Once upon a lake...Reflections on the Wisconsin Lakes Partnership

Over thirty percent of the lakes in Wisconsin are shallow water lakes. Within the last decade, Wisconsin citizens have grown to better understand the unique challenges of managing shallow lake ecosystems. This success, a seed planted by our lake partnership, will grow stronger and bear fruit into the next millennium. The "Shallow Lake Initiative" a funded program that supports aquatic plant habitat and water quality restoration, is a good example of this.

And in Manitowoc County ...

... the results were a bit surprising. Through a study made possible with a lake planning grant, it was discovered that 70 percent of the phosphorus coming into English Lake was entering from the east side of this agriculture dominated watershed. The English Lake Advancement Association rallied around a plan to achieve the greatest reduction in phosphorus loading possible. The Manitowoc County Soil and Water Conservation Department along with the consulting firm, Northern Ecological Services (Green Bay), designed a wetland/retention basin to slowdown runoff and settle out solids and nutrients that would otherwise enter the lake. The basin will be put in place in the spring of 1998.

From the Upper St Croix/Eau Claire Watershed...

9:30 a.m. The 1997 Watershed Education Series co-sponsored by the Upper St. Croix Lake Association and the St. Croix (Gordon) Flowage Association is beginning... This Monday morning talk was just one of a sequence of presentations on various lake and watershed related topics, from protecting habitat around the home and yard to discussions on lake ecology and exotic species. This educational event would draw expertise from several agencies and organizations such as the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, UW-Extension and the National Park Service. The Upper St. (Croix Lake Association is now participating in the drafting of a local watershed plan with a significant emphasis on education and outreach.

..to Lake Redstone.

The Lake Redstone Protection and Rehabilitation District in Sauk County was considering spending 1 million dollars to construct wetlands to remove phosphorus and sediment. Instead, the District used three lake planning grants to reevaluate nutrient loadings and possible land use changes. Information gathered during the study showed that attrition from farming and changes in watershed practices had resulted in nutrient load reductions that actually met the goals of the nonpoint program. Through the process, the District built up rapport with watershed farmers. Efforts to further reduce nutrient loads through the use of roof drains, grassed waterways and other low-cost, yet effective alternatives are underway. Thus $46,000 in lake planning grants provided a great deal of direction and savings to the District.

Cheers to the Youth and Citizen Volunteers!!

Visualize a clear lake in northern Wisconsin... Scattered about the wooded shoreline are two dozen elementary and middle school students, secchi disks, bottles and nets in hand. These are North Lakeland Elementary School students from Vilas County collecting data on four "adopted" lakes in one of the most freshwater-rich regions of the world. Their kind of energy can bring a community together, and in this case it did. The task at hand was to survey the lake shoreline, learn about the lake's special features and collect and identify macroinvertebrates. Local lake associations provided pontoon boats and local resorts provided access to the lakes. The DNR supplied secchi disks and reference materials. UW-Extension and University of Wisconsin Trout Lake Research Station lake specialists helped the students understand the various aspects of lake ecology and management. Similar Adopt-A-Lake projects are taking place statewide as youth and adults collaborate to protect Wisconsin lakes.

One Saturday morning Tom Arnison maneuvered his boat out to the usual spot on Paddock Lake in Kenosha County... Tom is one of more than 700 self-help volunteers in the state of Wisconsin monitoring their lakes for water clarity and water chemistry. The volunteers at Paddock Lake, which include Mary Ann Bilski, Gerry Glass and Carol Olson, have also started to monitor for zebra mussels. Luckily, none have been found yet. In 1981, the Paddock Lake Protection and Rehabilitation District, formed in 1974, began an aquatic plant harvesting program to address an infestation of Eurasian watermilfoil so severe that use of half of the lake was restricted. The District used a grant from the Wisconsin Waterways Commission to purchase a new harvester and a lake planning grant to develop an aquatic plant management program.

Self-Help Lake Monitoring

Self-Help Lake Monitoring is a great example of teamwork between people concerned about Wisconsin lakes. Volunteers, trained and given the tools to collect data, learn more about their lakes while helping to build a quality information base on a large number of lakes. In 1996, the water clarity and chemistry volunteers spent 5,700 hours collecting and processing lake water samples for analysis. At a modest value of $7/hour, these stewards donated $40,000 toward the protection and management of our lakes. The Self-Help and Adopt-A-Lake programs work in partnership to provide youth. and their teachers with monitoring opportunities as well. Monitoring a lake provides students with "real world" experience as their data are used in lake management decisions at the local, state and federal levels.

