Job Description
Project Overview
I am seeking a detail-oriented researcher or GIS-capable analyst to build a structured dataset of all Michigan lakes larger than 100 acres, including environmental, development, and recreational screening variables to support property acquisition analysis.
Accuracy, reproducibility, and methodological transparency are essential. This is a GIS and environmental data project, not a basic scrape.
Scope of Work
Build a spreadsheet including every Michigan lake over 100 acres, with the following columns:
Core Lake Data
1. Lake Name
2. County or Counties
3. Lake Size in acres
4. Latitude
5. Longitude
Morphology
6. Average Depth in feet
7. Maximum Depth in feet
8. Depth Source
Water Quality
9. Average Water Clarity, Secchi depth in meters
10. Years used for Secchi average
11. Secchi 10-year trend, improving, stable, or declining, plus numeric slope if possible
12. Trophic State Index, TSI
13. TSI Source
Bottom Characteristics
14. Lake Bottom Type, primary classification
15. Bottom Type Description, sandy, gravel, marl, muck, mixed, etc.
16. Bottom Type Source
Environmental and Development Risk
17. Percent of shoreline protected by state forest, national forest, refuge, state park, conservancy
18. Explanation of protection basis
19. Protection source URL
20. Percent of shoreline developed, structures or parcels with improvements
21. Method used to calculate percent shoreline developed
Recreational and Use Characteristics
22. Number of public access points, DNR boat launches or public ramps
23. Wake or boating restriction classification
All-sports
No-wake
Electric-only
Time-based restrictions
24. Invasive species presence, zebra mussels, Eurasian milfoil, starry stonewort, etc.
25. Invasive species source
Access and Location
26. Driving distance from Grand Rapids in miles
27. Driving time from Grand Rapids in hours
Documentation
28. Notes and assumptions
Important Requirements
- Must include all Michigan lakes over 100 acres.
- Secchi and TSI values should reflect multi-year averages where available.
- Secchi trend should be calculated where data exists.
- Percent shoreline protected and percent shoreline developed must be calculated using GIS overlay or a defensible spatial method.
- Bottom type must be sourced from DNR surveys or credible bathymetric reports.
- Invasive species data must cite a public source.
- All assumptions must be clearly documented.
Expected Research Tools and Sources
Likely required:
Michigan DNR lake databases
Michigan Cooperative Lakes Monitoring Program, CLMP
USGS datasets
DNR fisheries surveys
State and national protected lands GIS layers
Parcel data GIS layers
Satellite imagery or shoreline digitization
DNR boating regulations database
Invasive species reports
Google Maps or equivalent for driving metrics
GIS capability is strongly preferred.
Deliverable
Excel file
Clean formatting
All columns complete
Clear source citations
1 to 2 page methodology summary explaining
Lake universe construction over 100 acres
Shoreline protection percent calculation
Shoreline development percent calculation
Secchi averaging and trend calculation
TSI sourcing method
Invasive species sourcing approach
Shoreline protection % calculation
Shoreline development % calculation
Secchi averaging & trend calculation
TSI sourcing method
Invasive species sourcing approach
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