Member survey shows environment comes first with PCLA
Last fall’s membership survey, while not perfect, revealed a great deal about what PCLA members want — and don’t want — to happen on Pickerel and Crooked Lakes. Nearly half of the surveys (93 out of approximately 240) sent were returned, which tells us that our members care and want to be heard.
The “essay questions” at the end of the survey invited members to list the three most important issues facing Pickerel and Crooked Lakes. (Thanks to Ed Hirschenberg for compiling the essay responses.) Your answers were heavily weighted toward loss of shoreline, lack of wetland protection, water quality degredation, and the amount of commercial and high density residential development on and around the lakes. One hundred forty-six comments mentioned some aspect of environmental concern, from invasive species to the importance of preserving greenbelts and natural areas.
A total of 26 essay questions expressed concern about boat traffic and safety in general. Our respondents own more canoes than jet skis, which may explain in part why more people like the no wake zone than not. Boater safety classes ranked the highest on the list of things our members would like PCLA to offer.
Beautiful scenery and water recreation were tops on the list of what our members like about the north. Wildlife, being close to nature, and peace and quiet ranked as third and fourth preferences. Least important: good jobs. This is easier to understand when you consider that people over age 56 comprise the largest group of survey respondants, and the bulk of them are retired.
Which northern Michigan amenities are most highly prized? Our members chose clean water, scenic views and open space first, followed by the hospital and wildlife habitat, separated by only a couple of points. And if there’s one thing our members want more of, it’s not condos, shopping, or golf — it’s nature preserves in first place and parks in second.
What do we do with our time and energy? A lot of us boat the Inland Waterway and gather socially with neighbors. We prefer downtown shopping to Wal-Mart, and we recycle. A good number go fishing, and most of those practice catch and release, at least sometimes. Local parks are popular with our members.
In the opinion of most of our members, assuring a healthy environment is by far the most important thing we all can do, and we are disturbed by the loss of wetlands, scenic views, open space and natural shoreline. We think high density residential development should not be allowed on the water, and setbacks should be used to protect water quality. Many feel development is overtaking the charm of northern Michigan, traffic is a pain, and our municipal planners should put the environment first in their decision-making.
We didn’t get a rousing number of requests for PCLA to do more, Unexpected: more of you would rather have a fund raiser than a social event! Nature hikes, seminars, and a meet your government event were up there in the tally. As for our communication with you, there was no mandate for more frequent newsletters or a member directory, but you would like to see more articles about development issues, invasive species, shoreline stabilization, watershed protection, and low-impact lake living. We’re on it!
You told us pretty much what we expected regarding civic involvement: the marks for attending meetings and writing letters were on the low side. We don’t blame you. Summer is short and you’re here to have fun on, in, and around your lake. Many governmental decisions have serious long-term effects on your lake,however, so please don’t take a vacation from participatory democracy. It’s more important than ever to be heard and be counted.
We took our scale of one-to-five scoring and totalled the numbers recorded on each issue. If an issue received more than 350 points, we considered it to be highly significant. The highest count for all issues was 430 (for clean water) and the lowest was 83 (the need for more condominiums on the lake). We will be referring to this survey as we work with Emmet County Planners to re-write the comprehensive plan. The plan is the basis of zoning decisions.