Call to Action!

As many of you know, there are taxpayer funded lakes around Rochester. These lakes were created as a result of the flood control projects. A few of these lakes are very popular fishing spots – Willow Creek, Chester Woods, and Gamehaven. There is also at least one of these lakes that has been kept off limits to the public – Silver Creek.
I have been informed that there is currently a chance to get this impoundment opened to the public. There is a meeting coming up to discuss this with the local commisioners which will also be open to the public. At this time, I would like to show some support for getting this lake open to the public. I simply need names showing that you support this. You can reply to this thread, or you can stop in to HOF or Gone Fishing (SE Rochester) to sign up.
I will keep everyone updated and will also post when the meeting will be held, so that we can show our support.

OK, please respond to this post or stop in to sign the petition. Getting this lake open to the public will be a plus for all fisherman and nature lovers!

Thanks,
Mike

Mike, why were these closed to the public in the first place?

I did a little searching and answered my own question…and it’s to lenghtly, involved and I can’t verify that any of what I heard/read is true….

BUT….

You have my support to open Silver Creek Reservoir up to public fishing.

Am I understanding correctly, that public tax dollars from the city, went to private lakes????

good luck getting it open to the public

You can put my name down mike. These lakes( yes there are more than one closed to the public with nice fish in it) should be open to the public. We paid too build them with our tax dollars, so we should be able to use them!!!! Troy Pike

Count me in !!!

sign me up
MiniGrub

I’m not sure if this is the case…but what if it is? What if the land owner was approached by the county and asked if they could use their land to help with the flood control project? And what if the land owner agreed? Now he has a pond that is being used for the flood control project on his land . What if this was your property? Would you want the public on your land? If we want access to this place someone (county, city, some person) should purchase it and make it a park or whatever.

my .02

John Reeve I live in haverhill township about a mile away> From there< you have my support!

I would like to see more info on this. Where can I find it.

I too, agree with Newt. Just because the governement used tax dollars to fix the city flooding, by making a lake on my land, doesn’t make it right for the public to use that lake.

Mike, I fished the area last winter while walking on the steam end of the lake which was legal. I agree that it should be open but you know what! I also understand why the locals do not want the impoundment open because of the intense littering that people do! I always take a garbage bag and pick up the litter that is left by “so called” fisherman. A lot of the fisherman are slobs and that hurts the rest of us. If I lived on that area I would not want slobs doing what they do best namely litter the area. JJ

It is not totally surrounded by private land and the lake is not private. The access could be from public land only. There could be improvements in the future including parking lot and trash containers.

Right now, I am simply asking for people to give their support toward making it open. If you do not wish to support this effort, that is also OK. This has been debated previously, and I realize that not everyone is in agreement.

You can put my name down. I make it a practice to have plastic bags that I carry groceries home in under my car/van seat for the purpose of picking up somebody elses garbage when needed. If we ALL did this it would sure help. If everybody took their own garbage to the garbage container it would really help.
Thanks, Bill

Mike: You can put me down in favor of opening it up to the public.

Hi Mike,

I whole heartedly agree that these lakes should be open to the public. You can put my name on the petition!!

My response on this issue is to say, “hey you fisherman please take out your litter so as to not condem efforts to make fishing really good” Just go down to any area and look at the litter! Like for example: Foster Erends, West Newton, Wilcox, and others. If I lived around that lake area I would not want fisherman on the lake. This is sad but unfortunately this is the way it is. By the way, I used to fish Foster Arends and I always took a garbage bag with me. I cleaned up the area near the parking lot every time and the next day it was the same! P.U. fisherman!

Count me in. Sign me up. I’m all for it.

If this is open to the public, then we as fishermen need to demonstrate not only our respect for the resource but yes the surrounding neighbors. That could be accomplished by creating and enforcing some strict standards and conduct.
Rules that apply to everyone. No alcohol, no weapons, either guns or bows, no camping or fires, no parties, admission only between 5AM and 10 PM., etc.. Sound a little strick, well maybe it should be to gain the trust and respect in return. If this is opened to the public, I would like to see the DNR jump in with enforcement and participation in protecting the resource. I think because of its size and the population, there should be size and limits such as Chester. Bluegills would have to be at least 7 inches and you can not keep any more then 10. Sound too strick again? Well remember, if open to the public that small fishery will be fished out in short order unless we have the DNR’s involvement and cooperation from the users.

