Volunteer Spotlight: Grateful for GLA Member Mike Litch

by | Jan 16, 2025 | News, Volunteers

The Glen Lake Association (GLA) has a long history of being a volunteer-driven organization. Volunteers serve on committees, help with water sampling efforts, monitor water levels, make dam adjustments, submit photographs for social media, serve as board members, and much more! The work that volunteers do for the GLA is priceless and makes a significant difference when it comes to keeping our beautiful lakes and streams clean and healthy.

The service of Ernest W. “Mike” Litch III is no exception! Mike has been dedicated to the GLA’s mission since he retired, and he and his late wife, Sarah, became permanent residents of Glen Arbor in 1998. He once shared, “Volunteering to me isn’t work…it’s enjoyable! I love getting to fraternize with others and to experience the beauty of the water and environment up close. I am convinced that my volunteer involvement and just ‘doing the work’ has made me a better watershed steward. It has led me to want to protect the watershed’s beautiful and unique environment, and it has taught me how to do so! Experience gained from helping monitor the lake with our watershed biologist, Rob Karner, has greatly enhanced my water quality knowledge. Volunteer work has helped guide and shape the GLA over the years, and I believe it is what will protect these resources as we go forward. It is what will assure that our watershed continues to be one of the most exceptional beauties in the state of Michigan.”

The GLA wanted to take this opportunity to recognize Mike and thank him for his years of service to watershed protection. His contributions are too vast to list here, but highlights include:

  • Director, GLA Board, two terms
  • Co-Chair, GLA Water Quality Committee (WQC), along with his late wife Sarah Litch. The WQC keeps records of the parameters that best describe water quality conditions so trends can determine if favorable or unfavorable changes are occurring. The committee also assesses factors that affect water quality and recommends best practices to the GLA board and to riparians to ensure high-quality lake water conditions are maintained. Mike spent more than 20 years sampling and testing our water – he worked closely with fellow volunteer Bill Meserve, GLA Watershed Biologist Rob Karner, and others to keep careful records of any plant life changes. The GLA is now considered a regional leader in enteric bacteria studies.
  • Played an instrumental role in installing signage on all 13 road ends of the lakes in our watershed warning about Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS).
  • Co-Chair of the GLA Invasive Species committee, along with his late wife Sarah, and Program Chair of the GLA Boat Wash & Invasive Species committee.
  • Supervised and assisted in the 30-year-old Cladophora (green algae) studies.
  • Led the establishment and fundraising of the GLA boat wash program, including obtaining grant monies for the construction of our present boat wash shed at the Little Glen boat launch.
  • In conjunction with GLA Watershed Biologist Rob Karner’s initiative to store and report information about fish caught in Glen Lake, Mike designed a database for digitally storing the GLA creel report information that is collected at the boat wash station. This data monitors the health of our fish population in the Glen Lakes and is reported to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Management department (the GLA was the first lake association to recommend and do this). We don’t want too many or too few fish in our lake; if healthy numbers are caught, then the DNR stocking has been successful. Low catch numbers would indicate low stocked fish survival rates. Subsequent years of data have given us a clearer picture and helped fine-tune DNR stocking in the Glen Lakes.
  • Assisted with the annual M22 Challenge by interviewing competitors to ensure their kayaks were clean and washed kayaks before they entered the water.
  • Named along with his late wife, Sarah, on the GLA plaque on two GLA plaques in our watershed to honor members whose contributions have far exceeded the norm in volunteer efforts to preserve and protect the Glen Lake/Crystal River Watershed.

We will be forever grateful for Mike’s commitment and dedication to the Glen Lake/Crystal River watershed. Thank you, Mike!