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September 5, 2002 Tips for Mainatining a Healthy Lake

Given out at the general membership meeting on August 31, 2002

Tips for Maintaining a Healthy Lake Au Sable Institute 2002 When you purchased your lakefront property, you purchased a lake. You gained access to recreational opportunities and a beautiful setting that can hopefully be enjoyed for generations to come. You also bought the responsibility to care for your lake and keep it healthy. The tips below are just a few of the steps you can take to keep your lake beautiful. Watershed Management - Good lake management begins with the watershed, or the area of land that drains into a lake. Work with your lake association to encourage education about and protection of your watershed. - Be careful to protect all streams in the area. In particular, leave a wide natural buffer area around them. - Control erosion around roads, subdivisions, and farmlands in the area using catch basins and ground cover at drainage points. - Maintain natural vegetation and wetlands in the watershed as much as possible. - Install ‘water bars’ with retention basins to divert and reduce surface runoff from roads, paths, and fields. Septic systems - Reduce household water use to prevent overworking your septic system. - Have your system cleaned and inspected every three to five years. - Save your system some work by not using a garbage disposal — compost your food garbage instead. - If possible, invest in a septic system that is 100 feet from the lake, as many feet above the water table as possible, and has a second drain field site available. - If the bottom of your drain field is less than 4 feet above the water table, consider installing a ‘raised-bed’ type of system. Lawn care - Don’t fertilize your lawn — it only encourages aquatic plants that you don’t want growing in the lake. - If you must fertilize, use phosphorus-free, “lake friendly” fertilizers. - Don’t dump grass clippings into the lake! Compost the clippings away from the lake instead. - If you water your lawn, use minimal water and install a system that uses lake water. Beach/Shoreline care - Develop a ‘greenbelt’ - leave at least a 20-foot un-mowed natural buffer strip along the lake. - Don’t pull up the plants on your beach or in the lake — they provide valuable habitat for many native species, help prevent shoreline erosion, and take up unwanted nutrients. - Build as little as possible on your shoreline. - Limit filling, dredging, or other disturbances to the shoreline or lake bottom. Exotic species - Learn to recognize Eurasian water milfoil, zebra mussels and other aliens and be extra careful to keep them out of the lake. Prevention is much cheaper than removal! - Always wash and dry your boat and bait bucket thoroughly after they’ve been in any other lake or river before putting them back in your lake. - When trying to control exotics, use methods that have only minimal impact on the rest of the lake. Hazardous chemicals - Don’t wash your car near the lake — go to a car wash, where soap and chemicals won’t drain into the lake. - Use only minimal bleach, drain cleaner, or other strong cleaning products. This will protect the helpful bacteria in your septic system. - Use extreme care when handling paint or paint remover, petroleum products, or when changing your car’s oil near the lake. - Minimize the use of toxic chemicals throughout the lake’s watershed. Overall, be aware of what you’re doing! Think about what effect your actions will have on the lake, and remember that we all need to help to keep YOUR lake healthy and beautiful. Text by Kristi Newhouse and Drs. Dave Mahan and John Korstad, with reference to “Your Lake and You”, by the North American Lake Management Society (www.nalms.org).

Story submitted by:     Donald Thomas

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