It’s really sad that those that do leave their trash behind wreck it for the rest of us. But that still doesn’t give people the right to say that all fisherman are litter bugs and don’t clean up after themselves because it is not true. Just my 2 cents.

You can add my name.

Dave Gulczinski

I started a petition at work. I work with alot of fisherman. I have over 70 names already. Just goes to show how many people would like to see this impoundment open to the public. Troy Pike

Hey Troy,

Great! Glad to hear you are doing that. Anyone else that that cares about this should feel free to do the same. I have had a lot of support coming from phone calls and people stopping out to the store.

Thanks,
Mike

Alot of the people I talked and signed the petition were not fishermen. I explained how the flood control reservior’s around rochester were payed for with a half cent sales tax increase in 1980 resulting from the flood of 1978. The land was bought and is owned and maintained today by our tax dollars. They have held up on stopping any floods so far but could also be used for other uses, as proven with willow creek and game haven. Troy Pike

Mike

Put me down.

Can’t say as I disagree w/ the others w/ regard to the litter issue. Some people are pigs – pure and simple. Look at the litter near the pier at Willow Crk as an example. Like some one else said – plastic shopping bags (ie ShopKo or Wal-Mart) don’t take up much space, and you can pack out a lot of crap. I’ve done it several times this summer.
It wouldn’t surprise me to see Silver Creek kept closed for that reason alone.

To tell you how bad it is, I was fishing one of our area small streams about a month ago. Believe it or not, under a road bridge, I found a still hot, still smoking fire made from charcoal. Add to that numerous adult beverage bottles, AND – get this – two red plastic gasoline jugs. What are these morons thinking?

Ended toting out 2 bags of litter, both gas jugs, and snuffed out the fire on that one.

And if you happen to recognize yourself in this post and you are offended; Good! Clean up your act.

UG

Count me in, Put (Mike Hyde) on the list.

Mike,
I support your plan, if not privately owned.
Jack..

Thanks for your responses. There seems to be some ongoing question about whether this is a public or private lake. I can absolutely assure you that it is public, paid for with tax money. The people from whom it was purchased were well compensated.

Thanks,
Mike

Why is it such an issue then? I am just not well enough informed. I read the PB stories on it. Sounds like the neighboring owners objecting is the only thing holding it back. If that is the case, why do they object? How can they be made happy so everyone involved is happy?

There is a lot of history here. If you’ve read the PB stuff, then you realize that there is no good reason why this lake is not open to the public.
The issue of littering is something that everyone needs to be aware of and try to help. I don’t believe anything will be perfect when this lake is opened to the public, but as responsible people we can help make it a success.
I guess there are lots of people that have not understood this issue, as there have been lots of questions.
In a nutshell:
The lake is one of a series that was built as a part of the Rochester flood control project. The land for this lake and the others is public, bought and paid for with tax money. There is some private land which boarders some of the lake, but there is public land to allow for access. There are a couple of these impoundments which have been declared no tresspassing by the county boards.
The joint powers board is the governing body that oversees these bodies of water, including Silver Creek. There are members of the joint powers board that would like to see these lakes open to the public, but are in ongoing discussions with the township boards who object to making them open to the public.
I was hoping to get a petition to show that there is a lot of support from fisherman and others to get this lake open to the public. There are at least 3 ways you can show support to the petitions – reply here, at HOF, or at Gone Fishing.
The initial purchase of the land for these lakes was paid for at the local level through funds raised by the 1/2% sales tax which passed a local vote at that time. This same 1/2% sales tax has been in force ever since, but is coming up for a vote to extend it or end it. If the lakes are not open to the public, this is an ongoing indication that the 1/2% sales tax may be used to support purchases which do not give much value to the same public who put up the money.

Hope that helps put this in perspective. There are some folks that do not support having this open to the public. There are some folks that favor it being opened with lots of stipulations including very restrictive limits in order to protect the fishing. There are also lots of folks that would like to see the lake open to the public.

Good Fishing,
Mike