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The Michigan Lake & Stream Association, Inc. (ML&SA), in conjunction with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), sponsor a program called the Cooperative Lakes Monitoring Program (CLMP). Your association is a member of the ML&SA, and has participated in the CLMP since 2001. The CLMP monitors indicators of the aging process in a lake. Much the same as you and I, lakes go through a natural aging process. That process is called eutrophication. Lakes start out their lives as deep, clear, cold bodies of water that don't have a lot of nutrients to encourage plant and algae growth. Fish life is not abundant, and the lake is basically populated by cold water fish, like trout. As lakes age naturally, they slowly fill up with matter from run off and debris that blows in from shore. That debris breaks down over time and produces nutrients that support plant and algae growth. Plants and algae die off, and fall to the bottom filling the lake in a bit, adding to the nutrients, which further encourage more plant and algae growth, followed by further die off, more nutrients, more plant and algae life, etc. Eventually, the lake starts filling in, and starts warming up. As this process evolves, the lake becomes more "productive". Meaning more life is present in the lake, both plant and fish live. The lake now supports warm water fish like pike, bass and pan fish. Eventually, in the natural process, we're talking hundreds of years, the lake fills in completely. However, when you add man to the picture around a lake, that aging process can be compressed to decades if care isn't taken to control the load of nutrients dumped into the lake from fertilizers, septic systems and runoff from non-permeable surfaces. The goal of the CLMP is to measure for the presence and abundance of algae and nutrients that support algae growth in the water. The easiest way to do this is to measure the indicators of a presence of algae & the key nutrient that supports algae growth. The more algae present, the less clarity you'll have in the water. So, we monitor water clarity weekly throughout the recreational season. A black and white metal disk, known as a secchi disk, is slowly lowered into the lake until it is no longer visible. This is done at two locations. In the north end of the lake at the deepest point in our lake. We refer to this location as Schmidt's Pte. The second location is at the south end in the bay by Briarwood beach. We refer to this location as Briarwood Bay. The amount of chlorophyll you have in the water (chlorophyll is a green pigment that is found in most plants and algae), the more algae you have. We measure chlorophyll once a month from May through September. Phosphorus is the primary nutrient that feeds plant and algae life. The more of it you have, the more plant and algae life you're lake will support. CLMP tests for phosphorus twice a season. These three parameters, taken together, can give a very good indication of where a lake is in the aging process, and over a number of years can show trends in a lakes aging process. CLMP data and analysis will be posted here. Attached is a report on our 2007 CLMP efforts. Also there are 2 charts of ML&SA CLMP Report data for Cedar Lake. 2007 results are included. About the data, we did not have complete secchi data for 2003, that's why 2003 is omitted from that chart. Otherwise the charts are self explanatory. Using the CLMP parameters as a guideline, we are solidly a "mesotrophic" lake (see the explanation of Carlson's Trophic State Index below). By these, admittedly, rudimentary & very general observations Cedar Lake does not appear to be a eutrophic (dieing) lake, as it is sometimes referred to. You may recall from past reports on this, the Carlson Trophic Index is a measure of how "old" a lake is. With something like Higgins as the high end, and Lincoln Lake as the low end, according to Carlson, we can have hope that our lake is a healthy middle aged lake with lots of life left. * A report on CLMP water quality monitoring for 2007 - WaterQuality/AICLA - 2007 CLMP Water Quality Report.pdf * Graphic comparison of phosphorus & chlorophyl readings over the years - WaterQuality/AICLA - CLMP PhosphorusChlorophylReport 2007.pdf * Graphic comparison of secchi (water clarity) readings over the years - WaterQuality/AICLA - CLMP Secchi Report 2007.pdf * What is Carlson's Trophic State Index, and why should I care? |
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