The PLIA mourns the passing of

Dr. John Spencer.

Dr. Spencer was a long-time member of the PLIA board, and played an important role in the development of the organization. He was a key player in our efforts to draft the settlement agreement that ended the disastrous impact the Hatchery had on the lake. The full obituary is here.

Save the Date:

The 2017 PLIA Annual Meeting will be Saturday August 5, 10 AM at the Homestead Township Hall

What we’ve been doing:

• Completed our first year of lake sampling, analysis and monitoring on our own without the MDNR’s assistance. We collected, analyzed and monitored 519 samples from the lake and the tributaries of the river. All of this (and previous year’s data) is collected in a database that is now accessible on our web site.
• Monitored the Phosphorus output of the Platte River Fish Hatchery to ensure their compliance with the Settlement Agreement output limits.  This data is also collected in a database that is now accessible on our web site.
• Amended the MDNR/PLIA Settlement Agreement and filed it with the circuit court. This Amendment defines how all of the duties previously performed by the court appointed settlement coordinator (Dr. Ray Canale) are to be performed and by whom. Effective 1/1/2015, the Hatchery had been in compliance with the agreement for 5 years, so the settlement coordinators work was complete. .  The amendment further defines in detail via a procedures manual (SOP Manual) all the required reports, water sampling and analysis routines, determinations, calculations, mass balances, measurement and calibration routines as well as responsibilities to the agreement going forward. The logic and reason behind everything that Dr. Canale did including the documented software (source code) for the hatchery and lake and water shed data bases that are used to determine hatchery compliance as well as Platte Lake compliance to the court mandated phosphorus levels are now a matter of court record. 
• Secured the Benzie County Road Commission’s agreement to use No-Phosphorus fertilizers on future projects around the lake.
•  Participated in the 2016 Swimmers Itch Study by Dr. Raffel of Oakland University. Updates on this study will be posted on the web site as they become available.

Make 2017 the year you become a PLIA member and contribute generously to our work in keeping Platte Lake clean and beautiful.