Links and Reference

Welcome to our links and reference section. Please let us know if there are any additions or revisions you’d like to see.

Boating Rules

Gravel Lake

Boat traffic goes counter-clockwise.
Channel entrance etiquette: please wait on lake side for exiting boats from channel.
Observe the “Slow, No Wake” signs in the channel and weed bed.
Do not allow anyone to ride the front of pontoon boat.
Be aware of the ski course on the northwest side of the lake (to avoid unnecessary anchor line entanglements).
Waterskiing (and other towed sports) is limited to an hour before sunrise and an hour after sunset.
PWCs may operate between 8am and sunset.
Improper distance: operating above slow, no wake speed at anything less than 100ft (of other vessels, including persons being towed, rafts, docks, shoreline).
Improper distance for a PWC: operating above slow no wake speed at anything less than 150ft.
No one less than 14 years of age may operate a PWC.
Anyone at least 16 years old and born after 12/31/1978 may operate a PWC with a boating safety certificate.
Anyone born before 12/31/1978 may operate a PWC without restrictions.
Every person being towed behind a boat on water skis, etc. must wear a type 1, 2, or 3 PFD (this includes surfing without a rope behind a boat).
Michigan law requires anyone under the age of 6 to wear a type 1 or type 2 PFD when riding on the deck of a boat while underway (type 1 and type 2 pfds have a neck support flap on the back).
A person shall not launch or transport watercraft unless they are free of aquatic organisms including plants.

Midwest Aquatic Plant Reference Chart
Descriptions of invasive and non-invasive plant species in our area.
The Midwest Invasive Species Information Network (MISIN)
is a regional effort to develop and provide early detection and response resources for invasive species.

MLSA – Clean Boats, Clean Waters Info
“Lake residents appear happy with sewer project”
South Bend Tribune, September, 2002
Sewer Project Funding Options
Michigan Public Act 188
“Farmland and septic tanks undoing decades of Great Lakes cleanup”
Tom Spears, The Ottawa Citizen, Sunday, November 16, 2003
“Household Septic Systems”
Wrightman & Associates, Inc.
“Granholm announces effort to protect Michigan water”
The Holland Online Local Sentinel, Wednesday, January 21, 2004
“Managing Your Septic System”
Michigan State University Extension, Revised September, 2002
“Sewers for Lake Communities
What are the Needs, Benefits, Dangers, Organizational Requirements, and Costs? – The Diamond Lake Experience”The Michigan Riparian
“Public Sewers for Lake Communities – Part 1
“The Michigan Riparian, February, 1996
Michigan Public Act 188

Info on Short Term Rentals

PORTER TOWNSHIP VAN BUREN COUNTY, MICHIGAN SHORT TERM RENTAL ORDINANCE ORDINANCE NO. 2022-1

APPLICATION TO REGISTER SHORT-TERM RENTAL
Roadends, Easements and Public Access

In response to some questions and discussion around mooring one’s boat on another’s bottomlands, here is some recent information.

While a short overview is provided below, we encourage you to read the more detailed information provided in the 2 links below.
- In Michigan, riparians (i.e. owners of property directly adjacent to a body of water) typically own the bottomlands of an inland lake to its center (though not the water or fish above them).
- One may not permanently moor (anchor) a boat or place a dock on another owner’s bottomlands.
- Exception is given to temporary mooring that aids in navigation (e.g. fishing) but does not give the right to anchor indefinitely.
- Floating, without mooring, above another’s bottomlands is not prohibited on a public lake.
- https://mymlsa.org/government-and-legal-issues/riparian-rights-in-michigan/
- https://mymlsa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2018-Winter-Boat-Mooring.pdf