WATER FEATURES

 

Forest Home Township is surrounded by Torch Lake, Lake Bellaire, Clam Lake, Intermediate Lake along with Intermediate River and Grass River.

 

Torch Lake, often referred to as the most beautiful lake in Michigan, is the western boundary of Forest Home Township. Torch Lake is a deep, coldwater lake of very high water quality which supports lake trout, whitefish, and cisco. A number of lakefront property owners use the lake as a source of drinking water. Torch Lake contains a number of underwater caves which some scuba divers have speculated may be connected directly to Grand Traverse Bay. This type of linkage may explain Torch Lake's current.

 

Intermediate River, Intermediate Lake and Lake Bellaire constitute the eastern boundary of Forest Home Township. Lake Bellaire is a deep, coldwater lake with average water quality. Shallow areas, such as the northeast part of Lake Bellaire suffer lower water quality (increased nutrients and reduced water clarity). The study A Profile of Water Quality: Lake Bellaire found that water quality problems in Lake Bellaire result from "algal nutrients in watershed runoff, atmospheric deposition, lakeshore septic tank and lawn fertilization, the Bellaire Village Sewage Treatment Plant and releases from bottom sediments."

 

Intermediate Lake supports a coldwater fishery. Intermediate Lake is subject to great variation in water clarity over time. The most recent trends do not indicate a reduction but rather a yo-yo effect with the clarity decreasing, increasing, decreasing and increasing. Dams at the south end in Bellaire and another dam where the Cedar River enters Intermediate Lake serve to maintain the water level as established by court order.

 

Clam Lake along with the Grass River serve as the southern boundary of the Township. Clam Lake is the narrowest and shallowest of the four lakes. Wind and boat action stir up sediments which reduce water clarity. High speed boat traffic in this lake has caused shoreline erosion.

 

Shoreline erosion from boating activities does not appear to be a problem in the other lakes due to greater water depths and larger size. Most boats moving at high speeds tend to maintain a considerable distance from shore.

 

Most of the shoreline of all of the water bodies within Forest Home Township have been developed for residential purposes except for those areas with low, poorly drained soils.

 

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