Water quality data 2005-2009

Water quality data for the past few years:
I test for temperature which controls for the other tests.
pH which show how acid or alkaline the water is.

Nitrates which looks at pollution or organic wastes leaching into the water.
Dissolved Oxygen which looks at the saturation of oxygen in the water, this is what the fish breath.
Biological Oxygen Demand, this is how much decomposition is occurring in the lake, or in other words "how is the muck competing with the fish for oxygen.

Phosphate, phosphate is usually the limiting factor in plant and algae growth. Phosphate is naturally occurring but also comes from fertilizer and cleaning products. Often it leaches from septic fields to a lake from excess cleaning products down the drain.

I am only including water quality data for selected years to show trends . I am also only including data taken mid summer around July 4th.

sorry blogspot is not good at columns.


                      2005 2007 2009
water temp        72  75      73

pH                     8.5   8.5   8.5


nitrate               .02      0      .1


Dissolved oxygen7.5mg/l 8.0 mg/l 7.9mg/l


phosphate       3mg/l  0mg/l   2. mg/l

In general water was very clear with little turbidity. All indicators show a very healthy lake.

Tests of biological oxygen demand (BOD) were varied depending on how stirred up the lake was. The muck decomposes and uses oxygen. This is good to remove the muck but lowers oxygen levels. Low oxygen levels can effect fish and other animals.
Fish populations look healthy even with the minimum habitat. A few logs and brush piles afford good areas for our fish populations. (Some brush debris under a dock will allow little fish protection to grow up to be big fish.)

A concern was the trace amounts of phosphate. this is usually caused by fertilizer runoff or use of phosphate high cleaning solutions. Please refrain from fertilizing lawns but if you must, use no phosphate fertilizer. This is indicated by a 0 in the center number of the fertilizer (20-0-20) . Phosphate encourages algae blooms. Many cleaning solutions contain high amounts of phosphate too. When washing boats/docks use low phosphate cleaners or wash boats up on the bank.

New Verizon Changes

Just got off the phone with Verizon, my land line carrier at the lake. Every winter I put my phone on vacation. Usually there is a charge to start it up and a monthly fee.But to my surprise they have finally got it right. Now there is no fee and no monthly charge. You must use the phone 90 days out of the year. This is good news. I was about to cancel my phone service but this makes it ok to keep a phone at the cabin.
UPDATE:  there are no Verizon charges but still some taxes so it's still about 6.00 a month

Great "New" Restaurant

Searching for a restaurant in the area is always a challenge. Sure there are great places for bar food (Hill Top, New Faull Inn,) but hard to find anything more than that. I like the food at the Willow but even that has seemed to slip. We saw an ad in the Ad Liner for O'Brien's in Mio at the Songbird Motel. The Menu looked pretty ambitious so we thought we would give it a try. It's pretty low profile, we must have driven by it a hundred times and not noticed it.
Run by a family who operated restaurants in Colorado and Key West we were met by Betty the owner. They opened about two years ago.
We then had a Great meal. Good bread with three butters, then Chicken Noodle soup, then a relish tray with cole slaw , pickles, sauerkraut,and more. For the main course I had Garlic Chicken and Elaine had ribs. Both came with great potatoes.
We also splurged and had Key Lime Pie. By the way they serve good wine too.
Bottom line good service, good food , good vibe at the Songbird Motel.

Rain Rain and More Rain

October has to be the wettest month in memory here at the lake.

With it, most of the leaves have come down, especially the maple and the poplar. The sturdy red and whit oaks hold on well into November.

Many on the conifers have dropped needles, too. Some say there is even a chance of snow today but it is more likely rain. The lake level is up noticeably and the outlet is flowing freely.

This may be the prettiest time of the year

Island Lake in October. The lake is calm. The sky is blue. The trees are alive with color.

And in 2 weeks I close for another season and dream about spring.

The Muskrat of Island Lake

I have heard stories about a beaver that patrols the shoreline in the early morning and at nightfall, but I had never seen it. I was skeptical, as there was no evidence of any beaver activity in the surrounding areas.

This morning I saw what must have been the beaver, as the tail working its way through the water sure seemed like a beaver's tail, but then he climed out of the water and onto the beach, and I could see that, out of the water, the tail was long and flat but not so wide as a beaver's. He was smaller, too, but the water mammal appearance is easily confused with that of his look alike.

With fewer people here at this time of the year, the wildlife seems less shy about letting themselves be seen in open spaces, and it is a treat for those of us who remain, who enjoy seeing them.

Swan Lake

There is a congregation of swans at the west end of the lake this week, sometimes as many as 12 and more often half that amount, and the fussing and fighting is loud and frantic. I suppose it is a territorial war with the two juveniles who claimed Island Lake in 2009, fighting off their siblings and potential rivals to the space. Now is the time to collect quills, as white feathers abound.

