Manistee Lake Association Home Page
Don't Throw Your Yard Waste Into Manistee Lake
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- Written by Seth & Carolyn Phillips
- Category: Welcome to Our New Website
Some folks on the lake have expressed concern about some of our lake neighbors depositing their yard waste, mostly leaves and pine needles from last fall, into the lake. Everyone needs to know that this is very bad for the health of our lake. It adds nutrients, the decomposing organic matter helps foster algae growth and reduces oxygen levels necessary for a healthy lake environment, and of course this adds to the increasing sedimentation of our lake bottom. People should also be aware that it is a violation of state law to put such stuff into the lake.
Part 89 of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act, commonly known as the Litter Law, reads:
Sec. 8902. (1) A person shall not knowingly, without the consent of the public authority having supervision of public property or the owner of private property, dump, deposit, place, throw, or leave, or cause or permit the dumping, depositing, placing, throwing, or leaving of, litter on public or private property or water other than property designated and set aside for such purposes.
Litter is defined as:
a) "Litter" means any of the following:
(i) Rubbish, refuse, waste material, garbage, offal, paper, glass, cans, bottles, trash, debris, or other foreign substances
This includes yard debris such as leaves. Putting it into the lake is a civil infraction subject to fines up to $8,000 depending on the volume and frequency of the violation.
So please let your neighbors know not to throw yard debris in the lake.
Manistee County Board Votes 5-1 to Deny Kalkaska's Effort to End Septic Inspection Program
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- Written by Seth & Carolyn Phillips
- Category: Welcome to Our New Website
On October 22, 2019 the Manistee County Board of Commissioners, after hearing from many of our friends and neighbors over the last few months, agreed that the point of sale inspection program is important and should not be abolished. They voted 5-1 to deny Kalkaska County's request to end the program, which means it remains in place.
Hopefully, now the Kalkaska County Board of Commissioners will grant our long standing, and heretofore denied, request to form a work group to sit down and go through the various issues in the program about which many are concerned and find ways to improve the program for everyone.
A huge thank you to all the people of Manistee Lake and all around the county who spent the last 10 months fighting this wrong headed decision by our county board. Your persistence and patient lobbying paid off. Proving once again the a group of motivated, active citizens can still make a difference. Congratulations to you all on a job well done. Now we need to move forward together to make this program better.
10 Ways to Help Manistee Lake
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- Written by Seth & Carolyn Phillips
- Category: Welcome to Our New Website
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!
Welcome to Our Website
- Details
- Written by Admin Admin
- Category: Welcome to Our New Website
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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