“WORKING TOWARD THE PRESERVATION OF AN ECOLOGICALLY SOUND LAKE MAXINKUCKEE AND ITS SURROUNDING WATERSHED.”
The Lake Maxinkuckee Environmental Council has had volunteers working to preserve the water quality of Lake Maxinkuckee since 1981.
Water quality can be affected by many things that happen within a watershed. Buildings (impervious surfaces), trees (rain canopy), animals (waste materials, invasive types, overcrowding), plants (weed control, invasive species, chemicals), birds (protecting rookeries and nests to promote healthy “bug catchers” – yes, we’re including bats in this category), bugs (promoting the good – keeping out the bad), dumping/littering/chemical pollution (in the lake, wetlands, and the watershed itself), erosion (from every source - storm water, farming, building), air quality (acid rain), air and ground temperatures (tracking all types of weather changes which affect water), and leaking septic systems to name a few. The following are notes on some of the LMEC projects that we hope will allow us to “correct” or at least curtail some of the bad things that happen to this community’s greatest treasurer, the lake.
LAKE MAXINKUCKEE WATERSHED MANAGEMENT PLAN Update 2011
This management plan, originally approved and funded by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, is the working guide for the LMEC. This document is now six years old, with significant testing data as old as eight years. For that reason we are undertaking a complete update of the priorities/goals sections and also re-sampling the lake and all its tributaries for total phosphorus, soluble reactive phosphorus, total Kjeldahl nitrogen, nitrate-nitrogen, ammonia-nitrogen, chlorophyll a, transparency, and plankton. Ninety percent of this project is being funded by the Ralph C. Vonnegut, Jr. Family Foundation which is administered by the Marshall County Community Foundation. Here is a summary of this project LMEC Fall Newsletter – test results
The current WMP contains detailed information on the LMEF/LMEC’s history and includes all water testing records available to 2005. Download WMP
AQUATIC PLANT MANAGEMENT PLAN Update 2011 THIS REPORT CAN NOW BE FOUND BY USING THIS DOWNLOAD LINK – CAUTION – IT IS A LARGE PDF FILE Tier II Weed Map of Lake Max – Dec. 2012
We now have new maps of every weed bed in the lake and information on each species. LMEC intends to spray over 14 acres for Eurasion Watermilfoil the summer of 2012 in the southeastern channels of the lake. We hope that this project will also being partially funded by the Vonnegut Family grant mentioned above.
WETLANDS – The LMEC raised funds and formed partnerships with area landowners to build three constructed wetlands on the three major inlet ditches to trap the sediment and nutrients flowing into the lake from the watershed. Before these wetlands were built, these three ditches contributed 59% of the phosphorus entering the lake. The wetlands have at times removed up to 85% of the phosphorus, but catastrophic events (such as a 100 year rain event within a week of planting new vegetation) at times have impaired the different wetlands abilities to remove nutrients. Continued stewardship of these areas to keep them functioning properly has been a priority of the LMEC.
Wilson Wetland – The 2.2 acre Wilson Wetland is the first of the three wetlands. It was constructed in 1987 on Culver Academies land with participation from the LMEC and is the first constructed wetland in the State of Indiana. The wetland filters water approaching the lake from the northeast through the Wilson Ditch, adjacent to pastures used by horses of the Academies famous Black Horse Troop. A project in 2006 by the Indiana Department of Transportation to realign the Queen Road/St. Rt. 10 intersection, on which the Wilson ditch and wetland are located, became a joint effort with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and the LMEC working together to assure minimal or no damage occurred in the wetland. Once the road work was completed, the Culver Academies generously involved their engineers to alter the design of the sediment trap at the Wilson for better efficiency.
Curtiss Wetland – The 12 acre Curtiss Wetland was the second wetland built and was completed in 1990 on an area east of the lake. It is similar to the Wison in that it originally was not a wetland but pasture land along the Curtiss Ditch. The IDNR’s Lake Enhancement program provided the majority of the $112,000 of funds with the balance being raised locally by the LMEF. We will be putting photos of this project’s construction on-line soon. The LMEC is working on increasing the sediment trap at the Maxinkuckee Golf Course. The soil type is such that the best way to remove soil dug from the ditch are being investigated. Look for more on this project next year.
Kline Wetland - Also know as the Maxinkuckee Wetland Conservation Area and owned by the IDNR, this is the largest and possibly most successful of the three wetlands built and maintained with the help of the LMEC. Created when channels were dredged along the southern end of the lake, most of this 80 acre site had been cattle pasture and marsh. It remains today one of the main focuses of the efforts of the LMEC.
LAKE WEIR -The weir (outlet structure) was replaced by the LMEC in January of 2004. The old weir was a linear design and after 50 years had deteriorated so it no longer maintained the average level (733.12 msl) of Lake Maxinkuckee.
Appropriately maintaining our legal lake level helps to reduce turbidity, or churning of the lake bottom. Churning of the lake bottom re-suspends phosphorus into the water, making it available for plant and algal use. Re-suspension of phosphorus is a serious issue for lakes and is a significant factor in restoration efforts.
GLACIAL STONE SEAWALL RESURFACING & PLANT REGENERATION - Refacing existing concrete seawalls has been a long running project for the LMEC. Concrete, straight-faced seawalls are no longer allowed in Indiana due to the turbidity they create. Movement in the lake creates waves that, with the concrete seawalls, bounce back creating serious scouring of the lake bottom and re-suspending nutrients. Since 2007, the Lake Maxinkuckee community has promoted refacing those seawalls with local glacial stone. To date more than 2.5 miles has been done. Some property owners are reporting natural vegetation growing by the next season – vegetation they had not seen for many years. With simple guidelines put out by IDEM and IDNR, this is a project that reaps great benefits for the lake.