Though the program is only active May through September, some lake volunteers go above and beyond. The only purchased equipment are 15 dissolved oxygen meters the program buys only two a year due to funding constraints. Samples are then sent to the lab for testing. The cans are lowered to the bottom of the lake with five-pound weights and then pulled to the top by the chain. Vogel was named an “Amazing Volunteer” by The Volunteer Monitor, an EPA publication.ĬLMP keeps costs low by using other homemade equipment, too, such as chlorophyll sample recorders made from juice cans and chains. He’s also crafted more than 300 Secchi disks for the program. Since then, he has gathered more than 1,500 data measurements and samples. Ralph Vogel, a retired engineer, began recording water data on Corey Lake in 1974 during an outbreak of swimmer’s itch. One of the program’s first volunteers has been making CLMP’s Secchi disks for 37 years. It started with only Secchi disk measurements. The program’s name has changed over time, but Steen said he believes it first began in 1972, the same year the Clean Water Act was passed. “The hope is that we have a representative amount so we can figure out a trend that all the lakes are going toward,” Steen said. Volunteers know to look for these invasive species while collecting samples.ĬLMP meticulously monitors the lakes in its scope, but the majority of Michigan’s 11,037 inland lakes are not a part of the program. These include the curly-leaf pondweed and the more common Eurasian water milfoil, which covered nearly 75 percent of Lake Ovid’s surface, according to a 2005 DEQ study. This reduces the amount of oxygen available for the local flora and fauna in the lakes.Īlso outcompeting native species in some Michigan lakes are invasive plants. “It’s a stereotype, but there’s a lot of fertilizer that goes into the lakes.” That fertilizer contains high amounts of phosphorous and nitrogen, both of which contribute to eutrophication. “People who live on lakes tend to have very nice houses with beautiful lawns,” he said. He noted how important it is to educate residents on controlling nutrient loading. Volunteers also raise awareness about test results through word of mouth, said Paul Steen, ecologist with the Huron River Watershed Council. The results are then published online for the public. Volunteers send samples to the Department of Environmental Quality where they are analyzed. Volunteers record Secchi disk transparency weekly, dissolved oxygen biweekly, chlorophyll once a month, and phosphorous twice, at the beginning and end of the season. Their field season is from May to September, when algae growth is high. More than 400 volunteers record lake parameters, such as turbidity, phosphorous, chlorophyll, dissolved oxygen, and exotic plants. The state-funded effort provides lake monitoring, management and education for about 230 lakes. Michigan residents have been volunteering to maintain the state’s thousands of lakes for 39 years through the Cooperative Lakes Monitoring Program. The Great Lake state can continue to be proud of its nickname thanks to its diligent citizens.

Glen lake swimmers itch