# Tawas Lake?



## stacemo (Oct 23, 2003)

I was planning my trip to Tawas and talking to one of the locals up here and he says "they" harvested the wild rice on Tawas Lake. I have never heard of this happening before. Have any of you? 

Then I got to thinking. This woman came on here last year and asked questions about wild rice on areas we hunt. I must be dumb I told her probably on Tawas lake. Looks like she was looking for sites to harvest now. What do you think? Am I paranoid? I think I should keep my mouth shut from now on.


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## lab1 (Aug 31, 2004)

It was to clean up the lake, not for the rice. Lost alot of ducks in the process IMO. Going to the bay now.


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## JohnBischoff (Oct 11, 2012)

Yep its been cut off they just finished it last week I think.


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## sswhitelightning (Dec 14, 2004)

I know back in the 90's it was part of a treatment on tawas Lk for any weed along residential shoreline. It was sprayed, never saw it harvested. Mallard hunting took a dive on Houghton Lk when they harvested right before opener!


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## JohnBischoff (Oct 11, 2012)

Major bummer.


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## John Singer (Aug 20, 2004)

If wild rice is being harvested for consumption, that has got to be done much earlier than now. By September, almost all the grain has fallen off the stalks. I am thinking that harvest of wild rice occurs in August.

The wild rice on Houghton Lake died off due to raising of the water levels not because of any harvest.

Here is an analysis of the loss of rice on Houghton Lake:

http://www.mrwa.org/repository/pdf/anal_wildrice-HoughtonL.pdf


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## Shlwego (Sep 13, 2006)

stacemo said:


> I was planning my trip to Tawas and talking to one of the locals up here and he says "they" harvested the wild rice on Tawas Lake. I have never heard of this happening before. Have any of you?
> 
> Then I got to thinking. This woman came on here last year and asked questions about wild rice on areas we hunt. I must be dumb I told her probably on Tawas lake. Looks like she was looking for sites to harvest now. What do you think? Am I paranoid? I think I should keep my mouth shut from now on.


I think she was doing a legit study. I had a bit of communication with her as well, and she was working with a research group that knew where wild rice had "historically" been found but had died out. She was looking for small (i.e. not harvestable size) hidden rice beds in the hope that they could find varieties that would perhaps be able to be used to restore those historic beds. She had the correct credentials. I am sure they already knew about Tawas Lake. I hope they are successful, but as a duck hunter I was reluctant to give up the areas I know about - not because I fear those areas will be harvested - but because I would rather hunt those areas alone or at minimum share them with others who have done the work to find them.


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## GuppyII (Sep 14, 2008)

The Tawas lake homeowners assoc is paying to have it removed, this was the first of three years worth of mechanical removal on the lake. They wanted to use chemical removal but the DEQ wouldn't let them. Most people along the lake want the rice beds gone, the strain that is there is non-native, planted several years ago for the ducks. It got out of hand and is choking off the lake.


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## TSS Caddis (Mar 15, 2002)

GuppyII said:


> The Tawas lake homeowners assoc is paying to have it removed, this was the first of three years worth of mechanical removal on the lake. They wanted to use chemical removal but the DEQ wouldn't let them. Most people along the lake want the rice beds gone, the strain that is there is non-native, planted several years ago for the ducks. It got out of hand and is choking off the lake.


I believe they were only allowed to remove it from the city owned side.


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## Bd7 (Jan 26, 2004)

Boy the bull***** you read on this internet !Why not just stick to the truth and not fabricate your own 1/2 truths ?


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## jonesy16 (Sep 19, 2011)

Bd7 said:


> Boy the bull***** you read on this internet !Why not just stick to the truth and not fabricate your own 1/2 truths ?


Because this thread would be half as entertaining if the truth were spoke ....I think magic rice elves came by and ate it all. 

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Ohub Campfire mobile app


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## GuppyII (Sep 14, 2008)

If you are referring to my statement let me know, I was up there in late July roofing my buddy's place when him and several other of the lakefront owners got into a discussion about the harvest. It was supposed to be done before seed drop this year but the company doing it got tied up on another project I guess. They were still trying to get to Tawas lake and when I saw this thread I figured they had finally made it there. 
From what I took from the little conference in the yard that day it was to clear out 60-75 percent of the lake.


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## Bd7 (Jan 26, 2004)

Thanks!( jonesy16)
Me thinks u r right !:lol:


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## Akikwe (Nov 9, 2011)

Hello, this is the woman who was on here last year looking for wild rice beds to determine how rare they are in Michigan. Thanks to those folks who offered locational information. A few things to mention...

The wild rice on Tawas Lake is all native species, Zizania aquatica, Zizania palustris, and a rare variety. There are no non-native species of wild rice in Michigan.

Just an FYI, harvesting of wild rice by humans has been shown to increase the rice on a bed, so no need to worry about that if you are interested in preserving wild rice beds.

The Swamp Things on Tawas Lake waited too long and actually cut the rice while it was dropping seed, so they actually planted it as they cut. The plan is to remove 70 acres a year for five years.

Barb


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## lab1 (Aug 31, 2004)

Akikwe said:


> Hello, this is the woman who was on here last year looking for wild rice beds to determine how rare they are in Michigan. Thanks to those folks who offered locational information. A few things to mention...
> 
> The wild rice on Tawas Lake is all native species, Zizania aquatica, Zizania palustris, and a rare variety. There are no non-native species of wild rice in Michigan.
> 
> ...


Do you think they will be successful in the removal of the rice? The rice seems to spread quickly over the years.IMO, they will have to do it every year forever if they really want to get rid of it.


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## stacemo (Oct 23, 2003)

My apologies. When I give out information and then I see something strange/different happen related to that information I become suspicious. There are too many people in this world that always have a hidden agenda.

Stacemo



Akikwe said:


> Hello, this is the woman who was on here last year looking for wild rice beds to determine how rare they are in Michigan. Thanks to those folks who offered locational information. A few things to mention...
> 
> The wild rice on Tawas Lake is all native species, Zizania aquatica, Zizania palustris, and a rare variety. There are no non-native species of wild rice in Michigan.
> 
> ...


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## just ducky (Aug 23, 2002)

Akikwe said:


> ...The plan is to remove 70 acres a year for five years.
> 
> Barb


Barb - I know the lake is several hundred acres, but that seems like a lot to remove to me.


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## stacemo (Oct 23, 2003)

just ducky said:


> Barb - I know the lake is several hundred acres, but that seems like a lot to remove to me.


My own observation shows that the rice is affected by water level quite strongly. High water seems to produce less rice. Of course that is only 35 yrs observation of the same lake. It may be a unique environment. I am always amazed that for instance last yr almost no rice. This year beautiful beds of rice.


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## TSS Caddis (Mar 15, 2002)

just ducky said:


> Barb - I know the lake is several hundred acres, but that seems like a lot to remove to me.


The lake has lost so much open water over the last 20 years it is not even funny. Whole north end is basically not useable anymore.


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## stacemo (Oct 23, 2003)

TSS Caddis said:


> The lake has lost so much open water over the last 20 years it is not even funny. Whole north end is basically not useable anymore.


20 yrs ago our water levels up there were still quite high. Lost most of our northerns but the largemouth population has boomed!


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