Mona Lake Watershed Road/Stream Crossing Inventory
Grant: # 2026
Grant Amount: $31,613.92
Board Decision Year: 2023
Muskegon Conservation District (Twin Lake)
Lawton, Chelsey ([email protected]) 231-828-5097
2023 Habitat Protection and Restoration - Habitat protection and restoration
Project Details
Project Profile
Project Title: Mona Lake Watershed Road/Stream Crossing Inventory
Grantee Organization: Muskegon Conservation District
Project Team: Chelsey Lawton, Field Operations Supervisor; Emily Cooper, Watershed
Technician; Seasonal Staff; Stephen Brillinger, Project Manager; Adam Hughey, Project
Manager
Time Frame: Spring 2023- Fall 2024
Brief Project Summary:
This project aimed to complete a full inventory of the Mona Lake Watershed to be used to
update the Mona Lake Watershed Management Plan. These efforts enabled MCD to note
where the problem areas were and assist the Mona Lake Watershed Council in efforts to
mitigate sediment input via erosion control. The project culminated in a full report that will be
given to stakeholders and will be available on the MLWC website as well as the MCD website
for future conservation efforts.
Project in Context:
The Mona Lake Road/Stream Crossing Inventory project was undertaken to enhance
understanding of the watershed's road infrastructure. This initiative began as a preparatory
effort for updating the watershed management plan. The last road-stream crossing inventory
was completed in 2006, making it necessary to identify and document any changes or new
crossings over the past two decades. The Muskegon Conservation District collaborated with the
Mona Lake Watershed Council to update the management plan, aiming to address non-point
source pollution in the watershed. Historically, the watershed has faced neglect and pollution,
including contamination from industrial brownstone sites such as a petroleum plant. This
inventory marked an essential first step in identifying sources of pollution caused by erosion and
undersized culverts that deposit sediment into the waterbody. The findings have highlighted
several potential restoration sites and will serve as a critical resource for stakeholders applying
for future restoration project funding
Goals of the Effort
The goal of this project was to conduct a comprehensive road-stream crossing inventory of the
watershed to pinpoint areas of concern and develop Best Management Practices (BMPs) for the
most critical locations. The data gathered from the inventory will contribute to the watershed
management plan update and support the overall objectives of the WMP.
At the end of the project, MCD created a full report outlining each location and severity level that
will be available for agencies to use in future restoration planning.
Results
This project resulted in the inventory of 124 road stream crossings in the Mona Lake Watershed.
MCD was able to load all of the locations onto the Great Lakes Stream Crossing Inventory
Dashboard, a public dashboard that allows viewers to see the data collected from each site as
well as photos taken.
Along with the data being put onto a public platform, MCD created a report that details every
inventory location. This report is accompanied by GIS maps showing locations in the watershed
and in each subwatershed. Each site in the report has location information, crossing
information, waterbody and GPS coordinates. It details the overall scores and fish passibility
scoring as well as photos of crossings. Full details of each crossing can be found on the online
dashboard, this report is just a snapshot of the data collected as a quick reference for
stakeholders.
Products and Resources
Mona Lake Watershed 2024 Road Stream Crossings Inventory Report
Muskegon Conservation District. https://muskegoncd.org/water-quality
This link will bring you to the MCD page dedicated to water quality efforts and Mona Lake
Watershed updates including the 2024 Inventory Report link.
Great Lakes Stream Crossing Inventory Dashboard
https://midnr.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/d7f355deda9a4bfe85df268785c0cd7b
This link will take you to the state owned Dashboard where full survey information can be found.