BLACK LAKE PRESERVATION SOCIETY

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Black Lake Preservation Society

2026 Outlook

Our plans for 2026 were disrupted by the flood. We are all still recovering. The BLPS set out to inform the community about recovery services being made available along with flows, dam operations, weather, and expectations for receding of the flood waters. We are in the process of assessing the flood's impact on our wtaer quality this summer and coordination of alerts and guidance from EGLE and the health department. We are now pursuing improvements to dam operations and dam engineering to help us reduce the impacts of future floods.

On top of that, we have completed our diagnositic of the root causes of Harmful Algae Blooms and the culprit is clearly our aging septic system. That study and conclusion have been incorporated into the Black Lake Watershed Management Plan (WMP) that is in the hands of EGLE for review. We understand the financial hurdle of improving private septic systems, so we are pursuing a number of pilots of septic remediation measures along with cost benefit analysis. In future years, we will complete these pilots and begin scaling those with the most impact per dollar invested.

Our Guiding Principles are:

the right time to preserve and protect a lake is when it is healthy because there are few practical ways to restore a lake once it is impaired,
to maximize our impact, we cannot repeat, recreate, or replace what other groups have done. There are over 1,000 lakes of 100 acres or more in Michigan and similar numbers in Wisconsin and Minnesota. There are solutions out there that can be leveraged toward our needs
you cannot "outsource" your responsibility to protect the lake by simply writing a check to a group that takes responsibility for the lake's health. The vast majority of land around our lake is private property and all property ownerns must care enough to listen, learn, engage and adapt if our goals are to be met.

Who We Are

Our sole MISSION is to protect and preserve the ecology of Black Lake, its tributaries and watershed through advocacy and program development.

Let's Keep Black Lake Natural!

BLPS Strategy Overview:

Click the box below to view a summary of the BLPS Strategy and outlook.

Our 2025 Focus is Water Quality

Whether your main concerns are Harmful Algae Blooms (HABs), weed expansion, fish habitat/survival, or changes to the pleasant lake bottom sands, they all are impacted by invasive mussels and unnatural sources of nutrients: primarily phosphorous and primarily from (aging) septci systems. Look through the OUR FOCUS topics on this website to learn about the ways that you can reduce your contribution to the nutrient load (Self Assessment Survey tab), proper care for your septic system (Healthy Septic tab), how to prevent the introduction of new invasive mussels (Invasive Species tab). Also visit the HABs tab to become more engaged in this important topic.

Lake Association Challenges

2025 Water Quality Assessment

Most inland lakes have one or more associations that share a mission of preservation of the lake's water quality and suitability for recreation and lMost inland lakes have one or more associations that share a mission of preservation of the lake's water quality and suitability for recreation and lifestyle uses. Few are successful in the long term, and in this video, the President of the Black Lake Preservation Society, Rusty Gowland shares his views of why this is so.

There are many theories and assertions shared regarding the root causes of issues that we care about regarding the health of Black Lake. Mark Kieser of Kieser & Associates shares the facts derived from a multi-year, data centric study of our lake.

2025 BLPS Annual Progress Report

Scroll through or download the document below for a more detailed look at the activities of the BLPS in 2024.

How to Use Our BLPS Member Tools

This website and our Facebook page are for sharing our conservation oriented goals, plans, experiences, learnings, and ideas and we invite you and your like-minded or curious neighbors to join the conversation and be part of something positive. Please bookmark our website and follow our Facebook this page. Also, consider supporting us by joining/renewing your membership here at the Membership page or volunteer your time here at the Contacts page. Our impact is only limited by our collective people, time, and money.

Join the conversation on our Facebook page or email us with your ideas and interests. Click on the icon below to go to the Black Lake Preservation Society group page in Facebook.

Thank you for visiting the website of the​Black Lake Preservation Society