The Winnebago Waterways team recently partnered with Fond du Lac County, Winnebago County, and the Lake Winnebago Quality Improvement Association (LWQIA) to assess approximately 21 miles of FDL County’s Lake Winnebago shoreline. The purpose of the shoreline inventory was to take a photographic record of the entire shoreline and collect spatial data and information on the condition of FDL County’s shoreline. This included the location and severity of eroding shoreline, the location and size of culverts, the location of inlets, locations of coarse woody debris, and the location and size of vegetated shoreline buffers.
Additionally, the entire shoreline was photographed using a GPS enabled camera. This will help assess shoreline erosion without getting back out on the water, and will provide a baseline for evaluating changes in shoreline erosion levels. The data and information collected will help the county identify and prioritize potential shoreline restoration projects. Additionally, the shoreline imagery will be uploaded to Winnebago County’s online Historic Shoreline Map Viewer (view here).
We now have an accurate and complete picture of shoreline condition for the entire Winnebago System, as Winnebago, Waushara, and Calumet County had previously completed inventories for their shorelines in 2014. The FDL County shoreline seemed to be in decent shape. Despite lacking habitat, no areas were marked as “severe” and most of the shoreline had some form of protection, whether that be rock rip-rap or vegetative buffer.
The Lake Management Plan will use shoreline inventory data to recommend shoreline improvements and determine what, if any, educational campaigns regarding shoreline practices the system would benefit from.
A shoreline protected by rock and a vegetated buffer of grasses and forbs.
A natural shoreline protected by vegetation, rock, and woody debris.
An unprotected and mildly eroding shoreline.
The Winnebago Waterway’s Program thanks the LWQIA for helping us secure a boat to use, FDL County for their time on the boat, and Winnebago/Calumet County for technical assistance. We couldn’t have got it done without our project partners!
Winnebago Waterways is a Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance program. The Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance is an independent nonprofit organization that identifies and advocates effective policies and actions that protect, restore, and sustain water resources in the Fox-Wolf River Basin.
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.
This article was written by Austin Pethan for the Winnebago Waterways Program. Questions or comments? Contact Austin at austin@fwwa.org or (920) 920-851-4295.
