The goal of the Lake Management Planning project is to develop a regional framework for cooperation to restore and protect the health of the Winnebago Lakes. This includes facilitating communication among stakeholders (such as residents and lake users) and multiple agencies to advance regional efforts that address topics such as: water quality, habitat, recreation, and aquatic invasive species among others. This monthly article provides a summary of project progress as we work to complete the lake management plan (LMP) and move toward implementation of management and project recommendations.
Technical Team Progress:
Water Quality Tech Team
A sub-group of the WQ Tech Team met in August and September to work on the comprehensive water quality monitoring plan that will be a recommendation in the lake management plan. A comprehensive WQ monitoring plan is important component of a lake management plan. Fully implemented, monitoring enables us to track water quality progress over time, and hopefully one day be able to de-list the lakes from the EPA’s impaired list.
Our goal is to recommend a monitoring plan that will be consistent with other efforts in the system, including the Upper Fox and Wolf TMDL. This will allow effective coordination between programs, prevent duplicating efforts and would maximize the use of available resources. The recommendation will list potential sources of funding and it will include a citizen monitoring component. Citizen monitoring helps get more boots on the ground, builds awareness of water related issues, and promotes a sense of ownership in people who volunteer.
Illnesses related to blue-green algae exposure are now required to be reported to the WI Department of Public Health. Given the seriousness of harmful algal blooms as a public health concern and the severity of blooms on the lakes, we feel it is important to address this issue in the lake management plan. We are exploring ways we can incorporate cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) monitoring and real-time reporting. Clean Lakes Alliance has a successful program – it’s a network of volunteers who report sightings of cyanobacteria. The information is then made available online and on a phone app so that people who plan to use the lakes know where and when to avoid the water. We plan to reach out to them to learn more about their efforts and potentially model a management recommendation off of their program.
The WQ Tech Team will meet as a full group once the subgroup has a draft WQ monitoring plan ready for their review.
Aquatic Plant Management Tech Team
Submergent aquatic plants: For the first time ever, aquatic plant surveys of all four lakes were completed over the summer by two subcontractors: Cason and Associates and Wisconsin Lake and Pond Resource. They sampled ~3,874 points. The results of the survey will be included in the lake management plan and used as a baseline for monitoring future progress.
Learn more about those efforts HERE.
Emergent aquatic plants: The WDNR, with assistance from Winnebago County, is in the process of finishing up their mapping of emergent plant beds in all four of the Winnebago Lakes. Given the size of the system and limitations of boat access in some of the higher quality and denser plant beds, Winnebago County has been mapping some of the beds by drone. Stay tuned for more information about this cool method for data collection! Similar to the submergent plant surveys, the results of the emergent survey will be included in the lake management plan and used as a baseline for monitoring future progress.
Habitat Tech Team
We began working on wetlands by using the ‘potentially restorable wetlands’ GIS layer available through the WDNR. We plan to use that layer in combination with existing wetlands locations and land use/cover to try to identify areas where wetlands currently exist and where there is potential for restoration. Once we have that information, we can then begin to develop goals and management recommendations for wetland habitat for the lake management plan.
For in-lake habitat, we will use results from the aquatic plant survey, emergent mapping, and woody debris inventory along with locations of existing and planned projects to identify and prioritize project types and locations. For shoreline habitat, we will use results from shoreline inventory along with other GIS layers (land use/cover, etc.) to develop goals for increasing the amount of shoreline habitat around the lakes.
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Historic Shoreline Map Viewer – developed by Winnebago County. Click the image to view.
Shoreline Practices Tech Team
Shoreline property owners survey: During the month of August, we sent over 1000 shoreline property owners an invitation to participate in an online survey to gain a better understanding of what they currently do and what they would be willing to do on their property to reduce runoff and protect the shoreline from erosion. We have received 348 responses so far, not including hard copy requests! Two reminders were mailed to people who had not yet chosen to participate. The survey will close on October 15th. We will use the results to help us develop management recommendation for the lake management plan.
Shoreline inventory: In 2014, Calumet, Winnebago and Waushara Counties had a shoreline inventory completed for shoreline that falls within in their respective counties (click here to learn more). To have a complete picture of the lakeshore for all four lakes, we conduct a shoreline inventory of the Fond du La County shoreline in Lake Winnebago. This was a collaborative effort among Fond du Lac County, Winnebago County, the Lake Winnebago Quality Improvement Association, and Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance. During the inventory, we took over 1,346 photos along ~21 miles of shoreline. In addition to the photographic record of the shoreline,we assessed severity of erosion and recorded locations of woody debris, culverts, and vegetated buffers on developed sites. The data will be used to develop goals and management recommendations for the lake management plan and will serve as a baseline to assess future progress. Data and photos will also be added to Winnebago County’s online Historic Shoreline Viewer.
Learn more about the shoreline inventory HERE.
Recreation Tech Team
Boaters and silent sport enthusiasts will have an opportunity to provide input on topics such as use, access, and navigation through an online survey that will be available beginning in October. Responses to those questions will help inform the LMP process. We will mail hard copies by request. We would like to get as many boaters to provide their responses to the questions as possible. If you have recommendations for contacts of boating organizations that we can reach out to, please contact Austin at austin@fwwa.org.
