Hudson Lake DNR Community Meeting (5/4/23 @ Monroe's) Recap & HLCA Update

Hi All,

Based on feedback, the meeting was a success! We had over 80 people in attendance! Thanks to those who signed in and thank you to those who volunteered for projects - stay tuned!

OUR COMMON GOAL:

We continue to focus on the positive – what we all can agree on moving forward. That goal being: To ensure that Hudson Lake is a healthy lake that we can enjoy for generations to come.

DNR PRESENTATION:

A big thank you to DNR Engineer Garth Lindner for a very informative in-depth presentation on Hudson Lake! Garth's knowledge and passion for our unique history and circumstance were evident. Once available, we will distribute Garth's slides.

Here are a few key points:

• Hudson Lake is young! Created by a glacier break-off some 10,000 years ago. Many lakes are hundreds of thousands of years old. Thus, our lake's landscape has not had time to develop rivers and tributaries to flow and in out.

• Hudson Lake gets its water from precipitation, run-off, and groundwater. Water making its way into our lake can come from places where it can take over 2 years for a drop of water to make it to Hudson Lake.

• Hudson Lake is on a continental divide. We have water that flows to Lake Michigan from the western side and water that flows to the Kankakee River from the eastern side.

• Hudson Lake has a bottom that can be sand, clay, and/or muck. This creates an environment that can lose water differently than other lakes. We share water tables with a wide area. Ebbs and flows of water impacting lake water levels are quite complex. Pictures of wells that add to our story were shared.

• Review of the Hudson Lake V3 report from 2008, historical lake level data, precipitation levels, and other relevant data leaves one stumped to determine exactly what drives our lake levels. Throwing in a drain in the early 1980s doesn't help.

• To better understand the lake, more data needs to be gathered and analyzed. The DNR is committed to helping us on this journey. There are grants that the DNR can help us with. Our Tolthawk water level measuring device and recording incidents/events on our new website — when it is available — will also help.

DRAIN MANAGEMENT UPDATE:

DNR Deputy Director Ryan Mueller provided an update on Hudson Lake Drain management efforts as well as handouts for lakefront homeowners on the guidance of what can be done on lake property.

By the end of May, the DNR will give the HLCA the drain management agreement for review. We will share progress as it happens.

THANK YOU:

• Thanks to Monroe's for hosting.

• Thanks to Bill McKee for the sound system. Sorry that we didn't use it consistently. We did get feedback that not all could hear. We will do better next time!

• Thanks to DNR Ryan Mueller, Garth Lindner and Momita

HLCA UPDATE:

The most recent projects that HLCA has been working on continue to support our goals of a healthy and usable Hudson Lake.

• Managing the drain operations and maintenance with a skilled dedicated team. Agreement as noted above in progress.

• Monitoring the lake level in real time. We have our Tolthawk installed measuring the water level 24x7. We have a community precipitation device (COCORAHS – Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow) we just installed and are using to measure Hudson Lake rainfall) BTW – the lake has been hovering around 12-13 inches above the weir and 13.25 inches above the weir as a manual measurement near the Tolthawk – just over ¼ of an inch difference.

• We are redesigning our website to be more relative and informative. We will be posting lake levels, project information, events, and more. We hope to have the site up and running by the end of May.

  • The site will collect incidents/events that occur on the lake. We will know when something needs attention. We will know what happens when the water level reaches certain levels. This data will be shared with the DNR and LP drainage board. It will also be summarized and available at a summary level on the website.

  • We are going to have a photo contest for new imagery on the website. Stay tuned.

  • We hope this is one-stop shopping for our Hudson Lake community.

• We have a multi-year dredging effort. This year we received a dredging grant for $120,000 and need to work on executing it and future efforts.

Nothing happens in a vacuum and these efforts demand time, resources, and money.

Reminders to:

• Pay your HLCA dues and feel free to contribute to specific projects if you can – you can earmark your donations.

• Sign-up to work on current efforts:

  • Working on the Photo contest

  • Fundraising event

  • Dredging efforts

  • Interest in being an HLCA officer or project leader

  • Working on the website – on-going

  • Engaging schools/university

  • Engaging local and state officials

  • Being part of boots on the ground – monitoring Lakeshore Drive, the public ramp, the ditch etc.

  • Other

We are trying to be proactive vs. reactive — that takes understanding that comes from education – we just received a great foundation with Garth’s presentation — and the data we collect. We have an opportunity to engage the community, the schools, the universities, the DNR, and other government agencies to build this plan by using our lake as the Beta test for clean lakes – a live lab for us to gather data, research and build the ultimate lake management plan. A plan that the rest of the state can envy and want to emulate.

If you love your lake – show it and get involved. Sign-up for our projects!

Our current HLCA Treasurer is going to retire. We will be sending out more information on what those duties entail shortly. In the meantime, if you are interested, please let me know.

Thank you!
Georgette Joyce
847-609-7553