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.