A Water and Land Resource Plan for the Kalamazoo-Black-Macatawa-Paw Paw Rivers Basin

Excerpts: The overall objective of this Study was to assemble a water and land resource plan that reflected the concerns of the people in the Basin. To help accomplish this, Citizens Advisory Council and the County Task Forces listed their concerns in the initial phase of the Study. These lists showed a strong desire to protect and improve the environment and to encourage a limited amount of resource development. The following specific objectives were identified: 1. Increase production efficiency of food and fiber. 2. Increase available recreational opportunities. 3. Protect existing urban property from flooding. 4. Enhance water quality particularly with respect to recreation, fish and wildlife aspects. 5. Protect and manage areas of natural beauty that provide human enjoyment. 6. Enhance fish and wildlife populations by habitat preservation and improvement. 7. Protect especially valuable or outstanding ecological, archeological, and historical resources. The Basin consists of four major hydrologic areas: Kalamazoo River Basin--2,020 square miles; Paw Paw River Basin--445 square miles; Black River Basin--295 square miles; and the Macatawa River Basin--172 square miles. These plus the drainage areas of the small streams that drain into Lake Michigan comprise the 3,002 square mile study area referred to in this report as the Basin. The Basin contains parts of 11 counties. Of the 3,002 square miles in the Basin, 57 percent (1,093,000 acres) is in cropland and pasture. Forest land is the next largest land cover category, consisting of approximately 405,000 acres. The remainder of the Basin consists of urban areas, brushland, wetland, water, and miscellaneous areas