A Year on Lake Mitchell - 2009

January 12-18- Coldest week in a decade lows range from -7 to -22.

February 20- Cadillac reaches 207 inches of snow. The most since records were began in 1960s.

April 4 - Ice goes out ending snowiest coldest winter of the decade.

April 5 – Sod island breaks loose in Little Cove and drifts across lake.

April 15 – Lakesider newsletter mailed. www.lakemitchell.org updated.

May 15 – Large snail die-off occurs, probably because of sudden change of lake water temperature.

May 18 –Roadside pickup of weeds begins

May 28-31 – Lakeshore Environmental Inc conducts 990 GPS point survey of Lake Mitchell and finds 412 acres of Eurasian water milfoil (EWM).

June 2-4 – Initial chemical herbicide treatment.

June – Dredging begins in South Franke Cove in $119,000 project financed by cove property owners.

June 9 - Major algae bloom covers lake for six weeks. Algae isn’t just on Mitchell, the bloom occurred on many lakes throughout the state.

June 24 – Temperature hits 90 degrees for the only time of what will be remembered as a cold summer.

June 25 – Harvesting begins in coves.

July 10th – 10,000 milfoil-eating weevils put in Big Cove by Mitchell Creek.

August 2-4 - Harvester returns

August 11 –Survey finds of 55 acres of EWM. Twenty acres located where 2-4-D was used in June along with 35 acres of new plants.

September brings the warm weather July and August didn’t provide.

September 10 – Roadside pickup of weeds ends.

October - Twice the average rainfall. Temperature averages 10 degrees below normal degrees.

November was unseasonably warm.

December 8 – Lakes Mitchell and Cadillac freeze 2 weeks later than usual.

December 9-10 – Schools close for two days as 12-15 inches of snow falls.

A Year on Lake Mitchell in Photos -- 2009

Click on the small photo to see the larger version.

Algae blooms were the densest and longest lasting in recent memory.

Approximately 49 acres of nuisance weeds were harvested in 2009.

Harvesting is used in shallow water to control nuisance vegetation.

Balled algae, known as chladphora, occurs as the water warms.

AS Airboat - Chemical application is done from airboats.

Chinese Banded Snails - The exotic Banded Mystery Snail experienced a large die-off in May due to a sudden change in water temperature.

The residents of Franke Cove financed the dredging of their cove during the summer.

Ten thousand milfoil eating weevils purchased with a grant from the National Forest Service were planted in Big Cove.

Milfoil - Eurasian milfoil plants are lime green in color and the leaves look like a soft bottle brush.

Milfoil - Approximately 380 acres of Eurasian milfoil were found during surveys of Lake Mitchell in 2009.

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