The leaves are turning nicely and are beginning to fall more regularly. The rain and cold of the last week seems to be coming to an end, and there is a break we all can look forward to as the week end approaches. Those who held off closing cottages may be doing it this Columbus Day week end. As I walk around the lake, I keep an eye on the cottages and all seems to be well. There is an open window here and a light left on there, but all seems to be in order.

Roger & I have had the pleasure of being a part of the Island Lake neighborhood since May of 1999. We have made many new friends and spend many relaxing week-ends with the wild inhabitants of the area. On our many hikes we've viewed deer, turkey, fox, chipmunks, squirrels, Swan, Pileated woodpeckers, Downy woodpeckers, Chickadees, Nuthatches, Blue Jays, Crows, Bald Eagles, Hummingbirds, Perch, Bluegills, Mushrooms of all shapes, colors and sizes, Lady Slippers, Triliums (just to name a few of my favorites). We've also been visited by the resident Knome who spent a weekend boating, sunning and maybe drinking a little too much... All-in-all our little piece of the planet is a great place to unwind and breath-in the clean forest air.

September

This has proved to be the best month of the summer, warm and sunny as the leaves turn into brilliant color. Walks around the lake, quiet dinners with friends and an abundance of hungry blue gills end up on many tables. The flowers continue to bloom, but the deer are storing up for winter and hostas seem to be chewed down to the nub. The hummingbirds left for another year on September 14Th.

After the past couple of years, the oak trees seem to have fewer acorns dropping to the ground. Some say this is a sign of a mild winter. Who knows? It makes raking much easier. Fall is an ideal time to be at Island Lake.

The cottage at 462 Ogemaw road is going up for IRS Auction at 11:00 AM on Saturday October 10Th at that location.

John Roberts

In October, 1968, 35 property owners on Island Lake formed the Island Lake Property Owners Association (ILPOA). This organization has continued to play a major role in the improvement of the environment in and around Island Lake since its inception.

Island Lake is spring fed and encompasses approximately 65 acres. The lake is situated on the northern Ogemaw and southern Oscoda county lines. The principle feature of the lake is Silver Island, named for Dorothy Silver, a former lake resident. She was instrumental in the purchasing of the island. The island was purchased in 1971 by the association for $10,000 with the intention of preserving its natural ecology.

The first cottages were built on the lake in the 1930's, and from that time gasoline motors have been prohibited from the lake in order to avoid noise and water pollution.

The water quality of our lake is very good. The water is tested every year by a member of our association, Mike Mouradian, who is a chemistry/biology teacher. Water samples are taken at various sites, and are tested for fecal coliforms. The accepted level for human recreation is 200 parts of fecal coliform per 100 milliliters of water. In tests over the past 38 years, Island Lake has shown less than 10 parts per 100 milliliters on virtually every test site, making it one of the cleanest lakes in Michigan.

Although the bottom of the lake is obscured by silt over much of the lake, we can approximate the depth at 5 to 30 feet. The deepest point is in an area north-northwest of the island and west of the public beach.

Fishing in Island Lake is average to good throughout the year. Large mouth bass, perch and bluegill are the most common fish caught. Several pike have been caught in recent years and we would like to see them all removed. Snapping turtles are also found, and some are known to be quite large.

Some of the many projects the association as undertaken on Island Lake are:

Purchasing the island
Planting fish
Testing the water quality
Getting a street light at M-33 and Dyer Road
Getting Dyer Road paved
Erecting signs on Silver Island
Addressing dog control issues
Building docks on easements
Improving easements
Building fish shelters
Lobbying for gypsy moth spray
Purchasing aeration systems
Overseeing lake clean-up for fishing line and plastics
Identifying local birds
Erecting bulletin boards

Trumpeter swans have become a source of pride for the residents of Island Lake. Since 1994 trumpeter swans have made Island Lake their home. Except for 2009, a pair of swans have nested each year on Silver Island and raised anywhere from 3 to 6 signets. This means that over 10% of the trumpeter swans in Michigan have been born and raised on our lake. We expect our present swans to mature and hopefully match their predecessor's reproduction level.

In the fall of 2007, a group of boy scouts from West Branch spent an entire day removing fishing line from around the island and along the shores in heavily fished areas. The line had been left by fishermen, and was becoming a threat to the young swans that were getting it wrapped around their bills and necks. Mike Connelly, one of the scouts, was working for his Eagle Award, and accepted this project as his community service project. As a result of their efforts, they removed several trash bags of fishing line, many pounds of plastic, metal and rubber trash.

A report on Island Lake would not be complete without mentioning our Annual Boat Parade, held each year near July 4. It is the brain child of Island Lake resident, Clare Hulett. She held the first parade in 1994. Each year it continues to entertain the participants and the viewers alike. It is a source of pride and reinforces our small lake's sense of community.

First Island Lake Post - Labor Day 2009

A beautiful Labor Day comes to a close.
As I pontooned around the quiet lake I saw beached swimming rafts and boats being pulled out of the water. The sounds of mowers and weed wackers diminish as the day proceeds. Another season is coming to and end with the few year-rounders and the swans left to enjoy our lovely lake.