are still very small, and then most quickly and cheaply eliminated with targeted removal. Often, invasive plants first show up at a lake’s public boat ramp after they are transferred from another body of water. Watching public access points for these plants could have huge benefits in the long run.
Preventing the spread of invasive plants could save lake residents hundreds of thousands of dollars in herbicide costs. Volunteer monitors are key to this process. Continually monitoring and treating the invasive plants as they first pop up is time consuming and requires persistence and dedication, but it can keep the invasive populations at low, manageable levels. The alternative is to wait until the invasives expand to cover large areas of the lake, after which control will be very expensive.
As seen in the prior example, the first step to good lake management is good lake monitoring. Monitoring gives an understanding of lake ecosystem dynamics and information that guides people to make sound lake-management decisions.4 Monitoring a lake can involve considering its temperature (throughout the water column) and tracking color, transparency, dissolved oxygen levels, nutrient levels, plants, fish, and habitat both in the water and along the lakeshore. Every lake is unique. It is subject to different factors, both human-induced, like lakeshore development and upland pollution, and natural factors, like water sourcing, geology, and riparian habitat.
Lake management resources
The Cooperative Lakes Monitoring Program (CLMP) is a statewide monitoring program that has been operational since 1974. HRWC has helped run it since 2004 as a part of a core team of university, government, and nonprofit scientists. The CLMP relies on the efforts of volunteers, most of whom are lakeshore property owners or residents. Program leaders provide equipment and training, and volunteers conduct the needed monitoring on their lake throughout the late spring and summer.
Volunteers can “opt in” to monitor an entire ecosystem, or select certain ecological parameters to measure such as water transparency, phosphorus, chlorophyll, dissolved oxygen and temperature, lakeshore habitat, and aquatic invasive plants. Some volunteers even elect to conduct full aquatic plant surveys. It’s the volunteers’ choice, and the job can be as simple as taking measurements a couple of times a month from May through September, or a highly intensive survey taking tens of hours during the summer season.
If you live on or have regular access to a lake that you worry is being “loved to death,” consider volunteering your time to be a CLMP lake monitor and give back to the lake that you love so much! It needs your help. The more information that you can collect on your lake, the more informed your community’s lake management decisions will be and thus the more effective.
As you volunteer, you will learn other ways to be a good lake steward, such as the impact of fertilizers on lake water quality and the value of a natural shoreline to all the lake’s inhabitants. You will gain confidence in and understanding of lake science, and learn how to share your new-found knowledge with your neighbors. So, what are you waiting for? Sign up to be a lake monitoring volunteer now!
Liao, F.H.; Wilhelm, F.M.; Solomon, M. The Effects of Ambient Water Quality and Eurasian Watermilfoil on Lakefront Property Values in the Coeur d’Alene Area of Northern Idaho, USA. Sustainability 2016, 8, 44. https://doi.org/10.3390/su8010044
Horsch, Eric & Lewis, David. (2009). The Effects of Aquatic Invasive Species on Property Values: Evidence from a Quasi-Experiment. Land Economics. 85. 391-409.
Pullman, G.D, and Crawford, G. 2010. A Decade of Starry Stonewort in Michigan. Lakeline. https://www.nalms.org/wp-content/ uploads/2018/09/30-2-9.pdf
water paddling sure to supply us with awesome wildlife viewing opportunities I take my family to Pickerel Lake. A little off the beaten path (technically the Water Trail is the main stem of the Huron), this non-motorized lake is frequented mostly by swimmers. There is a site to launch from but you need to carry the boat about 100 yards from the parking lot to the water.
ature forest. The lake is spring fed making the water clean, clear and cool. The kids spend their time searching for fish and turtles. We stop to point out nesting waterfoul, sandhill cranes and great blue herons.
The Answer: “They are water striders. Common in rivers, streams and ponds.” Also, bugs are not creepy to aquatic entomologists. AND “It’s not a spider, it’s an insect,” Dr. Steen nicely corrects me.