Aquatic Invasive Species Tech Team
During a busy field season, AIS Coordinator Chris spent over 70 hours monitoring for invasive species on the lakes. This work ties directly into the AIS Strategic Plan as progress continues to be made. A draft version of the AIS strategic plan should be ready for the tech team to review this fall. For more information, contact Chris Acy at chris@fwwa.org.
Watershed Management Tech Team
The Upper Fox Wolf TMDL report was made available by WDNR in draft form in July (learn more). We recently expanded the Lake Management Planning project area to match the TMDL’s Winnebago Region. This means we added several subwatersheds to our project area bringing us to approximately 30 HUC12s. The Watershed Management Technical Team will be using information from the TMDL study to set land conservation recommendations that, when implemented, will work towards meeting water quality criteria in the lakes. Those results will be used to develop 9 Key Element Plans for ~30 subwatersheds around the Winnebago Lakes (HUC 12s).
As we work to develop recommendations for watershed management we feel it is important to build relationships with people who work on and care for the land. Learn more about conservation practices in the region and our interactions with some of those people HERE.
Community Engagement
We will begin distributing the the organization questionnaire during the month of October. The goal of the questionnaire is to gain a better understanding of the interest and capacity of organizations/clubs from around the Winnebago Lakes to implement management recommendations outlined in the LMP. We will use that information to create a matrix that can be quickly referenced by people interested in partnering with other organizations on implementation projects. Once we have an approved lake management plan for the Winnebago Lakes, qualified organizations and clubs will be able to apply for funding to tackle issues or projects listed in the LMP.
We have two public Information and Engagement session being planned for this fall. Check back soon for more details or email Austin at austin@fwwa.org.
Water Level Management
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regulates water levels in Lake Winnebago and its outflow to the Lower Fox River at the Menasha and Neenah dams. They are mandated by the Federal government under a Marshall Order to maintain Lake Winnebago at or below flood stage to reduce downstream flooding during spring snowmelt and heavy rains (3.45 feet Oshkosh Datum). After the threat of spring flooding has passed, the lake level is gradually raised during the spring season to its summer target (3 ft) for navigation and recreational boating (info was taken directly from the US ACOE Lake Winnebago Factbook).
While the Army Corps has taken steps in recent years to better manage water levels for aquatic plants and habitat, there is a growing group of diverse stakeholders who think water level management could be slightly altered within the Army Corps mandated operating thresholds to see marked improvement in lake water quality without substantially compromising navigation during boating season. The basic idea is that if we see slightly lower water levels in the spring, aquatic plants have a better chance of growing tall enough to be able to handle peak summer water levels. This means the lakes would have more plants to stabilize the sediments. Those plants would also take up more nutrients leaving less available nutrients for algae. Simply put, more plants equals less algae and better water quality.
We are in the process of, with assistance from stakeholders knowledgeable in this topic, reviewing relevant data and plan to draft management recommendations as part of the lake management planning process. Preliminary recommendations will include four scenarios: bare minimum, good, better, and best. Once we have those preliminary recommendations drafted, we will work with other lake users and interest groups to incorporate their needs and suggestions.
The Army Corps holds an annual regulation meeting that is open to the public. During that meeting, they listen to comments from the public about water level management. This year, the meeting will likely be held during the second week in October. CLICK HERE for details about that meeting.
Project Outreach and Engagement
We attended several events and meetings to promote lake management planning throughout the month of August. Some highlights from our staff were:
- 9/6/2018: Waushara County Field Day (County & NRCS) – talked with farmer at length about farming and about the lake management plan.
- 9/13/2018: Gave AIS presentation to Outagamie Conservation Club Hunter Safety Class (over 50 new hunters).
- 9/18-9/19: AIS education at Outagamie County Conservation Field Days to over 200 5th and 6th graders.
Our online presence through our project webpages, e-newsletter, and social media continues to grow. We invite you to follow us on Facebook or Twitter!
Sign up for our monthly e-newsletter HERE.
Winnebago Waterways Steering Committee
The Steering Committee held their latest meeting on September 21st in Fond du Lac. CLICK HERE for meeting information and notes.
The next Steering Committee meeting will be a conference call on October 12th from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm. Meetings are open to the public. For a meeting agenda, please contact Korin Doering at korin@fwwa.org or (920) 851-0948 or check our website closer to the meeting date.
Winnebago Waterways Executive Committee
The most recent Winnebago Waterways Executive Committee meeting was held on September 21st, 2018 at 9:30am in the Fond du Lac City/County Government Center. Contact Korin Doering at korin@fwwa.org or (920) 851-0948 for additional details.
Questions? Contact Korin Doering, Winnebago Waterways Program Coordinator, at (920) 851-0948 or korin@fwwa.org.
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 Facebook pageor @WinnWaterways on Twitter! You can also sign-up for email updates at WinnebagoWaterways.org.
