Wolverine Lake Selects Progressive AE as New Lake Consulting Firm for Village's Namesake

The Wolverine Lake Village Council has opted to hire a new lake consultant for the village’s namesake.

After a joint session between the village’s Water Management Board and Village Council, and a subsequent recommendation from the Water Management Board, the Village Council approved a one-year pact with Progressive AE to serve as the village’s lead lake consultant.

“They will make recommendations for our treatment program, in terms of when and how we are doing herbicide applications, when and how we are doing (weed) harvesting, and all other lake management activities like that,” said Village Council President John Magee.

The village interviewed three companies and ultimately went with Progressive AE, a Grand Rapids-based firm.

“They do a ton of work all around Michigan,” Magee said.

Progressive AE will replace Professional Lake Management as the village’s lake consulting firm following a summer in which officials felt PLM wasn’t living up to the village’s expectations.

“It was a difficult year for weeds all around the state of Michigan because it was a hot and warm summer, and our lake was no exception,” Magee said. “We just felt, as the summer went on, that PLM hadn’t been as attentive to detail and treatments as they had been in previous years.

“I think what impressed us most about Progressive AE is that they had a well-established process for working with herbicide applicators and harvester operators for directing, in detail, where the treatments should be done and what results were expected.”

Eurasian watermilfoil and starry stonewart are two of the most problematic aquatic invasive species troubling the village’s namesake. Magee expects Progressive AE to help address those, as well as work with village officials to develop a pilot program for laminar flow aeration, which coaxes noxious gases from lake sediments and the results are a cleaner, deeper lake.