Upper Straits Clean Lake Association

An MSU aquatic expert estimates that just one pound of phosphorous could support 775 pounds of aquatic weed growth each season.

Verify that your lawn service is approved by the City of Orchard Lake Village or West Bloomfield Township and is using Non Phosphate Fertilizers.

Keep fertilizer off any concrete or asphalt surfaces. Sweep or blow fertilizer back onto the lawn. Rainwater can wash these materials off the pavement & could potentially impact the water.

A height of 3.5 inches is a general recommendation for mowing grass near the lakeshore to reduce nutrient flow into the water.

Do not allow grass clippings to reach the lake water!! This is like throwing fertilizer into the lake.

If you can’t find any “0” Zero phosphate fertilizers the following is a list of low phosphate slow release fertilizers recommended by the Dept of Environment & MI State Univ.

When using pesticides use spot treatments rather than the broadcast spreader method when possible.

Bacterial action in the pellets eat away at the bottom muck, reduce odor, and remove nitrogen sources which helps to reduce weed growth. We used the product last season and it works. To order call 800 328 9350.

Use a rake to remove near shore seaweed rather than chemicals for seaweed eradication. Weed removal reduces next year’s nutrients in the water.

Keep your lake litter free. Remove bottles, cans, plastic, etc. from the water whenever and wherever possible.

Be sure that silt barriers are in place around all new construction. This prevents silt seepage from introducing large amounts of nutrients into the lake during heavy rains. Call the City if you notice any silt barriers that are in disrepair.

Be careful to minimize the amount of gas or oil that spills into the lake when refueling or during minor maintenance of your watercraft.

Ask your dealer to use environmental friendly antifreeze when winterizing your boat engine.

Drain the antifreeze from the engine before returning your boat to the lake each spring.

Up to 30% of Jet Ski and two cycle engine toxic oils & gasoline fuel is dumped unburned into the water. One gallon pollutes thousands of gallons of water. In 7 hours a jet ski produces as many pollutants as a car driven 100,000 miles.

Shoreline landscaping destroys what Mother Nature took hundreds of years to create.

Removing the natural shoreline vegetation or changing the slope of the bank de-stabilize the shoreline allowing surface water runoff to erode the soil & carry water quality degrading nutrients directly into the lake. Native shoreline vegetation & aquatic plants are a buffer zone slowing down the run off & absorbing the nutrients though the root systems as well as holding soil firmly in place. The cattails, sedges, & bulrushes absorb & dissipate wave energy preventing shoreline erosion.

This is why the city & DNR consider the shoreline landscape within 35 ft of the water as the environmentally sensitive zone.

Obviously, each homeowner should prioritize his landscape changes based on the overall impact on the shoreline & water quality. Every lake front owner should consider panting a buffer zone of native shoreline vegetation at the water edge. City permits are required for landscaping within 35 ft of the water.

Canadian Geese are a natural part of the wild life of a lake habitat. They are a joy to observe on our lakes and ponds. However, with no natural predators in our immediate area, they can reproduce to the point that htey become an environmental and public nuisance. It is estimated that one goose can produce enough feces contaminant in a season that is equivalent to dumping a 50 lb. bag of fertilizer in the lake. Multiply the single goose's 50 lb bag of "fertilizer" by 50 or more geese and the amount of "fertilizer"

Every home owner on the lake can attest to the excess amount of messy droppings left by a group of geese feeding on the lawn & beach areas. The droppings require a through clean-up or a lot of fancy footwork when walking on the lawn.

Fortunately, each spring Mark & Gayle Hoffman with the prior approval of the DNR, have taken up the task of reducing the Canadian Geese population on Upper Straits Lake through an Egg Replacement or Nest Destruction Program. Since 1998 they have collected 269 eggs.

Weed harvesting is an important lake maintenance activity that is done every year to remove the weeds that can clog boat propellers, restrict swimming, and stagnate the lake water.

By removing 35 to 40 truck loads of weeds from the lake each summer, we alleviate the immediate problem plus reduce the amount of dead weeds that sink to the bottom of the lake each autumn.

Lowering the amount of weeds sinking to the bottom reduces the amount of nutrient laden plant matter that could decay and become fertilizer for the following years plant growth. Also, decaying plant material takes large amounts of oxygen out of the water making it

The Upper Straits Clean Lake Association prefers weed harvesting over chemical controls using aquatic herbicides. We believe minimizing the introduction of additional chemicals into our lake water will keep our water as pure as possible. Additionally, aquatic herbicides kill weeds that eventually drop to the lake bottom to become nutrients for next years growth; thereby compounding the weed problem. Aquatic herbicides are also harmful to young fish population.

WEED HARVESTING - 2006

Each spring the Upper Straits Clean Lake Association asks for your donation to pay for the Weed Harvesting. Watch for the request in the mail in early spring or mark your May calendar to send in your contribution to the City of Orchard Lake Village WQIF.

Or now you can click on the link below to open the Weed Harvesting Form. (You will need Adobe Acrobat reader to open the file, click here to install your own version) Once the file is open you can print it directly from the page or save it your computer to print later. Then you can mail it or print it and bring to the city offices along with your donation.

Upper Straits Lake Weed Harvest form

The Swans on Upper Straits Lake are gracefully beautiful and beneficial. One of the most beneficial attributes of Swans is that they are weed eaters who spend the majority of every day dipping their long necks into the water to eat a variety of weeds from the lake. The other "possible benefit" is that they are territorial and once established will chase Canadian Geese out of their area.

During their breeding season and especially when they have a brood of young cygnets the larger males are very protective of their families. Although normally peaceful, there are times when they don't distinguish between Canadian Geese and Jet Ski operators in their territory and will feign attack with a wing flapping hissing action. It is a frightening experience for the Jet Ski operator, however, the best defense in one of these confrontations is a loud blast from an air horn or if none is available, a hasty retreat out of the area is recommended.

The large flapping wing can seriously harm a Jet Ski operator. Although we don't know of anyone on Upper Straits Lake who as ever been hurt by a swan.

My personal observation and conversation with other lake residents is that the male swans only attack moving Jet Skis because they are closest to the size and shape of another male swan or Canadian Geese. They have never bothered pontoon boats, speed boats, paddle boats, or bathers whether they are children, or adults.

Although a feigned attack by a male swan is frightening, any form of retaliation towards these peaceful birds will not diminish their notorious instinct to protect family and territory. So if you are on a Jet Ski, carry an Air Horn if swans are in the area.

Swans are a protected species and hurting one with a rock or sticks is against the law and punishable by a fine and possible incarceration.

There are three varieties of swans in North American and two of those, The Whistling Swan and the Mute Swan, are visitors to our area. The Mute Swans live on Upper Straits Lake. They can be identified by their orange bill with a black knob on their forehead between their eyes. The adult Whistling Swan has a black bill and are not seen vary often on the lake.

We have counted as many as 50 plus adult Mute Swans living on our lake. One pair this year had seven cygnets in the spring but by the end of the summer there were only three left.

Since we plan to have a Frog Race this summer for the children on the lake, here is some interesting information about our amphibian friends and how they can predict water quality.

Amphibians are very sensitive to pollution and habitat degradation, so monitoring can record how habitats change for better or worse. The number of frog and toad species found may be affected by the amount of impervious surface in the area. Scientists have determined that water quality typically decreases when watersheds become 15% - 20% covered by roads, parking lots and rooftops. Data from 1998 suggests that survey blocks with zero to one species had impervious surface coverage of about 21%.

This is one reason why there are city and township ordinances limit lot coverage with house size and impervious surface coverage so as to insure better water quality.