Water Quality -- Big Star Lake Association
Treatment:
What's Going on in Big Star Lake?Again this year, Professional Lake Management has been contracted by Lake Township to manage the Eurasion Milfoil situation. They will be doing a survey of the lake in early May to identify concentrations of the unwanted vegetation. Despite the plotted survey they perform there is opportunity for them to miss certain areas of concentration. Your help is needed to ensure that all areas are located, so that timely application of treatment can be made. If you are aware of any areas, please email me with the location of the vegetation beds so that I can match them up with the areas they have located. E-mail address is kurt.sanders (at sign) foremost.com. A picture of Eurasion Milfoil can be seen here.
Below is a map of areas that have had issues in the past.
Treatment will be made in two phases. A finalized flyer (see copy here if you wish) will be mailed to you in a few weeks. As of now the schedule is as follows:
Survey of the Lake 5/15/2006
1st Treatment-Weed and Algae 5/30/2006
2nd Treatment Spot Treatment follow-up 7/10/2006
3rd Treatment if necessary 8/15/2006
Follow-up Survey 9/04/2006
Weather conditions can impact this to some degree.
Notice in PDF Format
Monitoring
Water quality monitoring on the lake has been performed by Jim Dixon for the past two years. He is a property owner on the lake. He has donated his time and we a very appreciative of this. We began participating in a program through the Michigan Lake and Stream Association in 2004. The program is CLMP which stands for Cooperative Lake Monitoring Program.. You can access the 2004 results for Big Star Lake at http://www.mi-water-cmp.org. The results for 2005 have not been posted as of yet. In addition to the test results, this site provides a tremendous amount of information about stages of lake aging.
The Association regularly monitors water quality to assure its continued quality. Volunteers are needed to assist with sampling several times a year.
Exotic Species
Since the late 1990's we have had the exotic species Eurasian Milfoil in the lake. The Association continues to work with experts on weed control in an effort to eliminate it before it can fragment and reproduce. To date, it has not seriously impaired lake enjoyment, but continued control has been a cost to the association.
Some interesting links on the subject: