Michigan lakes, streams, and rivers get their life from the watersheds that feed them, and the health of those watersheds is crucial to the life of those waterbodies. With 63 major watersheds in Michigan that break into another 267 sub-watersheds, these networks of lakes and streams eventually make their way to the Great Lakes. To dive deeper into efforts to maintain the health of watersheds, five Southeast Michigan Watersheds, including the Clinton River, Rouge River, Huron

Dredging an inland lake is necessary for recreational reasons but can also be destructive to a lake’s local ecosystem.

Blessed by the Southeast Michigan Catholic Churches as a Lenten rescue, hailed as an ecosystem indicator, a boon to the fur industry, but can also be a bane to the existence of lakefront property owners – Michigan muskrats. For generations, these small furry nocturnal or crepuscular (active at dawn and dusk) creatures have navigated Michigan’s rivers, lakes and streams, making their homes on the banks and creating huts on the water.

Home insurance can be complex for lakefront property owners, with insurance agents recommending these homeowners have the necessary amount of insurance to provide significant financial protection against a catastrophic event like structure fire or serious personal injury.

Our June issue of LAKE magazine marks a midway point of sorts for our publishing schedule for this year, given that our publication only comes out during the more active months of lake activity in Oakland County. We specifically chose to publish when lakefront homeowners are paying more particular attention to what is taking place on the waterways in the county. So lakefront homeowners in 2026 receive LAKE magazine beginning in March through the month of October when most hom

More than 300 named lakes are scattered across Oakland County, which suggests that the number of lakefront restaurants with water views are plentiful.

Aquatic water insects are some of the least studied elements of the Michigan lake ecosystem, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways for local residents to support the insect population.

Writer Mark H. Stowers in this issue takes a look at how a 1907 invention of plastic has become a major environmental problem in general and more specifically for inland lakes as microplastic particles make there way into the waterways in Oakland County. The Alliance for the Great Lakes reports that 22 million pounds of plastic are dumped into the Great Lakes annually. Of that amount, 86 percent is plastic that breaks down into microplastics, which find their way into aquati