At their meeting on June 18, 2018, the Manistee Lake Improvement Board voted to treat approximately 9 acres of Eurasian Milfoil identified in several locations around Manistee Lake with herbicide as has been done the last two years. This treatment is scheduled for Thursday, June 21, 2018. If you live near one of the off shore treatment areas, staff of the treatment company will be posting a yellow notice on a tree on your property to inform you that treatment is being/has been done. As in past years, this will be a very limited treatment using a selective herbicide that should pose little risk to anyone living near the lake. It is recommended, just to be on the safe side, that you avoid direct contact with the water in and near the treatment zone, as well as keep pets out of the water during the treatment period. Water should be completely safe for contact on Friday, June 22, 2018. Here is the map of the treatment areas.

Welcome to the new and improved Manistee Lake Association web site. We hope you like the look and the many additional features. We have tried to make the site far more useful as a source of information and communication. Many of the features are in the members only area so we encourage everyone to become a member and to register for the member area. Access is free to MLA members. Members please make sure to update your member information so we have current contact information for you. If you are a new resident who does not receive our newsletter, please give us your contact information so we can add you to our database. Just click on the contact us link under website feedback on the lower right of this page and submit your information.

We invite comments and suggestions to improve the site as well. We want to make this site as useful and user friendly as we can.  We have tried to minimize some features to lessen download times for those of you with slower internet connections. We will continue to add information to the site and to improve features as we go so please check back often and let us know what you think. I hope you enjoy our new home on the web. Spread the word around. Manistee Lake can always use more friends.

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The Joint Manistee Lake Association/Manistee Lake Improvement Board Fish Improvement Team completed their annual sucker removal project today (May 19, 2018). Both nets have been removed.

We collected a total of 294 white suckers from the lake. While this number is not large, it is pretty consistent with the last few years’ collection effort which suggests that our project to get the sucker population under control is working well. Some other good news from this year were the increased numbers of minnows and younger game fish removed from our nets and returned to the lake. Our fish research studies of the last two seasons have not generally shown a significant population of juvenile fish which has been of concern. However, we are hopeful that the increased numbers seen in our nets this year are a positive sign of increased populations.

Lastly, a huge thank you to all the volunteers who came out to help and to all those who came to collect the fish for food. We hate to see them go to waste. We’ll be at it again next spring and will keep everyone posted.

Coldsprings Township has adopted a new ordinance to regulate the use of consumer fireworks.  In accordance with state law, the ordinance does not restrict the use of consumer fireworks on the day before, the day of or the day after the state designated national holidays. So consumer fireworks can be used at any time of the day or night during these three day holiday windows.  The ordinance restricts use of consumer fireworks on all other days to the hours of 9 AM to Midnight (i.e. fireworks can not be discharged after midnight, except for the aforementioned holiday periods.) The ordinance also prohibits the use of consumer fireworks on public property or other private property without the owner's permission, prohibits the use of fireworks by anyone under the influence of alcohol or drugs and prohibits the use of fireworks if a burn ban or "red flag warning" is in effect. The ordinance also requires, as required by state law,  that anyone using consumer fireworks must be at least 18 years of age.

The full ordinance can be found at this link:  http://www.coldspringsexcelsior.org/coldsprings/2017/Fireworks%20ordinance%202017.pdf

Just a reminder to all our lake residents and users on easy things you can do that will help protect  Manistee Lake water quality. (From the Manistee Lake  Homeowners Guidebook)

1. Don’t use lawn fertilizer or weed killer.

2. Help prevent the spread of invasive species! If you trailer your boat

from lake to lake, wash your boat and trailer before launching back

into Manistee Lake.

3. Water the lawn sparingly to avoid washing nutrients and

sediments into the lake.

4. Don’t feed ducks and geese near the lake. Waterfowl

droppings are high in nutrients and may cause swimmer’s itch.

5. Don’t burn leaves and grass clippings near the shoreline.

Nutrients concentrate in the ash and can easily wash into the lake.

6. Don’t mow to the water’s edge. Instead, allow a strip of natural

vegetation (i.e., a greenbelt) to become established along your

waterfront. A greenbelt will trap pollutants and discourage

nuisance geese from frequenting your property.

7. Infiltrate drainage from your downspouts rather than letting it flow

overland to the lake.

8. Don’t dump anything in area wetlands. Wetlands are natural purifiers.

9. Have your septic tank pumped every 2 to 3 years.

10. Don’t be complacent—our collective actions will make or break

the lake!