The Veterans of Elk Lake

Since the nation is celebrating Veterans Day today, I thought I too would celebrate the veterans of Elk Lake – the Elk Lake lake trout.  Please don’t think I’m being flippant. I am very grateful to our men and women in service past and present who have served and are currently serving our nation.  A big resounding “Thank You” and “Bless You” and your families.  But let’s talk about the trout who seems to be the veteran species of Elk Lake.

I had no idea that Elk Lake has its own special trout until I read the article by Kentz (2016).  According to him, the lake trout in Elk are a bit different from trout in the rest of the Great Lakes.  It seems that most trout spawn on rocky reefs at about 20-30 feet deep.  However, our own trout spawn in much deeper water where there are no reefs.  In fact, they tend to live deeper than most trout at about 100 feet.  They also don’t seem to wander into Lake Skegemog. (For those who are not familiar with these lakes, Lake Skegemog is connected to Elk but is a much shallower lake.)

All this tracking of the Elk Lake lake trout is due to a $5,000.00 grant by the Elk-Skegemog Lakes Association.  They have funded a Michigan Department of Natural Resources biologist, Jory Jonas, and a graduate student who have tagged several hundred trout in the Lake. Seven of the trout also have acoustic tracking devices implanted.  They have also set up receivers around the lake which help track these fish.  You gotta love technology.

So how long ago did we know about these trout?  According to the ESLA online newsletter (2016) It was about five years ago when Jory was doing a large survey of fish in Elk Lake that he discovered this “remnant” trout as he calls it.  This is because, after having genetic analysis from these fish sent out for testing, the results showed that they were closer to the genotypes of trout from Lake Superior rather than the trout that have been planted in the Great Lakes and Elk Lake in the 1980’s.  In fact, the trout planted in Elk, have all disappeared, and the trout planted in the Great Lakes seems to not reproduce in the wild.  This is what makes the current study of the Elk Lake lake trout so vital.  It is the only trout in the lake that has reproduced successfully in the wild.  In fact, no trout has been planted in Elk for over 30 years. 

According to Jonas, possibly the Elk Lake lake trout has been isolated since the dam between Grand Traverse Bay and Elk Lake has been in service since  the 1860’s.  This dam has kept the “Remnant” trout isolated from other trout in Lake Michigan for over 100 years while it has also kept out or at least slowed down the onset of invasive species that seem to be inhibiting the trout in Lake Michigan such as the sea lamprey. 

So let’s celebrate our own veterans, the Elk Lake lake trout today.  I look forward to the ongoing study, especially since the trout seem to inhabit the central western side of the lake, which is where I live. Happy Veteran’s Day!

Elk-Skegemog Lakes Association. 2016. Online Newsletter. Retrieved on      Nov.11, 2016 from http://www.elk-skegemog.org/elk-lake-remnant-trout/

Kentz, Ken. 2016. DNR Lake Trout Study Update in Elk-Skegemog Lakes

Association Newsletter, October 2016.

Hope

The weather lately has been well, let’s be honest, a bit dismal.  Every morning I check the weather report on my phone and it has been consistently stating that Williamsburg has a 20% chance of rain.  Which basically means, it should be a pretty nice day.  The only problem with that is that we have had cloudy conditions and gotten some rain every day.  I checked, we are not in a rain forest.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, in fact, the overcast skies have shown me when the sun does break through the clouds, it is even more brilliant.  I have always thought that when the trees are in their showy parade of colors, they are the most awesome when the sun shines on them, but the background is clouds.  There is just something about the contrast that showcases all the colors and the scene becomes a kaleidoscope.  (A few days after I wrote this, The Weather Channel published a video which showed that on average, November is the cloudiest month for upper Lower Michigan.  Ahhh, well that explains it.)

            Add to the scene a rainbow, and a miracle has occurred.  A rainbow has always symbolized hope for me.  I think it is because it shows that God hasn’t forgotten us.  It shows that His nature and science has produced something special that isn’t a common-day occurrence.  This particular rainbow presented itself as ending on Skeegamog point.  I was not the only one who stopped to take a picture and linger to watch it before it faded.  My neighbors’ son also took a picture of it and sent it to his mom.  A couple stood at the end of the road where they had parked their car and were standing arm-in-arm simply taking in the sight.  Cars had pulled over to the side of the road so that the driver could experience the rainbow as well as the passengers.  It was an awesome sight.

            As I think back at the rainbows I have seen in my life, the majority of them have been here in Michigan.  This is probably because the weather can change very quickly around the lakes.  However, this also makes me think that Michigan is a state of hope.  I know that Michigan has been hit very hard by the latest financial woes.  Those who have experienced it first-hand, know that I’m not trivializing it.  It just seems to me that people who live in Michigan are hardy people who love nature and are no strangers to getting knocked down and knowing how to brush themselves off and get back up.  That’s what a rainbow symbolizes.  It only appears after a storm.  It shows that there is beauty and magic after the storm.