Little Traverse Watershed
At approximately 45 square miles, Little Traverse Bay is Lake Michigan's fourth largest bay. The land area of the Bay's watershed is approximately 174 square miles. The Little Traverse Bay Watershed receives water from both precipitation and Lake Michigan via dynamic mixing currents, while tributaries are the primary conduits for water from throughout the Watershed. Little Traverse Bay's main tributaries are the Bear River (which includes Haymrsh Creek and Spring Brook), and Tannery and Five-Mile Creeks. There are also many small, unnamed tributaries that discharge to Little Traverse Bay. The Little Traverse Bay shoreline is also diverse, containing a large recurve sand spit known as Harbor Point, miles of dune and sand beach ecosystems, miles of cobble beach, and exposed limestone bedrock. Little Traverse Bay Facts The Bay is about 3.5 miles wide between Petoskey and Harbor Springs The Bay is 8 miles wide at its outer end (between Nine Mile Point on the south and Seven Mile Point on the north) The Bay has a surface area of approximately 31 square miles or 19,840 acres Between Petoskey and Harbor Springs it reaches a depth of about 170 feet. The outer bay drops to depths of more than 200 feet. The beauty of Little Traverse Bay has attracted visitors for more than a century. Ironically, development pressure that results from the area's beauty poses a serious threat to the quality of the water resources that make the region attractive. As more and more land is converted to residential or commercial uses, the potential for water quality degradation is increased. Other pollutants that threaten the Bay's health today are nutrients and sediments from different human activities such as shoreline development, polluted runoff, streambank erosion, and agricultural activities.
More than 60 recommendations from the Little Traverse Bay Watershed Protection Plan set the stage for work that is needed to enhance the health of the Little Traverse Bay Watershed. These action steps represent an integrative approach. From restoration to education the actions are designed to reduce or prevent nonpoint source pollution. For each action step, the organizations best suited to implement the task was identified along with estimated costs to implement each item are listed. A timeframe of 10 years has been used to determine the scope of activities and the estimated costs.