Lake Research

Funding for lake research and demonstration projects has long been a part of the DNR's Lake Management annual budget. Most of the projects were targeted towards solving unwanted rooted aquatic plant and algae problems and many of the projects were suggested by lake managers and the public. One of the most recent studies, "Impact of Motor Boat on Water Quality in Wisconsin Lakes" had strong support from lake property owners. A earlier funded study, "Wisconsin Lake Ecoregion Project," was the basis for a subsequent whole lake aeration demonstration project to control algal blooms in Cedar Lake (Polk County). Several other projects included: hypolimnetic withdrawal and treatment for phosphorus control at Devil's Lake (Sauk Co.); aquatic plant control by alum injection into lake sediments; and ecological assessment of a deep cut mechanical harvesting project.

Green Lake Chronicles

There is never a dull moment at Big Green Lake in Green Lake County ... A few years ago, the Green Lake Preservation Society spear-headed an effort to control pyramid development on shorelands. Pyramid development occurs when water access is provided through a single lot for several backlot owners. An amendment to the county zoning ordinance now requires that shore access lots for new pyramids be zoned "recreational." Such a request requires a public hearing and approval by the county board, thus giving additional oversight to the rezoning process. The Society is heavily involved in local planning issues with members regularly appearing at hearings, circulating petitions and contributing articles to the local newspaper. The members have been referred to as "those people who write letters." The Green Lake Sanitary District has received two lake planning grants to track nutrient loading and model the impact of different development scenarios on lake water quality. This effort is part of an initiative to prepare a comprehensive management plan for Big Green Lake and the surrounding watershed.

Lake Protection Grants

Lake Protection Grants have assisted in the purchase of approximately 2500 acres of land statewide, critical to the protection of lakes and lake ecosystems. Many of these areas are undeveloped wild shores and whole lakes. Chippewa County purchased 3 small wild lakes at one time, thus helping advance the objectives of the Northern Initiatives Shoreland Protection Program.

Why Not a Weevil?

They arrived one rainy afternoon, all 29,000 of them, at Gilbert Lake in Waushara county, Gilbert Lake is one of 12 lakes in the state participating in the Wisconsin Milfoil Weevil Study, a project conducted by the Wisconsin Cooperative Fishery Research Unit at the UW-Stevens Point in cooperation with the Wisconsin DNR. The milfoil weevil is an aquatic insect which feeds on specific parts of the milfoil plant and lays its eggs on the growing tip. There are two main objectives to the study. One goal is to determine the distribution of weevils in the lakes of Wisconsin while learning more about their life-histories. The other objective is to determine the efficacy of using weevils to control Eurasian watermilfoil. The 12 participating lakes were stocked With weevils during the summer of 1997; the lakes will be monitored in the summer of 1998 to assess the impact of weevils on milfoil abundance.

Aquatic Plant Management

The variety of tools used in the control of aquatic plants has steadily evolved over the past few decades. The heavy use of chemical treatments in the 1940s is slowly giving way to the development of aquatic plant management and protection plans in the 1990s. That aquatic plant issues are no longer couched in terms of "aquatic nuisance control" but rather "aquatic plant management and protection" shows that there is a trend towards recognizing the role of plants in providing habitat and food for fish and wildlife. The need to manage systems more holistically is slowly gaining greater acceptance.

Of Nesting Loons and Sensitive Areas

Round Lake in Chippewa County, 216 acres in size with an average depth of 1O feet, is known by the locals as a great place for fishing, boating, water-skiing and swimming. Lake residents became concerned about the potential impact of these recreational uses on the rare plants and nesting loons on the western and southern shorelines. With the assistance of the DNR and town board, the Round Lake Management District succeeded in creating a slow no wake zone around these sensitive areas. The DNR and other groups provided funds for the cost of buoys and signs. The issue of user conflicts is temporarily, at least, forestalled.

We would like to thank the Cable Natural History Museum for giving us permission to use the title of its latest exhibit, "Once Upon A Lake," for our publication. The exhibit runs through April 1998.