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This is the official page for the Cedar Lake Watershed Management Plan which will be finalized by 2009. For a detailed list of tasks to be completed through a joint effort by the Steering Committee and Kieser & Associates, click here.

The following outline is a work in progress: it will be updated/modified as tasks are completed and public input is received. Please check often as new documents will be posted regularly.

Watershed Management Plan Outline 

1.  Watershed Description

 

• Physical and Natural Features

Watershed maps: general, topography, soils, groundwater, 2006 aerial image

 

• Land Use and Land Cover 2001 land use, wetlands

Land use change example in southwest corner (pdf)

 

• Demographic Characteristics

 2.  Watershed Conditions

 

• Water Resources
• Designated and Desired Uses
• Impaired Uses and Water Quality Threats

 3.  Pollutant Source Assessment

 

• Known Causes and Sources
• Potential Causes and Sources

 4.  Linkage of Pollutant Loads to Water Quality

 

• Estimation of Pollutant Loads
• Identification of Critical Areas

 5.  Watershed Goals and Implementation Options

 

• Watershed Goals
• Management Measures
• Implementation Options and Load Reduction Targets

6.  Management Strategies

 

• Existing Management Tools
• Management

7. Implementation Program Design

• Strategies
• Implementation Schedule
• Interim Milestones
• Indicators to Measure Progress
• Estimation of Costs and Technical Assistance
• Information and Education
• Monitoring
• Evaluation Framework

Steering Committee Project Partners

• Greenbush Township
• Iosco County Drain Commissioner
• Charter Township of Oscoda
• Alcona and Iosco Conservation Districts
• Lakewood Shores Property Owner’s Association, Inc.
• Alcona County Road Commission
• Alcona County Board of Commissioners
• Alcona-Iosco Cedar Lake Association, Inc. (AICLA)
• Kieser & Associates, LLC
• Stevan Sendel, Fisheries Biologist (DNR, Grayling)
• Lakewood Shores Resort
• Natural Resources Conservation Service
• Michigan Department of Environmental Quality
• Aquest Corporation
  

The Steering Committee will continue to meet on a quarterly basis.  Steering committee participants have broadly recognized the benefits of developing and implementing a WMP for Cedar Lake.

 

Past reports and studies:

• Phase I Report (K&A, 2005): In the summer of 2005, K&A completed the first phase of a three-phased effort to identify the causes of significant water level losses in summer months in this 1,075 acre, 5-foot deep lake. Phase I project findings revealed that 75% of the lake shoreline was losing water. Storm sewers directing runoff away from the lake and high volume groundwater withdrawals were the other significant causes of the >2 foot annual water level drop.

• Phase II Report (K&A, 2006): As a follow-up to the preliminary Phase I efforts in 2005, K&A was authorized by the AICLA to further characterize manageable factors influencing lake levels and more formally identify management and/or structural solutions to help maintain lake levels during critical summer months.  Storm sewers (on the southeast side of Cedar Lake) and Phelan Creek (to the southwest) exert the greatest impact on groundwater flows away from the lake south of the County/Township divide.  The King’s Corner road culvert diverts surface water (historically contributing to Sherman Creek) from the northwestern cedar swamp area toward the south into the Phelan Creek drainage area.  Local precipitation during June through September summer months is the only external influence on the rate of water loss from the lake.  These data suggest that long-term management of lake levels during the summer months might be possible by monitoring precipitation and providing supplemental recharge into the lake with an augmentation of restored surface flows and/or deep groundwater withdrawal.

© 2008 Kieser & Associates, LLC
Website Developed and Maintained by Kieser & Associates,
Environmental Science and Engineering, Kalamazoo, MI

Next Steering Committee Meeting - 06/23/08