Our History

The Greater Bear Watershed consists of Bear Lake and Bear Creek located primarily in Manistee County, Michigan, with portions extending into Benzie and Wexford counties. The watershed encompasses 204 square miles and extends across 13 townships and multiple municipalities including Bear Lake Village, Bear Lake Township, Pleasanton Township, Arcadia Township and Onekama Township.

In 2025, the Bear Lake Watershed Alliance merged together with the Bear Creek Watershed Council to become the Greater Bear Watershed Alliance. This merger took many months of planning with much support from community members and partners to make it possible. Prior to the merger, two groups operated separately within the Greater Bear Watershed - the Bear Lake Watershed Alliance primarily focused efforts within the Bear Lake area, and the Bear Creek Watershed Council primarily focused efforts along the Bear Creek.

Bear Lake

Bear Lake formed naturally between 10,000 and 75,000 years ago. It covers approximately 1,744 surface acres and is about 24 feet deep at its maximum depth. About two-thirds of the lake is less than 20 feet deep. The volume of Bear Lake is estimated to be 26,503 acre-feet. The shoreline is estimated at 7.62 miles and at its widest dimension, it is about 2.38 miles.

The Bear Lake Watershed Alliance was founded in 2008 and was created with a mission to preserve, protect, and improve the health and natural character of Bear Lake’s watershed. The Bear Lake Watershed Alliance served for many years performing water testing within the lake, storm drain testing within the community, installing rain gardens around the community, and installing watershed road signs around the county. The group hopes to continue these projects now with a broader reach of the Greater Bear Watershed Alliance.

Bear Creek

History of Bear Creek coming soon..

Together as One

Now as the two organizations come together as one, we hope to be able to accomplish more together as a unified group.

The Greater Bear Watershed Alliance is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

 Greater Bear Watershed Plan

  • Prepared for the Manistee County Community Foundation in July 2013. You can read the full-report (205 pages) here.

  • Prepared for the Manistee County Community Foundation in July 2013. You can read an Executive Summary (20 pages) here.

  • An interim report for the Greater Bear Watershed Plan was prepared in 2014.

  • Bear Lake and Bear Creek are part of the Greater Bear Subwatersheds.