One of the most important activities in fish management is habitat protection. This is a difficult task, because what happens in the entire watershed impacts fish habitat and water quality. A watershed is an area of land which drains into a specific water body.
All citizens can help by practicing land use which minimizes erosion and soil or chemical runoff.
Lake shore owners can also play a big role in maintaining good fisheries habitat. To find out what you can do, contact the Ortonville office to obtain a free brochure with tips for helping fish and wildlife on your lakeshore property. A few lakes in the Ortonville Area have good fish habitat, but are susceptible to winterkill. Winterkill is a condition where oxygen becomes depleted in a lake due to a combination of factors. Shallow lakes tend to winterkill more frequently than deeper ones.