The Barbee Lakes chain is composed of seven interconnected, natural lakes situated west of North Webster, Indiana. The lakes include Kuhn, Big Barbee, Little Barbee, Irish, Banning, Sawmill and Sechrist. They are interconnected by Grassy Creek which extends upstream from the chain to Ridinger Lake and downstream to Lake Tippecanoe. The lakes’ watershed stretches southeast into Whitley County, encompassing approximately 33,150 acres or 52 square miles.

The Barbee Lakes and their watershed formed during the most recent glacial retreat of the Pleistocene era. In Whitley and Kosciusko counties, the receding glacier left a nearly level topography dotted with a network of lakes, wetlands and drainages. If you want to find out what the chain looked like in 1900, check this out.

The Barbee Lakes Property Owner's Association (BLPOA) is a group of property owners and visitors that work to coordinate efforts to sustain the lakes as we know them.

Concerned about our lakes? Check out http://www.in.gov/idem/programs/water/video/index.html 

For several months, members of the Barbee Lakes Property Owners Association have been working to create a foundation that would be totally committed to enhancement of the Barbee Chain of Lakes. The primary purpose of creating the foundation is so Barbee Lake area residents can made tax deductible gifts for the enhancement of their chain-of-lakes water system. For more information on this foundation refer to the Treasurer's Corner.

To display water levels in our area the closest USGS guages are at north webster and oswego.

When traveling on the from Little Barbee to the channel leading to Big Barbee stay to the right of the island when coming into Little Barbee as you have in the past. This picture shows the island leading into the channelo Little Barbee from the channel.

 

So when passing through this area just stay right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DNR's Lake care top 10

10) Understand that our health and quality of life depend on clean water and diverse fish and wildlife resources.
9) Work with your neighbors to plan a lakewide aquatic vegetation management strategy, rather than each homeowner doing his or her own thing.
8) Pay your annual boat registration fees. All of the money is used to improve public waters for recreation, habitat and water quality.
7) Use no-phosphorus fertilizer for your lakefront lot, and only when necessary. You want a green lawn, not a green lake.
6) Plant a strip of native wildflowers, grasses or shrubs at your lakefront property along the water’s edge to provide a filter for runoff, control erosion and to discourage unwanted numbers of Canada geese.
5) Know the boundaries of your watershed and the effects of various land uses on water quality.
4) Maintain natural shoreline and aquatic plants to provide habitat and guard against erosion, instead of a concrete seawall.
3) Properly compost grass clippings and leaves away from the water.
2) Never dump plants, fish or water from a bait bucket, live well, water garden or an aquarium into a lake or stream. Remove “hitchhiking” plants from boat trailers when leaving a lake.
1) Protect our water resources by getting involved with your local lake association or watershed group.

 

Water clarity directly relates to home prices so these lake care recommendations are key. For more info please read me.

 

Keep current on the Barbee lakes activities and issues.

 

We will attempt to keep you as current as possible with this website. It will complement the newsletter which we publish several times/year. 

We will also have monthly meetings at the North Webster Community Center on the third Saturday of the month starting March thru October. 

 

To contact the BLPOA we are providing a mail address and a 'contact us' email for your convenience. 

BLPOA

PO Box 175

North Webster, IN

                                                                  

North Webster, IN Updated Monday, July 06, 2009 5:05 PM Clear 82°F High: 84°F Low: 55°F Wind: 13 mph Humidity: 28% MSN Weather Data provided by WDT