Local residents met Dec. 3 at City Hall for a meeting to discuss the clean up of invasive plants in the Flat River.
The newly-formed group called Friends of the Flat discussed updates to their plan to establish a non-profit organization to tackle issues facing the river due to an overgrowth of Eurasian Milfoil among other weeds. The group plans to raise money to contract with a company that specializes in cleaning up rivers and lakes from invasive plants.
Craig Fonger, president of the group, said during the meeting that he was awaiting State of Michigan approval of their non-profit application. Then, the group’s executive team will create by-laws to be submitted to the rest of the members. There were 10 members in attendance at the Tuesday meeting.
Fonger said an account has been set up at Lake Michigan Credit Union, but the City of Lowell was temporarily holding donated money for the group pending the non-profit status to be official. The approval of the group’s non-profit status happened Dec. 11. Now, funds can be directly deposited in the group’s account.
A representative from PLM Lake and Land Management Corp., based in Alto, presented an assessment of what they believe the main issues are in the Flat River and what they would do to fix them. Regional Manager Jaimee Desjardins said she would submit a proposal to the group as a bid to do the job.
Contacted after the meeting, Fonger told Lowell’s First Look that PLM Lake and Land Management is the first of several companies that will be invited to Friends of the Flat meetings. Solitude Lake Management will be invited to present their solution in January, and a yet-to-be identified third company will be invited to the February meeting. After that, the non-profit will solicit formal bids before deciding which company to hire.
Desjardins agreed with the group that EPA-safe chemicals are the best way to treat Eurasian Milfoil, and the timeframe to begin application of treatments to the river will be spring of 2025. A compound of chemicals may be necessary to also treat other types of invasive weeds that are found in the river.
A new issue the group discussed was whose permission is needed to treat the river. While, according to Senior Vice President Steve Doyle, The King Milling Company owns a portion of the area including seven islands north of the downtown dam, it is unclear whether permission is needed from the State of Michigan or the individual homeowners along the river.
After discussion, the group decided to focus on the eastern part of the river for 2025 since it is the most clogged with plant life. Fonger said the tentative plan is to treat about 20 acres between the dam and the area near the Attwood Corporation.
The next Friends of the Flat meeting will be Jan. 6 at 6 pm at City Hall. More information can be found on the group’s Facebook page.
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