August 9, 2025
Dear plwf supporters,
On behalf of the Portage Lake Watershed Forever (plwf) Board of Directors, thank you for your most generous support. Whether you are a visitor, first generation resident, multi-generational resident, business or community leader your generosity has had a positive impact on Portage Lake and the surrounding watershed and demonstrates your commitment to our mission to preserve Portage Lake Watershed’s ecological health through informed stewardship, wetland protection, volunteer engagement, and community-based education. I am pleased to share with you the highlights of this year’s activities and outline our plans for the upcoming year.
First and foremost, we have been able to begin building-out our Cedar Grove Wetlands Preserve by completing the engineering phase for the Melissa Gail Schleiffarth Memorial Trail. Our Cedar Grove Wetlands Preserve was established in 2022 with the acquisition of a 3-acre parcel located on the north side of Seymour Street. The trail will feature a handicap accessible boardwalk with safety railings, a walking trail through the cedar forest, benches, signage to highlight ecological features along the trail, and a memorial stone.
Last month we received permits from the ARMY Corps of Engineers as well as Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE), which will enable us to break ground for the boardwalk and walking trail within the next few months. Thanks to you, we have also been able to expand our wetlands preserve with the addition of a 1.4 acre parcel adjacent to the original 3-acre parcel. Through your continued generosity, we hope to continue expansion of our footprint along Seymour Street as additional parcels become available.
In addition to the wetlands preserve, you may have noticed “Turtle Crossing” signs at various locations throughout the Portage Lake watershed and surrounding area. Your contributions enabled us to purchase these signs to raise awareness for one of nature’s more “deliberate” creatures during their annual spring migration, which typically begins in late April and ends around mid-July.
We had initially planned to place 20-30 signs at various locations around the watershed, but the number quickly expanded as residents requested additional signs for their yards and known turtle crossing locations along Nine Mile Road, Lakeshore Road (M-110) and M-55, Bear Lake and Arcadia, all outside the Portage Lake watershed. This project was a huge success, saving countless number of turtles attempting to cross traffic lanes on their journey to the lake.
We continue to support the Michigan Clean Water Corps (MiCorps) water quality monitoring activities. MiCorps is a network of volunteer water quality monitoring programs administered by MSU Extension under the direction of EGLE and in partnership with the Huron River Watershed Council and the Michigan Lakes and Streams Association.
This year we collected data on chlorophyll-a, phosphorus, and water clarity. Over time, changes in these measurements can tell us a lot about the health of our lake. Chlorophyll-a is a measure of the amount of algae growing in a waterbody. One of the symptoms of degraded water quality is the increase of algae biomass as measured by the concentration of chlorophyll-a. Phosphorus is an important nutrient for plant growth but too much phosphorus in a lake can stimulate excess growth of algae. This can lead to low dissolved oxygen levels, harmful algal blooms and blockage of sunlight in the water column. Measuring water clarity is important because it controls how far light penetrates into the water column. This determines where and how well aquatic plants can grow, with implications for animals that depend on those plants for oxygen – like fish.
Our volunteers report their measurements to MiCorps and the results are published in individual lake reports that are available through the micorps.net website. You can see how our lake is doing over time and how it compares to other Michigan lakes.
For the coming year, top of our list is completion of the Cedar Grove project, Phase 3, with the construction of the Melissa Gail Schleiffarth Memorial Trail. We hope to continue to expand our wetlands preserve through land donations or acquisition, if necessary, but can only do so when parcels become available.
We are committed to continuing our support of MiCorps’ water quality monitoring program. The most recent MICorps report indicates Portage Lake is a healthy and vibrant habitat. It’s our mission, with your help, to keep it that way.
We will continue to engage in Community Outreach to educate visitors and residents of best practices regarding the preservation and protection of Portage Lake and its surrounding watershed through the publication of articles of interest, such as: Creating Resilient Shorelines, Shoreline Do’s and Don’t’s, and Water Quality Testing. We have posted these articles on our web site and have placed copies on your tables for those interested in viewing them. For the coming year we’d like to include articles on the health of our Portage Lake fishery, invasive species, both aquatic and terrestrial, and other topics of interest. If you have a suggestion for future articles, please let us know.
Finally, this fall we will be visiting Onekama Consolidated Schools as part of our community-based education and outreach initiative to encourage our children to be good stewards of the environment. This will hopefully provide an opportunity to engage our older students in some of our annual water quality testing and other environmental activities we perform throughout the year.
We are grateful for all our donors sharing your time, talent and treasure that allows us to fulfill this important mission. Because of your commitment to the plwf, we will continue to help protect and preserve this phenomenal place we all cherish.
On behalf of the plwf Board, please accept our deepest appreciation for your generosity which enables us to perform this vital service.
Gratefully,
Portage Lake Watershed Forever