Welcome to the Barbee Lakes Property Owners Website
The BLPOA is a member/donor organization whose focus is recreation on the Barbee Chain of Lakes for us, our kids and grandkids.
A significant part of keeping the lakes fun is controlling the invasive weeds such as eurasian milfoil and curlyleaf pondweed. To fund weed control we need members and donations and that is why we need you. We also apply for grants to treat weeds and to fund other projects to improve lake recreation. We, along with many others, apply for Lake and River Enchancement grants from Indiana DNR to help fund weed control. DNR can only fund a small number of the applications so most years we are fully responsible for weed treatment and the costs are increasing significantly. In addition the BLPOA maintains signs on the lakes, sponsors events such as the Hotdog Boat and the Lighted Boat Parade. . BLPOA membership is $50/yr. The recommended donation is $2 per foot of shoreline. Please send the checks to BLPOA PO Box 175 North Webster, Indiana Or you can donate electronically at the Donations and $ page or go directly to https://payments.barbeelakes.org BLPOA meetings are the third Saturday of every month from April through October of each year. They are held at the North Webster Community Center and begin at 8:30AM. The annual meeting is on the third Saturday of July and begins at 9am. Please come! The following is a contact list for various questions about the BLPOA: * President.....Bethany Chanley...... blpoabethany@outlook.com * Vice President ......Lon Sloan.................res289@aol.com * Lake Weed Control ... Neil Schwartz ... neil72@embarqmail.com ... 574-834-7329. You can also contact the BLPOA via email at the 'contact us' page of this website or via mail at BLPOA PO Box 175 North Webster, Indiana Thanks to 7 Lakes Marina for sponsoring our Maintenance Boat!
Barbee Chain Water Level Gage
The Barbee Chain water level gage was placed on the bridge support between Little and Big Barbee in October 2017. You can view the gage from the Barbee Landing parking lot. The purpose is to give the Barbee Chain real numbers so we can track water levels. This helps during significant rain events especially for those cottages in lower areas. It also allows us to see how long it takes to drop back to lower levels. We drain 54 square miles including Ridinger and Robinson lakes. It was attached when the water was at a very low level, 8.0 on the gage. The normal level is 8.15 (consistant with the dam which keeps the lakes at this level most of the time). High water during 02/18 reached 10.7. Some cottages started taking water during this event at about 10.0 on the gage. The highest level on record was in 3/85 at 11.2. These numbers are in decimal form so tenths of an inch. That’s how water gages work. Some of this info comes from Mike Kissenger the county surveyor. To view high water events and gage readings click here. New Property Owners/Members
Please download the this PDF file and register with the BLPOA. Your registration allows us to be responsive to your needs and keep our records current. Thank you.
Want to Learn More about Lakes?The following presentation was made at the ILMS conference. It's about an hour but very informative.
You can see it here. Want to Learn More about Algae in our Lakes?Grace College has written an explanation and done research on Kosciusko County lakes. You can find details at https://lakes.grace.edu/blue-green-algae/
Barbee Stratification
Huh??? See how Dr. Nate Bosch describes stratification of our chain. Click here.
Information on Invasive Mute SwansCheck here for IDNR information on invasive mute swans. And additional mute swan information from IDNR select this. Another IDNR write up on mute swans is
www.in.gov/dnr/fish-and-wildlife/wildlife-resources/living-with-wildlife/mute-swans/ To get info on Michigan's mute swan program select this. The native trumpeter swan belongs on the Barbee Chain. Thanks to the Pirates for their generous donation to the BLPOA!
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See the lighted boat details below in the events section.
2025 Newsletter and CalendarFor the newsletter click here and for the calendar click here. If you did not receive a mailing of the newsletter this spring please send Laura Romane an email at lauraromanmarketing@gmail.com or text at 317 260 6060.
2025 MeetingsPlease attend the BLPOA meetings. They are held at the North Webster Community Center on the third Saturday of each month from April thru Septemberr. The meetings begin at 8:30AM. If you have any questions before the meeting schedules start please use the 'contact us' part of this website or the BLPOA facebook page.
Special speakers include
See you there! 2025 Barbee Chain Weed TreatmentAquatic Weed Control is planning to treat the channels 5/6 and the lakes 5/15.
Starry Stonewart will be treated on the Chain in June. Weed Treatment including Starry Stonewart
Each year the Barbee Chain has invasive Curlyleaf Pond weed and Eurasion Millfoil treatments to minimize the impact and allow recreation in our lakes. 2024 treatment areas are the same as 2023 and are mapped here.
