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Click here to download the lake treatment schedule for 2016
Click here to download the June 2015 Wildwood Lake Management Report from Restorative Lake Sciences
LAKE UPDATE May 4, 2015 Since
my last report on April 20th the lake has risen 4" an we are now 35" below the spillway. Maybe we can make
a little more headway with the rain we are projected to receive this week. Also this weekend about 25 to 30
large bass were spawning by the dam. That's a great sign.
As far as the dam goes, we have
received our "Notice of Violation" letter from the DEQ, At this point they are still investigating and have
asked for our response to more than 17 questions. It appears some property owners have called the DEQ to complain
about how we (the WVPOAC) are handling the lake affairs. We are currently putting together our letter as requested
as it is due by May 18th. I will keep you posted on any further communication we receive from the DEQ.
Also you will be receiving (via snail mail) a notice of a special meeting I am calling to discuss with ALL
lake front property owners, what went wrong during the draw down and what we are going to do moving forward.
The meeting will be held at the clubhouse on the Saturday before our regularly scheduled Memorial Day meeting (May
23rd) at NOON. Thanks in advance for your attendance and support. Lastly, thanks to Dave
Dohring, Bill Staples, Bob Chadwick, Lyn Fleishman and Blair Wickman for taking advantage of the inadvertent lower lake level
and putting the clubhouse dock in for our use. Hopefully the water will reach the dock soon. Again you also
might want to take advantage of the lake level to cleanup the lake bottom in front of your property.
Moving forward,
Jim Nihls
I just wanted to take a minute and update you
on the status of our lake and dam.
DAM INSPECTION
On Friday April 17th
the tri-annual dam inspection was performed by Russ Beaubien from the Spicer Group. I received a preliminary report
last night and while the official report won't be submitted for approximately two weeks, the good news is that there is
no major issues, the dam will be rated satisfactory to the MDEQ and the minor issues that have to be addressed
are not deemed urgent in nature.
Another part of the inspection focused on probable causes for
the dam gate valve not being able to be closed which allowed the lake level to exceed the permitted draw down level. One
potential cause is that the severe weather created significant ice buildup on the face of the dam and that ice
attached to the control shaft, as the lake level lowered it caused the ice to put a binding force on the control shaft
that prevented movement of the shaft up or down.
However, while down in the lower sump where
the gate valve is located, Russ found a 2' long tree limb floating that was approximately 2" in diameter and
on the left side of the gate he noticed a roundish brown shape that he determined matched the broken end of the tree limb
floating in the sump. It is believed that the limb prevented the gate from closing and that the pressure from repeated
attempts to close the valve eventually crushed the limb allowing the gate to close almost completely. It is most
likely that a combination of the ice binding the shaft and the tree limb stuck under the gate prevented
proper operation of the gate valve.
CURRENT STATUS
-With the current
rain fall the lake level has risen to within 3' 3" of the spillway. -There was a considerable fish
kill and while we don't know how much is attributed to the lower water levels, the attached DNR report states some can
be attributed to the severe weather the state experienced last winter. The DEQ fisheries agents have reviewed the
lake. -There is a minimal flow going through the dam to Lance Lake as required by the DEQ. -We
will be issued a violation of our draw down permit by the DEQ but have not received it as of this writing.
GOING FORWARD
I don't mean to down play the situation but we are where we are.
The process of lowering the lake has worked very well for the last several years since we started our Lake Management Plan
but as we found out the process is in fact broken. I am the President of the Association and it is my responsibility
to assure that going forward this situation will not happen again and that is my commitment to you. I will gladly accept
responsibility for what happened, but at this stage placing blame, weather it be me, the lake committee or the folks
that knew we were surpassing our limit and kept quiet does not do any thing constructive or fill the lake any faster.
Once again nobody feels worse about what took place than me and it will be fixed.
On the positive
side, you may want to take advantage of this inadvertent lowering of the lake to clean the lake bottom
in front of your property.
Stay tuned,
Jim Nihls
March 14, 2015 Yesterday
I was notified that there has been an issue with the dam gate not closing and that the lake was down between 5 and 6
feet. Blair contacted Russ Beaubien from the Spicer Engineering Group who came to Wolverine to review the
dam today.
Bob Chadwick and
John Moore were at the dam to meet with Russ and while waiting were actually able to close the gate and stop the water flow.
Russ checked the dam and stated all is working well and that he felt the problem was a frozen mechanism.
The DEQ dam safety group was notified and a message was left for Scott at the DEQ Gaylord office to inform him of the
issue and what has been done to correct it.
In light of the severe cold temperatures we experienced this year and the effect it had on the dam mechanics, we
will be reviewing our drawdown process and making revisions prior to the next drawdown this fall.
Many thanks to Bob, John and Russ for their work
today.
Thank you, Jim Nihls
The Special Assessment District Public Hearing was held on October 12, 2014 at the WVPOAC club house. The Lake
Management Plan Assessment will be $147 per lot per year for the next 8 years. Thank you for all your support and we thank
the Township Board for all of their work and support.
WVPOAC Board
Thank you everyone for your comments and concerns, we appreciate all of them.
All
this board and past boards have done are things to improve the lake and surrounding area (e.g. roads, dam maintenance, dam
replacement and LMP). That said, we must note that these projects could not have been done without approval of the
membership and the appropriate agencies (Cheboygan County, DNR, DEQ, Fisheries Agencies etc). This eight
year Lake Management Plan continuation is no different, all appropriate agencies approved the final plan. There is no plan
to increase the assessment in eight years -- we do not even know what the issues will be in eight years, just as we have
changed the plan over the last five years to meet the every changing needs of the lake and property owners (5 years ago
we were treating Eurasian Milfoil, now due to the changes in the lake and input from property owners we are treating Eurasian
Milfoil as well pondweeds, watershield and lily pads to name a few). All of this treatment has been approved by the
appropriate agencies. We are also performing an aeration treatment study in two areas of our lake (one represents the
worst muck and one represents the typical muck areas of the lake). This study is for three years ending next October,
at that time it will be determined whether we keep leasing the equipment or remove it based on the scientific data
presented.
We received a letter from our Lake Manager last January outlining two different potential
programs (one reflecting the absolute most we could do to improve the lake quality for a cost of $393 per lot and one that
would continue the type of treatment we have been doing for the last 5 years at a cost of $147), the WVPOAC board recommended
the latter to the membership at the May meeting and it passed unanimously. We presented this to the Nunda Township Board
at their June meeting and they moved forward with the Special Assessment District (SAD) currently being discussed.
On another note, the former LMP assessment is over this year so that $95 will not be on the tax bill
this year, this is the last year for the dam assessment, and all road assessments are complete, so this SAD, if it passes
will be assessed at $147 per year.
We will continue to communicate information through our membership
meetings (open to all), Restorative Lake Sciences newsletter (sent to all riparians on the Nunda Township tax roles), our
WVPOAC newsletters sent to members, on our website ( http://www.wildwoodlake.info/) and posted on the bulletin board outside the clubhouse.
Again thank you for all the feedback.
The results of the opposition to the SAD will be reported at the Nunda Township meeting tonight. WVPOAC Board
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