The Glen Lake Association earlier this year applied for and this month received a grant of $14,344 from the Department of natural Resources & Environment as part of their Clean Michigan Initiative-Clean Water Fund.  The GLA was “commended for its efforts to protect and enhance Michigan’s water quality.”

Our grant proposal titled “Glen Lake Association Critical Contaminant Monitoring Project” will fund a 2 year effort to monitor suspected areas of nutrient and pathogen contamination within Big and Little Glen, Big Fisher, and Hatlem Creek.  Should high concentrations of nutrients or pathogens be confirmed in a particular location, the GLA can later focus to advocate for correction of any problems.

Rob Karner, our Watershed Biologist, will lead this effort and direct 2 paid interns to collect data in locations where environmental stressor entry points are suspected.  Nutrient and pathogen samples will be evaluated at a local environmental lab.  In addition the “health index” of our test locations will be monitored using our Hydorlab® tester to compare with our historical data.  Plankton collections will also be conducted and analyzed for species diversity over the 2 year period.  A decrease in animal and plant plankton diversity has been suspected over the past few years, a possible negative trend.  This could signal that adverse conditions are developing.

The grant monitoring activity may start this fall but will be in full swing beginning next spring.  If residents are “out and about” they may encounter Rob and his interns going about the business of performing their “grant collections” as well as Rob’s regular testing activities.  Greet them and wish them well in their tasks to protect our “treasured resource”

Filed under: Water Resources