The Current State of the Pere Marquette River. July l997 You should be pleased to hear we have completed another very successful year, our twenty-seventh. We all have reasons to feel proud as our efforts continue to preserve, protect, and enhance the inherent natural values of the Pere Marquette River watershed system. I'd like to bring you up-to-date on each of our many projects. Our most ambitious undertaking is the compilation of the Watershed Assessment document, a comprehensive assemblage of all the known information regarding our river system. For example, we will describe the hydrology, gradient, morphology, etc. in detail, showing the watershed and sub-watershed boundaries, drainage patterns, land use, vegetative cover, soils, and topography using GIS technology. Overlays will show governmental (federal, state, public land) as well as political (county, township, municipal) boundaries. Demographic and land-use patterns will indicate the effect of logging, agricultural, transportation systems, recreation, and population shifts historically. Ecological data will describe the geology, land forms, hydrologic, and climate patterns, focusing on the fishery, aquatic macroinvertebrates, and water quality. The fauna and flora will be described together with GIS depiction of the vegetative cover. The culture and economy of the region will be covered, including trends in recreational use and land ownership. Key attributes including cold-water fishery, historical attractions, geographic, and geologic characteristics will be described, as will agency management philosophies, goals, and objectives. The result of all this will be to describe and prioritize problems, opportunities, and proposed actions for the Council to address in the future. Our proposal is in the final stages of preparation and will be submitted for funding to community foundations yet this month. We will keep you informed of our progress on this endeavor. Our on-going relationship with Indiana University continues as the tenth-year's data was analyzed and summarized this Spring. As reported earlier, the biomass of insect larvae in the river remain both high and diverse, an indication of high water quality. We have requested IU to continue to monitor the waters, expanding the parameters and range of observations, but less frequently. Their data, of course, is an integral part of the material being collected in the assessment. We also must note the "Ecological Profile" compiled by IU, which affirms the fact that bank stabilization efforts are effective in reducing the river's sand bedload. We are pleased to have been members of the Pere Marquette Restoration Committee throughout their ten years of repair on major streambank erosion sites from the Forks to Walhalla. An alliance composed of representatives of Conservation Resource Alliance (ex RC&D), U.S.Forest Service, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Michigan Council of Trout Unlimited, Natural Resource Conservation Service (ex Soil Conservation), and the Watershed Council has worked together to correct 148 moderately and severely eroding banks, a total of 27,647 lineal feet of riverside. A dedication ceremony is scheduled for August 22nd at the Green Cottage to set a bronze plaque commemorating this historic project. Your Council is hosting a River Management Forum of those agencies, which have jurisdiction over activities on the river. A small working group is meeting to draft proposals for review by the oversight committee. Hopefully we will have recommendations yet this year for implementation next year. One small part of this effort is the installation of new signs at all access sites listing guidelines for appropriate behavior on the river ... the signs have the logo for each group: Forest Service, DNR, Lake County Sheriff, and, rightly, P.M.W.C. The signs should be installed by the time you read this. The annual meeting of northern Michigan volunteer river conservation groups, initiated by PMWC in 1995, was hosted by the Rifle River group this year, and will continue next year at the Bear Creek/Spirit of the Woods club. There are now nineteen groups participating. We were able to lend our support and advice to four new organizations this past year: The Little Manistee Watershed Conservation Council (John Gorys in Irons), the Cedar River Watershed Council (Gary Hoekwater in Shepard), the Coldwater River Watershed Council (Rich Kunde in Freeport), and the Pentwater Watershed Study Group (Milt Pugsley in Pentwater). The Pere Marquette Natural River Zoning Review Board has faced several serious issues in the past year. Two residents, who violated both the state's Natural Rivers Act and local zoning/building codes by doing construction without obtaining permits or variances, were cited for their violations and have contested their cases to an Administrative Law Judge in Lansing. Each case took an entire day, with 4-8 witnesses testifying for each side (the DNR/ZRB is represented by the Michigan Attorney General). Neither case has been finalized, the judge must prepare a Proposal for Decision, which is forwarded to the Natural Resources Commission for formal action. The riparian could be required to remove the construction. The Zoning Review Boards are also receiving requests for "land-use" variances, which would permit commercial use of property zoned residential; a test case is being heard on the AuSable where a livery is attempting to access a stretch of river previously not accessible to canoes. These actions, as well as legislation under consideration by Sen. George McManus could drastically alter the use of both the river and the lands abutting it. There are numerous other activities underway on our river and, as might be expected, there is some Good News and some Bad News. Let's look at the Good News first: The 12 Stowaway® recording thermometers are now scattered throughout the Big South Branch to give us some precise water temperature data for determining plans for that tributary. DNR shocking last October did turn up nice numbers of Brook trout on four of the upstream creeks. The Bell Sandtrap was cleaned twice last year and again this May. A record 950 cubic yards were removed this Spring, on top of 1550 yards last year. Since the trap was installed in April l994, there have been 5,036 cubic yards of sand taken from the Little South Branch (enough to cover a football field with 45.3" of sand). Through the efforts of