This is a place to ask questions and share with your Duck Lake neighbors. Please keep the discussion cordial.
Duck Lake
Property Owners Association | Highland, MI
This is a place to ask questions and share with your Duck Lake neighbors. Please keep the discussion cordial.
Duck Lake 
July 12, 2018 at 10:19 am
The water level seems very low. Any news on the new pump?
July 12, 2018 at 3:31 pm
HI Mark,
The “pump” is and has been fine. That was replaced two years ago. They took it in and gave it general maintenance why it was out, but the pump is fine. This issue was the well itself. We had hoped for a turn on date of July 2nd but we have run into a couple of snags, which is pretty normal when you are working on these type of projects. The first had to do with the electric line and the second was insuring we got the same amount of water pumping as the old well did. Due to these issues the turn on date has been pushed back 2 weeks. I have asked Ole to provide a well update, as he has been working hand and hand with the well drillers. He single handedly walked this big project through. Long story short we are hoping for the well to be running in the next week or two. I know this is not ideal, but given all of the obstacles, at least we will have it running this summer and a good storm or two should allow us to catch back up and then we can maintain with the new well. I hope this helps.
July 12, 2018 at 8:17 pm
Thank you for the update and also all the hard work you and Ole have done on this project. It is greatly appreciated.
July 5, 2018 at 4:10 pm
Is there any way to reduce the number of Canadian geese on the lake? This summer there is a pack of about 35 geese that love to come to our property daily and trash the grass with their feces. It is unsightly and a health issue. A few are manageable, but not 35! Can the problem be remedied by the proper authorities? Thanks for your response.
July 5, 2018 at 10:31 pm
Just put a string about 6 inches high along the lake and the geese will stay away!!!
July 9, 2018 at 11:39 am
Hi Paula,
Each year we do a goose remediation program that targets the nest and eggs of the geese. I feel that due to the lack of a true spring this year, the company “goose busters” that we hire was not as successful in locating all of the eggs and nests as they have been in the past. We will make sure to follow up again next year, and will pray for better weather and an actual spring. In the mean time, I think Ray’s suggestion below is a great way to help.
July 5, 2018 at 11:29 am
If you are on your boat, would you take money from your wallet and throw it into the lake? Of course you wouldn’t. However, every piece of garbage in the lake costs you and I money to clean up. So, every time you throw garbage into the lake, you might as well be throwing in dollar bills. Last night I saw beer cans and trash all over the lake. I even saw a sunken paddle boat at the sandbar (Hopefully that gets claimed instead of the “someone else will take care of it” attitude). Please people, make sure you and your guests are taking care of the lake. It just doesn’t make sense not to do it. Laziness is no excuse. Today there is fireworks garbage floating up in places. I don’t mean the tiny pieces left over from them burning, I mean packaging and boxes. Just doesn’t make sense to me. Everyone likes to have a party and have fun, but if it went out on the boat with you, take it back to shore with you. Leave nothing in the water except waves.
Another note, there are only volunteers that do the work to maintain this lake. They don’t get paid to do this work. Again, they DON’T GET PAID TO DO THIS WORK. Those volunteers do everything. They clean up garbage, take care of beaches, clean up dog and bird poop, clean up DIRTY DIAPERS, mow and weed wack, empty trash cans, and many, many other crap work that no one else will volunteer for. They do this to maintain the lake because they care. It makes them mad when people don’t care enough and are too lazy to clean up after themselves because it’s more work for them. If you make the volunteers mad enough they quit. Imagine what some of the beaches would look like if no one cleaned them. They would be useless. So again, please don’t be lazy and clean up after your group.
And we could always use more people to volunteer their time to help out with the many, many hours it takes to keep our lake beautiful.
July 5, 2018 at 2:07 pm
Amen!! And also, are there really that many deaf people out boating? Why do I have to listen to your music when I am in my house. When i can’t hold a conversation with someone next to me because some boat in the other section of lake radio is to loud is ridiculous. Have some common sense and courtesy. And teach your kids lake rules and courtesy too when they are out on your boat.
July 24, 2018 at 7:45 am
We have talked to the sheriff about this. You can absolutely call them to come out! There is a noise ordinance in Highland of 200 feet which is definitely being abused by these boats. Trust me we are ready to start making calls! If enough do call maybe the rude, inconsiderate boaters doing this will learn to turn it down!
