Four Township Water Resources Council

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March 2008

Paddle Tour on Pine Lake

The Council has participated in the Kanoe the Kazoo events since its inception. For the fifth year in a row we are sponsoring a guided tour in the Four Townships on Pine Lake in Prairieville Township. The tour will be in the evening, Thursday, July 17, 2008.

There will be naturalists along helping participants appreciate the lake ecology. Among these will be Steve Allen (with the Kalamazoo Nature Center for many years and now with Geum Services, Inc., Ecological and Native Plant Consulting) to discuss shoreline features that protect water quality and enhance wildlife habitat.

More specific details, such as launch site, will be available later. Current plans are for interested participants to assemble at 5:00-5:30 PM for a 6:00 PM launch with the tour lasting approximately 2 and 1/2 hours.

Watershed Sign Program Expanding

The Four Township Water Resources is continuing to work with local partners to install signs identifying watershed features in the Four Townships. In 2006 and 2007, the Barry Road County Road Commission and Prairieville Township Park Commisison installed signs created by the Council marking the Pine Lake-Gun River Watershed and road crossings of Augusta and Prairieville Creeks and some of their tributaries in Barry and Prairieville Townships.

This year the Kalamazoo County Road Commission will install signs marking road crossings of Augusta and Gull Creeks and Spring Brook in Richland and Ross Townships, plus some of the tributaries and wetlands feeding these streams.

We are hoping to raise awareness of the relations between the roads, land features and water resources in the Four Township area and foster a sense of citizen "ownership" of our natural heritage.

February 2008

$500,000 Grant Awarded to Develop Conservation Easements

The Four Township Water Resources Council is partnering with the Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy (SWMLC) on a third grant under the federal Clean Water Act. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), which administers these Section 319 grants in Michigan has awarded a matching grant to purchase development rights in the Prairieville Creek watershed. This will help protect water quality and wildlife habitat for Gull Lake. Conservation of Prairieville Creek has been a FTWRC goal for many years and is now one of the priorities established in SWMLC's recently completed Land Conservation Plan.

The $500,000 MDEQ grant - the largest grant ever awarded to SWMLC - will provide funds to purchase conservation easements on wetlands, land along the stream corridor and uplands that will remain undeveloped and serve as a riparian buffer to filter out harmful nutrients and sediment from adjacent land uses. The project began January 1, 2008 and is expected to last 2 years.

Prairieville Creek is the most significant surface water contributor to Gull Lake, supplying about 21% of Gull Lake's water. Maintaining water quality, water quantity and wildlife habitat are of utmost importance for the health of this watershed and, ultimately, for the health of Gull Lake. Protecting this corridor through land acquisition and landowner education will reduce the impact from residential development, harmful agricultural practices, and invasive species, the three greatest threats.

Additional funds in the MDEQ grant will support the update of the Watershed Management Plan in the Four Townships area, which is required by the MDEQ and will assess the health of the water resources and provide guidance on how to maintain and improved water quality. This work will primarily be done by the Kalamazoo River Watershed Council.

The Four Township Water Resources Council will leverage the grant to continue its extensive citizen education programs and assistance to local governments and other environmental and conservation groups. In addition to the Prairieville Creek conservancy effort, attention will be given to the role of CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) in our area, lakeshore management for water quality and improving the Council's website, www.ftwrc.org, as an information source.

January 2007

Four-Township Water Resources Council focuses on education

The Four-Township Water Resources Council (FTWRC) has been continuing its efforts to protect water quality by focusing on citizen education and involvement.

In 2006 the Council began working with the Barry Co. Road Commission to place signs along roads to raise awareness about local water resources and their relationship to the watersheds, with signs marking the Pine Lake-Gun River Watershed and many road crossings over Prairieville and Augusta creeks or their tributaries. In 2007 the Kalamazoo County Road Commission will begin erecting similar signs marking Augusta Creek and Spring Brook and their watersheds.

The Council was awarded a $25,000 education grant in February 2006 by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek. During the summer and fall of 2006, FTWRC and MSU Extension conducted training sessions for elementary school teachers in the use of the Junior Citizen Planner (JCP) curriculum that deals with land use and environmental topics in the Delton-Kellogg, Gull Lake Community and Galesburg-Augusta school systems.
In June 2006 the FTWRC hosted an educational paddle tour on Upper Crooked Lake near Delton. Naturalists and conservation specialists guided canoers and kayakers across the lake and through wetlands. The Council has a similar event planned on Gull Lake, tentatively scheduled for June 12, 2007.

Preservation of the headwaters of the major stream systems in the four townships is another priority for the Council. A major effort is planned to protect Prairieville and Augusta Creeks and Spring Brook.

The Four Township Water Resources Council has produced a wealth of research publications and preservation guides. These are available at area libraries and the Conservation District and MSU Extension offices by download from the Council's website, www.ftwrc.org, or on CD, available for a small fee from the Council by emailing mail@ftwrc.org.

June 2006

Crooked Lake Paddle Tour

For the third year in a row, the Council staged a highly successful tour of one of the water resources in the Four Township area. On June 17, 2006, participants gathered at the one room Brown School House (ca. 1873) at the Bernard Historical Museum on the north shore of Upper Crooked Lake in Prairieville Township. After a brief orientation, a review of the proposed lake level control weir by Barry County Drain Commissioner Tom Doyle and a primer on lakescaping, over three dozen people joined the Council for a guided tour of the lake.

Jane Herbert, MSU Extension District Water Quality Educator at the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station, and Steve Allen,  an ecological and native plant consultant with Geum Services, Inc., pointed out features to illustrate lakescaping, shoreline landscaping to protect water quality. Along with Dr. Stephen Hamilton, MSU Associate Professor in Zoology at the Biological Station, they helped paddlers appreciate the plants, animals, habitat and ecology of the lake.

June 2006

New road signs identify Pine Lake area

Travelers and residents of the Pine Lake area can now see approximately where their watershed starts thanks to new signs developed by the Four-Township Water Resources Council.  These attractive new signs were placed near major road intersections so that travelers from any direction will notice when entering the Pine Lake area.

The goal of the project is to raise awareness about area water resources and their location.  Road signs for other watersheds will be added in the future.

last update March 13, 2008