This year has been a busy one for the board members of the LMWCC, and we have made significant progress on a number of objectives this year. We have Grand Valley State University conducting a survey of watershed landowners to try to determine the level of support for bringing the Little Manistee River into the Natural Rivers Program. Please see the separate article in this newsletter for details on the survey and its status.
We are moving forward again on our bank remediation projects. Wayne Andersen has made great progress in understanding and working with the federal Wild and Scenic River Section 7 requirements for federal review and permitting of our bank remediation projects. He has been working with Conservation Resource Alliance who is doing the permit application and project design and implementation for us. Wayne has had several meetings with the federal staff to understand the process and get these new projects off the ground. We have had several LMWCC members come to us requesting help with bank erosion problems, and we have prioritized them to get them completed as soon as possible. Please see Wayne’s article in this newsletter detailing the specific projects. Wayne has also been working with Trout Unlimited on potential large scale Fish Cover projects on the Little Manistee River. We have floated sections of the river with them to identify needs and locations and are optimistic we will be able to work on joint projects with Trout Unlimited in the near future.
We are continuing to work closely with the Conservation Districts for our macroinvertebrate studies and Invasive species work as well as building relationships with other watershed groups so we can increase our impact on regional matters by presenting a unified front with them. Please see the article by Joyce Durdel in this newsletter about the studies we have done. Next year the Mason/Lake Conservation will do an invasive species survey with us above M37. Landowners will be notified of invasive species’ presence on their property and made aware of options available to remove the invasives.
We no longer have interns at the Conservation Districts as we have the past two years. We found them tremendously beneficial. The Conservation Districts found the management of interns too time consuming and are looking at doing that work with permanent personnel financed from other sources. While the new people are hired and get up to speed, we have a gap in support that puts more burden on our volunteers. We have opted to skip this year’s Water Quality Study to work on other things. We are looking at other ways we can team up with the conservation districts to move our interests forward.
We are seeing more construction activity along the river than in the past. We get calls or email from people in the area pointing out what is going on. Often, we cannot see any obvious permits for the work. New docks are going in, land is being cleared, one individual has constructed their own island in the river. We have been reporting this activity to the MDNR and NFS and are trying to make people aware of the limited rules the DNR and NFS have in place to protect the river. If you are contemplating doing work along the Little Manistee River, please contact EGLE and NFS BEFORE you do any work. This is especially important for ANY work that is on or near the river’s edge, in the 100-year flood zone (up to 6 feet above the normal river level), in a wetland of any kind and for any type of structure.
I understand how busy everyone is with jobs, kids, grandkids and their everyday lives. But putting in time supporting LMWCC can be a rewarding experience and we can really use the help. So please consider taking part in the water quality or macroinvertebrate studies with us or volunteer in any way you can and are interested in. I have learned a lot working with the board and made a lot of valued friends along the way. I am excited that we have two new board members that joined us at the annual meeting. Amanda Lick is helping us with our web site updates and Tod Nyson is going to help with the macroinvertebrate and Water Quality Studies. Both of these areas are important but time-consuming work, and we really appreciate the additional people taking part.
Armas Soorus,
LMWCC President
Last Updated: December 5, 2023 by lmwcc
President’s Annual State of the Council 2023
This year has been a busy one for the board members of the LMWCC, and we have made significant progress on a number of objectives this year. We have Grand Valley State University conducting a survey of watershed landowners to try to determine the level of support for bringing the Little Manistee River into the Natural Rivers Program. Please see the separate article in this newsletter for details on the survey and its status.
We are moving forward again on our bank remediation projects. Wayne Andersen has made great progress in understanding and working with the federal Wild and Scenic River Section 7 requirements for federal review and permitting of our bank remediation projects. He has been working with Conservation Resource Alliance who is doing the permit application and project design and implementation for us. Wayne has had several meetings with the federal staff to understand the process and get these new projects off the ground. We have had several LMWCC members come to us requesting help with bank erosion problems, and we have prioritized them to get them completed as soon as possible. Please see Wayne’s article in this newsletter detailing the specific projects. Wayne has also been working with Trout Unlimited on potential large scale Fish Cover projects on the Little Manistee River. We have floated sections of the river with them to identify needs and locations and are optimistic we will be able to work on joint projects with Trout Unlimited in the near future.
We are continuing to work closely with the Conservation Districts for our macroinvertebrate studies and Invasive species work as well as building relationships with other watershed groups so we can increase our impact on regional matters by presenting a unified front with them. Please see the article by Joyce Durdel in this newsletter about the studies we have done. Next year the Mason/Lake Conservation will do an invasive species survey with us above M37. Landowners will be notified of invasive species’ presence on their property and made aware of options available to remove the invasives.
We no longer have interns at the Conservation Districts as we have the past two years. We found them tremendously beneficial. The Conservation Districts found the management of interns too time consuming and are looking at doing that work with permanent personnel financed from other sources. While the new people are hired and get up to speed, we have a gap in support that puts more burden on our volunteers. We have opted to skip this year’s Water Quality Study to work on other things. We are looking at other ways we can team up with the conservation districts to move our interests forward.
We are seeing more construction activity along the river than in the past. We get calls or email from people in the area pointing out what is going on. Often, we cannot see any obvious permits for the work. New docks are going in, land is being cleared, one individual has constructed their own island in the river. We have been reporting this activity to the MDNR and NFS and are trying to make people aware of the limited rules the DNR and NFS have in place to protect the river. If you are contemplating doing work along the Little Manistee River, please contact EGLE and NFS BEFORE you do any work. This is especially important for ANY work that is on or near the river’s edge, in the 100-year flood zone (up to 6 feet above the normal river level), in a wetland of any kind and for any type of structure.
I understand how busy everyone is with jobs, kids, grandkids and their everyday lives. But putting in time supporting LMWCC can be a rewarding experience and we can really use the help. So please consider taking part in the water quality or macroinvertebrate studies with us or volunteer in any way you can and are interested in. I have learned a lot working with the board and made a lot of valued friends along the way. I am excited that we have two new board members that joined us at the annual meeting. Amanda Lick is helping us with our web site updates and Tod Nyson is going to help with the macroinvertebrate and Water Quality Studies. Both of these areas are important but time-consuming work, and we really appreciate the additional people taking part.
Armas Soorus,
LMWCC President
Category: News, Recent Articles, Volunteer