On the southwest shore of Mullett Lake is a 147-acre property, now known as Gete Mino Mshkiigan. The name roughly translates to Ancient Good Wetlands.

On September 8th 2022, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) held an open house event (click here for more info) to get input from the community on their plan to develop the property.

Click here to read a draft of DNR’s plan.

Click here to read the Mullet Lake Area Preservation Society’s comments on the DNR’s plan.

Darrell Schwalm writes:

Our newest shoreline bank greenbelt project continues to make progress. The field stone rock construction on top of the pervious ground cloth and gravel on the shoreline bank is completed. These rocks were hand-placed to form a level, 23 degree sloped to prevent ice flows from grabbing a rock and pushing or pulling it out of the bank. The rocks are in the 9”-13” diameter size with larger rocks at the water’s edge to provide a base or “toe.

The next step will be to use additional rocks to create an outline for the landscaped greenbelt plant beds. Another row of larger rock will be placed along the top of the rock embankment and on the grass to form the beds. New soil to create the beds will be filled in over the grass. These rock-lined beds will complement existing beds in front of the house and along one side of the shoreline property.

Darrell Schwalm writes:

Sunday, August 24 was a busy day for the sturgeon restoration efforts within the Mullett Lake watershed. One event attended by MAPS representatives was the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians (LTBB) pot luck lunch, ceremony, and sturgeon fingerling release into the Sturgeon River at Wolverine. Since 2013, LTBB has released almost 3,000 fingerling sturgeon into the Burt Lake watershed — mostly in the Sturgeon River at or upstream of Wolverine. The purpose is to introduce sturgeon that are imprinted to the waters of the Sturgeon River. This will help reestablish migration runs of sturgeon throughout the Cheboygan River watershed. The fingerlings were raised in the LTBB hatchery in Pelston.

Your MAPS dues/donations helping Sturgeon for Tomorrow put juvenile Sturgeon into your lake.

Sturgeon for Tomorrow- Grow Sturgeon, Protect Sturgeon, Educate children about Sturgeon. Simple, positive, making a difference.

Sturgeon for today, Sturgeon for Tomorrow…..

Your MAPS donations and annual dues helped fund Sturgeon For Tomorrow placing 520 four to six inch juvenile Sturgeon into Mullett Lake today.  SFT/MAPS has been placing Sturgeon into Mullett Lake every year since 2003. Yup

Darrell Schwalm writes:

MAPS is partnering with a Scotts’s Bay homeowner to construct a landscaped greenbelt.  The purpose is to provide a bioengineered rock revetment to protect the shoreline against ice and wave erosion.  It will also provide a natural, vegetative habitat and buffer to replace the lawn that extends to a narrow beach and water’s edge.  MAPS will provide cost share funds for the plants that will be used along the shoreline.

The pictures show a before picture of shoreline and front yard, the newly constructed enlarged beach access site and the shoreline silt fencing, a section of the shoreline lined with a pervious ground cloth and gravel base for the rock revetment, and the rocks that will be hand-set for the gently-sloped rock armored bank.  Much of the construction and rock work is being done by the homeowner.  The greenbelt design and silt fencing to protect the lake from any sediment runoff from the construction was approved and inspected by the county.

MAPS will provide additional photos of progress on this impressive project by a stewardship-minded Mullett Lake property owner.  MAPS will use this greenbelt as a demonstration project because it will show how to construct a bio-engineered rock revetment and an attractive vegetative shoreline greenbelt with adequate lake access points for swimming, boat hoist extraction, and dock access.

Purple Loosestrife, an invasive, non-native plant from Europe and Asia eliminates native plants such as cattails, sedges, bullrush, and ferns.  As our wetlands become infested, desirable food and nesting sites for wildlife are lost and, there are fewer resting sites for migrating birds.

MAPS Invasive Species Strike Team will happily identify and remove Purple Loosestrife from your property. Small stands are easily removed with nothing more than a shovel.  Contact Marty Jones (montychones@gmail.com) or Darrell Schwalm (schwalmie2@aol.com).

Even Penny the Labradoodle (pictured above) was happy to help remove it from her property.

Please join us at the MAPS Annual Meeting. Thursday August 8th, 6:30 p.m., at the Cheboygan Public Library.  All are welcome.  Ice Cream Social to follow.