. The affected areas will be marked with PURPLE buoys. Please avoid these areas to minimize SSW spread. SSW is also in Wawasee and Tippy. A complete survey was again done in July of 2023 and Aquatic Weed Control found 2.5 new acres of SSW, bringing the total to 11.75 acres for the chain. Irish Area 2 is new and Area 8 on Sechrist is expanded. The most current 2025 SSW location map is here. A complete survey was done in August 2025 with minimal expansion. That is good news. BLPOA paid to have it treated in 2020 and 2021. In 2021 BLPOA and Aquatic Weed Control submitted a plan to IDNR to treat SSW and were successful in acquiring a Lake and River Enhancement (LARE) grant from IDNR. This grant cut our treatment costs over $9,500. Eventually, the entire cost of the treatment will fall to us. It is imperative that we slow the spread of Starry Stonewort as much as possible. In order to preserve our lakes we must aggressively treat Starry Stonewort and keep our watercraft and lake activities away from areas with SSW. It will take everyone's cooperation. You can do your part by physically removing all fragments from your boat and cleaning it thoroughly. You can also help by educating your family, friends and neighbors about SSW. Starry Stonewort has four to six long branches growing around each stem, and it can reach over 7ft. tall in water more than 30ft. deep. It forms a dense, pillow-like mats along the bottoms of still, alkaline ponds and lakes as shown in the picture below. For more information you can google Starry Stonewort 
Events:Pancake & Sausage Breakfast
All you can eat Pancake and Sausage Breakfast. BLPOA is teaming with Wake N' Lake. Everyone is welcome. Saturday, June 14th at Wake N' Lake from 8AM till 10:30AM. Cost is free will donation. All proceeds will go to the BLPOA for Aquatic Weed Control Program. C'ya there with your family and friends.
Hot Dog Boat
The Hotdog Boat is back! Saturday July 5th from 11:30 till 2:30pm or till the hotdogs and brats run out. Located on the channel between Big and Little Barbee. Look for the BLPOA pontoon. Hope to see you there!
Sixth Annual "Lighted Boat" Parade - 2025
Parade Dates: August 30th-Kuhn and Big Barbee, Saturday, August 31st - Little Barbee, Irish, Sechrist, Sawmill. Parade Marshall for 2025 parades - Lisa Plumb. Questions can be emailed to Lisa at LPlumb08@aol.com or text her at 1 (574) 360-5045.Her contact information will also be on the BLPOA Facebook page, BLPOA website and in the Barbee Chain of Lakes Directory 2025.
This year’s theme will be “Your Favorite Disney Characters”. Participants can choose their favorite and how they want to decorate their pontoon or boat. Parades will start at dusk, be sure to register before the parade. There will be a $100 Grand Prize for the best decorated boat/pontoon in each parade. To enter the contest register with Lisa. A picture of your pontoon and crew be ready and show you energy! Pictures will be posted on the BLPOA FB page. The number of likes for each participant will be counted. The pontoon with the most “likes” will be the winner. One winner each parade. You are encouraged to participate both nights but you can only win once. The Kuhn, Big Barbee parade lineup will be on the north end of Kuhn Lake past the old Christian camp. Don’t forget to check-in at the parade leader’s pontoon. Lineup for the Little Barbee, Irish, Sawmill and Sechrist parade will be on Little Barbee this year near the south end. Parade participants and observers out on the lake must stay well away from all buoys to avoid all SSW areas. Again, if you would like to be in the running for the 1st place prize register with Lisa Plumb before the parade starts. |
Some 2021 Lighted Boat Parade Pics....Wow to the Participants!
Some of the participants from the west side of the Barbee Chain. Taken on Irish
2019 Lighted Boat Parade Pics
Some of the participant boat pics include:
2018 Flotilla Pics
The 'Disney' theme Flotilla pictures of some of the entries are below.
Big Rain (5/31/2013) Makes Muddy Barbee Chain
A steep, large, tilled field with minimal vegetative buffer is easily compromised by the rain and crosses the road (left, top). The sediment flows into a large wetland on the southwest side of Irish (center, top). Water in this wetland is normally clear and you can usually see the bottom. After the rain the clarity in the wetland was about an inch as indicated on the kayak paddle (right, top). The muddy water quickly filled the large wetland (left, bottom) and, along with several other sediment sources, caused a muddy streak through Irish Lake and Sawmill (center, bottom) on the way to Lake Tippecanoe.
