Low Water Levels

by Jacob Wheeler
Sun staff writer

Summer lovers returning to lakefront cottages in Northern Michigan may drop jaws in disappointment before dropping their feet into water.
That’s because Lake Michigan water levels are the lowest they’ve been since the mid-60’s, when measurements taken by the United States Army Corps of Engineers bottomed out at 576.05 feet in March of 1964.
And the current water level of the Glen Lakes is only as high as it should be come August, two dry months away, according to Ben Bricker who headed the Glen Lakes Dam Committee until a couple months ago.
Bricker turned over the position to Frank Pfeifer to rest his ailing back since the most important task of running the Dam Committee involves placing boards in the dam where the Glen Lakes flow into the Crystal River. The act dictates the amount of outlet water entering the river, and by nature favors the recreational use of the lakes.
“Right now we’re in serious trouble,” said Bricker, who has served on the committee for 10 years. “Normally we start controlling the outflow by the beginning of May, but this year we put in the boards in March and another in mid-April. The snowfall was as disappointing as it could get last winter.”
In mid-May the lakes were measured at only 5/8 of an inch below a court-ordered level — up from 3 1/4 inches below in March — but only after using all four pairs of boards in the dam, and with a traditionally dry July and August yet to come.
“We’ve tried to stockpile water before Mother Nature uses it during the dog days of summer,” said Herb Kramps, President of the Glen Lake Association which oversees the Dam Committee. “A good August day in the 90’s and a strong wind could knock 1/4 of an inch off the lake level.”
Simply put, the Dam Committee has done all it can to keep the lake level at its legal limit. Now boaters and dock owners will have to sit back and let nature take its course.
“There were times when the Glen Lakes were a foot higher than they are now — probably in the 1940’s,” said Bricker, who spends most of his time at the Lake Street Studios as a silversmith. “My message to the public is: we’re all in ‘the same boat.’ You may have to plan on leaving your boat out there with a dingy” instead of tied to the dock.
If the Glen Lakes suffer from a lack of rainwater and winter runoff, the Crystal River will suffer even more. If is the serf which is fed only after the aristocrats have had enough to eat. And come August the river’s water may approach dangerously low levels.
“If we’re really low on the Crystal, we can release some water over the weekend for the canoers,” said Kramps. “But we need steady rainfall.”
Steve Yancho, a resource management specialist at the National Park, speculates that a dry summer could narrow the river’s water channel enough to hurt the natural ecosystem.
“The concern is over recreational human uses of the Glen Lakes and not the biological needs of the river,” said Yancho. “A smaller stream and more (canoers) using the area could disrupt the organisms.”
According to Rob Karner, a biology teacher at The Leelanau School in Glen Arbor who lives next to the Crystal River, less water flow could eventually turn the river eutrophic, and species that thrive on higher oxygen levels would begin to disappear.
“A decreased flow rate will result in a decreased flush rate, causing the river to age,” said Karner. “The ultimate fate of the river might be to dry up.”
The Crystal River could face dire consequences this summer, but the National Park is not fretting over a 35-year low in water levels in the Glen Lakes and Lake Michigan.
While some cite global warming and the tropical storm El Nino as causes of last winter’s mild temperatures and precious little snowfall, water level recordings taken by the United States Army Corps of Engineers show seasonal and five/ten-year cycles of lake levels rising and falling.
“Over hundreds of years of studying the lake, this isn’t a big deal,” said Yancho. “As frustrating as this might seem for people, it’s just a natural cycle.”
According to USACE measurements, Lake Michigan water levels reached an all-time low in March of 1964, began rebounding by the late 60’s and climbed to record heights by the mid-70’s. After falling nearly to the lake’s century-mean depth, the water level set a new record in the summer of 1986 at 581.99 feet.
High water and low water levels are represented in this chart by peaks and valleys, renewing faith in even the casual observer that expanded beaches along the shoreline represent only a cycle and not a drastic change in world climate.
“The soil, the dunes, everything we’ve come to expect was influenced by lake fluctuations,” said Yancho. “You just have to make adjustments.”
There are advantages to Lake Michigan’s low water levels. At locations like Thoreson Road, north of The Homestead, the receding surf has left an expanded beach where only a tiny one existed before. To the National Park’s satisfaction, wider beaches protect against dune erosion.
And there are even Glen Lake residents who welcome the low water level because they think it could spare them from jet skiers and boaters — the primary victims of receding beaches.