Goin’ for a ride, part 1: Expedition down Torch River to Skegemog

Tom Vranich sent me an email. Thom Yocum and summer interns for the Elk-Skegemog Lakes Association (ESLA) were going to paddle the Torch River. Their mission: scout the shore for infestations of invasive phragmites australis and report back. Thom is a biologist and Preserve Steward for the Palmer-Wilcox-Shah Nature Preserve north of Elk Rapids. I have been whining about wanting to learn more about phragmites from someone who actually knows something. Would I like to go? Yes. 

That is how I came to be sitting in the middle of a canoe like a queen on her royal barge while Thom and Tucker Hogarth did all the work. Laura Bailey and Derek Walton paddled kayaks beside us as we glided beneath the Torch River Bridge. Their assignment was to make a loop through the Rapid River bayou and catch up with us at Skegemog Lake. The interns turned out to be bright and engaging and interested in the world around them. Tucker and Laura will be seniors at Elk Rapids High in the fall. Derek is spending the summer back home in Williamsburg while he works on his Kalamazoo College senior thesis. His work on the ESLA survey is part of a broader project for the Watershed Center investigating phragmites on Grand Traverse Bay.

Tucker paddles us past Luhr’s Landing

I’ve paddled Torch Lake and the upper bit of the river but this was my first look at the stretch below the bayou. I was struck by the development. Torch River is as settled and manicured as any suburb, except that every house has a highly individual—even eccentric—character, and there’s a boat parked in front. (OK, docked, but I’m taken with the suburb comparison.  Bear with me.)  Phragmites doesn’t stand a chance through there.

Torch River neighborhood
(The sign says Loon Crossing)

As we moved downriver Thom told me he and the interns had found a lot of phragmites on Skegemog, but all of it appeared to be the native variety.  We pondered whether native phragmites is a pain in the neck in its own right, and speculated about what might happen when the two strains cross. We talked about other Invasions: zebra mussels, purple loosestrife, round gobies. Thom told me the Elk Rapids dam has kept lampreys from moving out of the Elk River into Elk Lake. He told me the Aarwood bridge over the Rapid River is slated for long-overdue replacement. ESLA is concerned that the construction will disrupt the heavy accumulation of sand at the bridge and wash it into Torch River. 

Thom paddling on Skegemog

Lacking dramatic footage of phragmites I took a couple of shots of not-phragmites for comparative purposes.  George Parker had told me about a constituent who was exercised about phragmites; when George went out to take a look he discovered the “phragmites” were cattails.  These are cattails:

At its mouth the Torch River opens into a flooding that’s been there since the Elk River was dammed in the 19th century.  The area is full of stumps and drowned logs and little coves, including this one, where Thom said he thought the not-phragmites might be wild rice. 

He’d found what he thought might be wild rice along the south end of Skegemog, too, which led to a conversation about the Paleo Indian settlement on Skegemog Point, which distracted us from phragmites but since we weren’t finding any of that we didn’t mind.  We weren’t able to navigate through the logs in the canoe so we didn’t get close enough to the maybe-wild rice to get a good look, but I’m tucking it away for future exploration.

We moved out into Lake Skegemog and headed to the Fairmount Drive takeout. Half a dozen swans were congregated near a point. They conferred and decided to give us an air show. Swans in flight make an enormous racket with those huge wings. It was pretty impressive. By now Laura and Derek had rejoined us. They reported that they hadn’t spotted any phragmites in the Rapid River bayou, so this was a good news day all the way around.

In a week or two the crew will move into Elk Lake.  I’ll let you know what they find.  Meanwhile I thought you’d like to meet them.

Tucker Hogarth, Thom Yocum, Derek Walton and Laura Bailey