member Bruce Harang, we have received a copyright for "Cast for Conservation" and C4C. The Watershed Council has contributed toward Troutarama, the Christmas STARS program, and the Kids' Fishing Day at Nichols Lake; this June's Kids' Fishing Day hosted 131 who caught a mess of walleyes. We have offered assistance to the Forest Service in their MSU-conducted survey of river use; preliminary results showed that from September 15 to November 15, a total of 2,675 vehicles used the access sites, with 59% being in the Flies-Only stretch. As might be expected during the salmon run, most (60.2%) were wading anglers but 79.1% were involved in some type of fishing. MSU calculated that the user-hours for those two months totaled 269,516 hours. The Summer survey is underway, and a separate riparian survey will begin shortly. We were able to get the Lake County Road Commission to clean the Baldwin sedimentation basin last November; it collects the village's storm sewer runoff, but is only designed to capture the solid runoff. We re-cleaned the PMWC sandtrap on the Middle Branch after ORVs destroyed the trap by using it to wash their trucks following a mud-run. We are working with the Road Commission to block the access to the river on the Consumers Energy primary powerline, which also happens to be State Street. ORVs have continually crossed the river and disturbed the adjacent ground springs allowing loads of silt to enter the Middle Branch east of Queen's Highway. Although the Custer Weir project remains on-hold, we do feel progress is being made; we expect U.S.Fish & Wildlife Service will have their Spring lamprey run data from the Jordan river very soon; this will indicate the effectiveness of the Smith-Root electrical barrier, similar to the one planned for the Custer site. The MSU steelhead-tagging study is slowly picking up speed and they are asking for our help in capturing Steelies this Fall following the salmon run. MSU's Doug Workman has 80 radio-transmitters to be installed, using both hook and line and traps to catch them before Spring. The Council's Board voted for the first time to support several resolutions at the annual MUCC state convention. We voted to oppose McManus', or any other similar bill, which might weaken the Natural Rivers Act; to oppose the proposed drain code revision in favor of legislation requiring environmental impact assessments, avoidance of natural resource impacts, and encouragement of preservation and restoration of wetlands and natural areas; for legislation enacting penalties of sufficient magnitude to deter littering; to amend the Recreational Trespass Law, to increase penalties, if a person is twice convicted, their hunting and fishing rights be revoked for 3 years; that MUCC oppose the practice of hunting white-tail deer over bait on both public and private lands, and eliminate deer baiting in the state of Michigan as soon as possible; that MUCC seek legislation to: (A) establish minimum performance standards for hunting and fishing guides; (B) require a training, licensing, and certification process for them; (C) require a certification review board composed of their peers with appropriate disciplinary authority; (D) establish separate judicial guidelines for fish and game violations with significantly stricter penalties; (E) require posting of a substantial performance bond with revocation provisions; (F) set appropriate fees for licensing and other costs; ... And the Bad News: No action by the Ludington Pumped Storage Settlement to accommodate applications for the funding of projects to improve the fishery by habitat improvement or encouragement of natural reproduction. A rejection of our request of CSX Railway to reduce speed in the vicinity of the river crossings to prevent future derailments. No action to revise the Michigan Drain code to include environmental considerations to preclude another Walkinshaw Wetland incident. We were unsuccessful in requesting the assignment of an undeniably disinterested party to the LPSP's Scientific Advisory Team. The loss of one of our dedicated members, Zimmy Nolph. But we've worked with others for the good of the community and we would like to acknowledge them: The Forest Service reconstruction of the access sites at Rainbow Rapids and Upper Branch to make truly user-friendly. We participated in TU's Paul Young Chapter "Sporting Flies" competition, and Steve Fraley and Mark Kinney won the trophy for the Council. We met with the Ruby Creek Conservation Club to share our ideas for plans for improving the Big South Branch. The Red Cedar Fly Fishers helped out by installing lunker structures at Site #53 on the Little South Branch; water temperature the day they worked was 41 degrees. Thanks to the Baldwin Bait & Tackle crew for installing a contribution box in their store, and supporting the Council on their maps and articles. The River Guides held a very successful river cleanup - 71 bags of trash this Spring. West Michigan Trout Unlimited repaired an old habitat structure on the PM Rod & Gun Club's stretch of water. The guides and members who scatter-planted the DNR's 10,000 Brown Trout by floating the plant boxes down the entire Flies-Only water. Those members who assisted the DNR in electro-fishing the index stations at the mouth of the Baldwin and Waddell's Riffles. Those members who have donated old / antique fly fishing equipment for MSU's new Fly Fishing Museum. Anglers who kept their creel census data and provided the Fish Logs to the DNR. The faculty and students from West Shore Community College for collecting their data from the Big South and Carr Creek. The Lake County Riverside Property Owners' Association for their support in conducting the stream bank erosion inventory on the Little South Branch from Curtice Bridge to Hayes Road. And to all the others who I may have missed but have added so much to our organization through their suggestions and comments as well as their financial support. With members such as this, it's no wonder we have a world-class conservation group. I'd like to remind all of our members of this year's Annual Banquet ... Chuck and Pat Smith have done another extraordinary job of providing an outstanding evening of entertainment. We'll have exceptional items for the Live Auction and a wider-than-ever variety of gifts and crafts in the Silent Auctions and Bucket Raffles. Call NOW!! You won't want to miss the 1997 Banquet: The best,   Dick Schwikert President