A public inland lake protection and rehabilitation district is a special unit of government designed to deal with lake management issues. It is not a general purpose unit of government like a town or county that must deal with a broad range of issues ranging from fire protection to road repairs. A lake district is empowered to operate on its own initiative, independent of its creating entity and the state, but subject to local ordinances and state law. Lake districts can act in concert with other municipalities to undertake lake protection and rehabilitation projects.