July 2, 2018 at 9:49 pm
Noise pollution. Seems with never ending advances in technology often follows negative fallout. Case in point: Car horns that beep when the key fob is pressed to unlock or lock the car. How annoying is this? Nothing like being awaken just as you drift off to sleep at midnight by the inconsiderate neighbor who is ignorant to the fact that sound travels and no one wants to learn of your arrival or departure. Easy remidy.. Instead of pushing the key fob to lock your door, press the lock on the inside of the door, like we used to in the old days; 2 or 4 years ago. And the car can be programed to not beep when opening the door. Seems the majority of people have gotten so lazy and oblivious to their surroundings that they let the car makers dictate a given areas tranquility, based on that areas’ saturation of this new technology. It is just a matter of common sense as well as common consideration towards your neighbors.
June 30, 2018 at 9:26 am
Is there a acceptable alternative to fertilizer and weed control for lawns?
June 30, 2018 at 9:37 am
Jennifer from Restorative Lake Sciences (the company we are using to monitor and test the lake) told us that if you draw sprinkler water from the lake, you shouldn’t need to fertilize at all and that there are enough nutrients in the lake water to feed the lawn. For weed control, personally I just pull them or use a spot sprayer to avoid the mass amount a company would put on the lawn. The biggest problem is that the more fertilizer that runs in the lake, the more it costs us all for weed treatments.
June 24, 2018 at 11:49 am
Good Morning,
Do you know when the Minutes will be posted from the June Meeting? Thanks so much for all you do!
June 25, 2018 at 10:51 am
Hi Dana, they will be posted in the next couple of days 😉
June 18, 2018 at 7:24 pm
Saw two different people throw cigarette butts in the lake this past Sunday. I just don’t understand this. The lake is not an ashtray or a garbage dump. The more trash people throw in, the more money it costs us all in the long run to keep our lake clean. If you or someone you take out on the lake throws anything in the lake, please stop.
June 18, 2018 at 9:43 am
Can you please send out an update regarding the muck remediation project?
June 18, 2018 at 10:36 am
Hi Bill,
We are in the final process of wrapping all of the final contracts as well as collecting the funds from the private investors. We have a Duck Lake Improvement Board meeting this Wednesday afternoon to review all of these and then officially sign them if all is well. Once this is completed work will start immediately to get the system in as fast as we can. We have been, and will continue to work with DTE to install power to each of our compressor locations. This, I have been told, has the potential to take the longest as we are at the mercy of DTE’s schedule. We are shooting to have the big bodies of water, little duck, middle duck, and big duck all installed and running first. This is being done for two reasons. One it is the largest amount of water and can have the biggest impact, and two it is simply the easier parts to install as they are big circles. We are hoping to have those on in August/September. Once those are installed they will continue to install the rest of the system per the plan. One issue we were trying to avoid by installing early in the spring, is all of this years weed growth. As the air lines are ran from the compressors, the weeds could prevent the airline from resting on the bottom as needed, and possibly cause them to be suspended and at greater risk of being hit with a boat prop. This will make the canals a tougher install which will mean a longer process. However, the goal is to have EVERYTHING installed by the end of the season.
We will have a better idea of the time line at our meeting this week at 7:30 pm at the Highland Senior Center. As the DLIB meeting is earlier in the day, we will know exactly where we are standing for our meeting. I hope to see you there.
June 18, 2018 at 1:34 pm
Thanks for the detailed update and all your hard work Unfortunately I will not be in attendance as I run a golf league on Wednesdays.but we all look forward to this new solution for our wonderful lake.
June 18, 2018 at 5:53 pm
Your team is unbelevable, and amazing.
June 18, 2018 at 7:15 pm
I agree with Hank. Thank you and your team for your HARD work!
June 17, 2018 at 8:40 pm
A dock section floated up to our beach, it is about 8’ long made of wood. Let me know if it’s yours, it’s sitting on our beach. It should up Friday and we are the first house heading into the zoo canal.
June 4, 2018 at 3:46 am
Thanks for the help in locating the missing dock. Will float it home today, Monday, June 4th, weather permitting.