By Meg Peters
Review Co-Editor
Long time Orion Township resident Ron Spitler has a message for the Orion community.
‘It’s all good.?
He is talking about the 649 feet of 18-inch diameter pipe he and a couple crewmembers from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Fisheries and Wildlife division installed in Lake Orion back in June of 1991.
Spitler was at the Lake Orion Farmer’s Market last Wednesday reminding people the reason the brown trout are plentiful and the Paint Creek River is healthy is because of that lengthy pipe.
The pipe was sunk 65 feet down into Lake Orion, where the water in the summer is chilled to around 50 degrees.
Another pipe was installed 65 feet below Lapeer Rd into the lake. Where the two pipes meet up, a gush of cold water pours through an 8-foot-by-6-foot-wide man hole, and mixes with the water at the Paint Creek River dam.
‘It blends, so 80 degree water on a hot day coming over the dam meets 53 degree water coming through the pipe. It’s well oxygenated, it’s cold, it comes out below 70 degrees usually, and that’s perfect for brown trout,? he said. ‘There are four miles of stream that benefit from that.?
Spitler said the pipe is good in the winter too for the opposite reason. It prevents what’s called frazzle ice. Water at the deepest point of the lake usually is in the 40s or 50s, which mixes with nearly freezing water over the damn, and voila, no ice at the bottom of the river or over the rocks that help aerate the water, which could kill some aquatic bug life.
‘I think people forget about the benefits they’ve been receiving all this time,? he said at the Farmers Market, explaining to local shoppers who approached his stand why the pipe is still important. ‘I think the water quality in Lake Orion may be slightly better because of it. Fishing may be better on both counts.?
Spitler has been retired from the DNR Fisheries and Wildlife Division for 17 years, but keeps track of the pipe because it was one of his favorite projects, saying it ultimately yields to bigger, fatter aquatic insects, and bigger, fatter trout.
If any of the local fishermen have been wondering what their fishing licenses fees go to, it is for the maintenance of projects like these that keep inland lakes and creeks alive and healthy, he said.