Lake Management Planning for the Winnebago Lakes:
The goal of the lake management planning project is to coordinate with stakeholders and project partners to develop a framework for cooperation throughout the region to improve upon existing programs and efforts that aim to restore or protect the health of the Winnebago Lakes. Over the course of 2017, we hit several major project milestones and look forward to continued project progress in 2018.
2017 Project Highlights:
- Kicked off Lake Management Planning in early 2017
- Defined the project area and created a project map
- Developed the project framework
- Formed numerous project partnerships
- Formed four of the project Technical Teams:
- Aquatic Invasive Species & Plant Management
- Habitat, Fish, & Wildlife
- Recreational Lake Use, Access, and Navigation
- Water Quality
- Held six well attended public events
- Winnebago Waterways Celebration
- Three public meetings about lake management planning
- Two public information sessions on water level management
- Established an online presence:
- Created the project website: winnebagowaterways.org
- Developed and distributed a monthly Winnebago Waterways e-newsletter
- Created and maintained Winnebago Waterways Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr pages
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The bullet point list provided above shows just some of the work that was completed in 2017 and is not an exhaustive list of all the project accomplishments. That being said, we have more planned for 2018.
Goals for 2018:
- Continue moving existing Technical Teams forward
- Aquatic Invasive Species & Aquatic Plant Management
- Habitat, Fish, & Wildlife
- Recreational Lake Use, Access, & Navigation
- Water Quality
- Form additional Technical Teams
- Watershed Management
- Shoreline Practices
- Outreach & Education
- Finalize Steering Committee structure (bring on three members-at-large)
- Form Focus Groups (late fall or winter)
- Conduct aquatic vegetation surveys of all four lakes (pending grant funding)
- Submergent and emergent vegetation
- Draft substantial portions Lake Management Plan (to be completed in 2019)
- Continued public outreach and engagement
- Develop and distribute surveys to collect public input:
- Recreation surveys
- Shoreline property owner survey
- Organizational capacity survey
We want to thank the Steering Committee, the Winnebago Waterways Committee, and all of the project Technical Teams for your time and effort over the past year. Together we have already accomplished quite a bit and we look forward to working with you all in 2018 to continue to advance lake management planning.
Questions or suggestions about lake management planning? Please contact Korin Doering, Winnebago Waterways Program Coordinator at (920) 851-0948 or korin@fwwa.org.
Follow the Fox Wolf Watershed Alliance’s Winnebago Waterways Program on our Winnebago Waterways Facebook Page or @WinnWaterways on Twitter! You can also sign-up for email updates at WinnebagoWaterways.org.
