Keep Up With Your Sixth Grader
LCA members are invited to participate in the Experience Lake Charlevoix.
You've heard about the annual boat trip that LCA sponsors to help middle school students understand the science of studying Lake Charlevoix. This year you're invited to learn for yourself.
Our 16th annual Experience Lake Charlevoix event for area 6th and 7th graders is scheduled for May 18 and 19, 2010. Each half day of facilitated instruction aboard the Emerald Island ferry is filled with hands-on experiments that emphasize lake ecology, water quality and safety. This year, we are inviting LCA members to join us at no charge, on a first-come basis to learn more about invasive species, groundwater, water quality and more. Please contact us at sue@lca-mi.org by May 10 to reserve your space and get more information about the program.
LCA provides funding and volunteers, and Tip of the Mitt provides the educational material and supplies for this educational event. More than 200 students are expected from schools in East Jordan, Boyne City, Petoskey, Boyne Falls, Charlevoix and Beaver Island.
To volunteer to help with the event, please contact Kris Busk at kristinebusk@yahoo.com. With this day, we begin to grow the next generation of 'Guardians of the Lake.'
Photo by Jonathan Friendly
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Online Volunteer Survey: What Do You Want To Do?
Please volunteer a bit of your time to keeping Lake Charlevoix exceptional. Let LCA know what you would be interested in doing for and with the association. Our online survey takes only a couple of minutes to complete. Please click here, fill out the survey and submit it. Your help makes all the difference.
Hats Off (and On) to Our Volunteers.
More than 20 LCA volunteers gathered Aug. 14 at Veterans Park in Boyne City to be recognized for the work they have done on our projects. If you're interested in being an LCA volunteer and getting one of our ever-so-cool hats, drop us a line. (Read More)
 
Spraying Phragmites Is Completed
Thanks to the good preparation by our LCA volunteer teams, our contractor has completed spraying more than five acres of phragmites stands on the lake, the first round of treatment needed to stop the spread of this very invasive grass. The contractors said the blue flags and GPS coordinates that the volunteers provided made finding and treating the 200-plus stands very simple and efficient.
(Read more).
Sue Costa, a leader of the volunteer effort to control the invasive phragmites plant on our shoreline, has been named president of the Lake Charlevoix Association for the coming year. She succeeds Sam Williamson, the president for the last three years who guided the group as it tripled in membership and took on new responsibilities for protecting the lake. (Read more)
The number of boats using Lake Charlevoix remained steady for 2009, despite the economic uncertainties that could have led to a marked downturn, according to Steve Hansen, who leads the LCA’s annual vessel count. The tally in the Aug. 1 enumeration came to 5,023, up from 4,722 last year but essentially the same as the number counted in 2006. (Read More)
Water Levels Up Considerably In 2009!
Last year we printed a long article about the low water level in Lake Charlevoix. What a difference a year makes. The U.S. Corps of Engineers, who officially checks and records water data, reported that the levels of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron were eleven inches higher on May 1 of this year than at the same time one year ago. Since Lake Charlevoix is directly connected to Lake Michigan, through the Pine River and Round Lake, we were also eleven inches higher. A heavy winter snow pack throughout the upper Great Lakes and a colder winter are the main reasons for the increase. Click here to view a graph of the levels for recent years.
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