Perfect
Nothing is lacking, nothing in excess
This is Lake Allegan
Perfect
Nothing is lacking,
nothing in excess
This is Lake Allegan
Friends Of Lake Allegan
Lake Allegan is a lake with many friends. Think of all the people, birds and wild animals, (peacocks anyone or a turtle trying to lay its eggs in your front yard) who have visited or lived on Lake Allegan since the inception of Calkins Dam. The culmination of days and hours spent on the water or viewing the waters of Lake Allegan have been or are because of a unique connection to Lake Allegan.
A lake offers an interesting and exciting perspective to an environmental landscape that doesn’t otherwise exist. The sunrises and sunsets on Lake Allegan are legendary, but so too are all the other water and on shore activities that create memorable everyday moments that often end with the light of a full moon reflecting across the lake or a dark sky full of stars that sends out a life-giving sustenance to those of us who are fortunate to have spent time on Lake Allegan.
But, now Lake Allegan needs a new, special kind of friend.
Lake Allegan needs new friends who can act as environmental stewards of its shoreline, aquatic plants, and water quality. It needs friends who can be ambassadors representing Lake Allegan to others so they can understand why Consumers likely exit from the hydroelectric business at Calkins Dam doesn’t need to mean the removal of Lake Allegan. Friends of Lake Allegan believes that a compromise between lake lovers and dam haters can be identified thru a relationship of commonality that will bring a new and successful future to Lake Allegan.
The residents of Lake Allegan have a unique opportunity and a challenge to meet in the next 5-10 years. Friends of Lake Allegan would like to be your information and resource hub where you can find easy access to explanations on the issues pertaining to the future of Lake Allegan or you can catch up once a month by reading the latest blog. The monthly blog will explore various issues with an emphasis on in depth coverage, currently unavailable locally, through the consolidation of other media and online resources.
Friends of Lake Allegan recognizes that everyone’s reflections and feedback concerning decisions by the lake association, watershed prosperity group, county task force, County Commissioners, Consumers or any other organization’s decision-making process needs to have a centralized place for public discourse in order for anyone who’s interested to follow along with the continual changing priorities and discussion outlooks. Thus, Friends of Lake Allegan will focus on prioritizing and unraveling, sometimes ambiguous, updates from external sources and periodically revise the website’s content to align with Lake Allegan’s evolving future. A second online resource will be used as a discussion forum thru Friends of Lake Allegan’s Facebook Page. Friends of Lake Allegan will be a dynamic organization that will share “schools of thought” from a variety of people and resources associated with groups like the Kalamazoo River Watershed Council, the Kalamazoo River Superfund CAG (Community Advisory Group) and Consumer’s Kalamazoo Watershed Prosperity Group.
Part 307
Preserving Lake Allegan
Part 309
Lake Improvement Success
Stewardship
Be a Participant
Allegan County Board of Commissioners
As part of the Allegan County Board of Commissioner Approved Strategic Plan 2023-2027 Allegan County’s vision statement says it “is committed to providing our citizens superior and innovative services, being judicious and efficient in the expenditure of resources, and promoting a safe, clean, and healthy environment in which to live, work, and play.”
Calkins Dam has an entry under the following:
STRATEGIC GOAL: Provide valuable and necessary quality services to CUSTOMERS.
Georgia-Pacific
Georgia-Pacific, a paper manufacturing company headquartered in Atlanta, has agreed to perform remedial work to contain 80 miles within the Kalamazoo River Superfund site in Allegan and Kalamazoo Counties which is a federal program that is very involved and always lengthy. The Kalamazoo River cleanup areas have been subdivided into 7 sections. Lake Allegan is Area 6. A record of decision on how the PCB removal and remediation will take place in Area 6 is slated for December 2028 with a projected completion date of the PCB cleanup for Lake Allegan by 2032 or thereabouts.
Georgia-Pacific
Georgia-Pacific, a paper manufacturing company headquartered in Atlanta, has agreed to perform remedial work to contain 80 miles within the Kalamazoo River Superfund site in Allegan and Kalamazoo Counties which is a federal program that is very involved and always lengthy. The Kalamazoo River cleanup areas have been subdivided into 7 sections. Lake Allegan is Area 6. A record of decision on how the PCB removal and remediation will take place in Area 6 is slated for December 2028 with a projected completion date of the PCB cleanup for Lake Allegan by 2032 or thereabouts.
Great Lakes Fishery Commission
In December 2022 when hearing of Consumers detailed review of its 13 hydro plants on five Michigan rivers Great Lakes Fishery Commission sent a lengthy letter to Consumers and FERC documenting their concerns. The 1954 Convention on Great Lakes Fisheries between the United States and Canada established a Commission as the binational organization responsible for control of invasive sea lamprey, facilitation of cooperative fishery management, and coordination of fisheries research in the Great Lakes.
Consumers Energy/Public Sector Consultants
In 2023 Consumers Energy in coordination with their lead consultant, Public Sector Consultants, researched economic contributions of 13 river hydroelectric plants and facilitated conversations between the utility and ratepayers to help plan for a future of reliable, affordable clean energy. PSC’s work included 11 community meetings, 1 statewide economic contribution analysis, 13 economic contribution studies and the engagement of 1700 Michigan residents as Consumers searches for a way out of the hydroelectric dam business primarily because of the cost with generating hydroelectric power outpacing the return on investment by more than $100M annually according to Norman Kapala, VP of Generation for Consumers.
Consumers Energy/Public Sector Consultants
In 2023 Consumers Energy in coordination with their lead consultant, Public Sector Consultants, researched economic contributions of 13 river hydroelectric plants and facilitated conversations between the utility and ratepayers to help plan for a future of reliable, affordable clean energy. PSC’s work included 11 community meetings, 1 statewide economic contribution analysis, 13 economic contribution studies and the engagement of 1700 Michigan residents as Consumers searches for a way out of the hydroelectric dam business primarily because of the cost with generating hydroelectric power outpacing the return on investment by more than $100M annually according to Norman Kapala, VP of Generation for Consumers.
Resource Friends
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