Attention Members,
We have had steady rains for ten days now. Three days ago we had a river flowing to our house. Obviously Six Mile Lake is overflowing. If you aren’t a year round resident have someone who is check your frontage. Stuff is floating that was pulled up twenty or more feet from shore. If you are wondering why something can’t be done about these abnormal flood events here then I can tell you that the Corp of Engineers study revealed that the culvert in Ellsworth is the problem and or choke point for water moving out of Six Mile Lake through the Natural Area into St. Clair Lake and through the culvert into Ellsworth Lake and down through the remaining lakes on the Upper Chain.
Six Mile Lake has 68 tributaries flowing into it from thousands of acres which surround our lake and we are the only lake on the Chain draining this much water. Until the culvert is replaced with a box culvert, which is unlikely for many years due to lack of funding, dredging could be the fix but requires environmental permits from EGLE and who knows what else. Six Mile Lake Association is represented on the Intermediate Lake Water Board by incoming SMLA president, Linda Vanandel and VP Ross Maxwell. The Antrim County Drain Commissioner/Dam operator, Leslie Meyer is working diligently with this group to find funding to address what is going to be a continuing problem here unless action is taken. I wish I had better news.
Unfortunately, with two public access sites on our lake we have ZERO control over who is running up and down on the lake creating large wakes that further exacerbate what is already an environmental hazard for many of us with shorelines eroding into the lake. All I can advise at this point, per Leslie Meyers, is to send photos of your frontage to the Antrim County Emergency manager Matt Ademak at [email protected] as this is important information we need to have on record. Dawn Lavanway is the county commissioner here and her contact information is [email protected] so contact her as well. We need all hands on deck.
Cherie Hogan
Communications/Membership
SMLA