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 Level Management
At the end of September and the beginning of October, we worked with an ad hoc group to draft preliminary recommendations to slightly alter the Army Corps water level strategy in the interest of water quality. On October 10th, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers held their annual fall regulations meeting to provide stakeholders an opportunity to give input on their 2018-2019 water level strategy. During that meeting, we presented our preliminary recommendations and invited the Army Corps and other stakeholders to work with us to refine those recommendations. At the close of their fall meeting, the Army Corps chose to hold off on making a decision about the 2018-2019 strategy to give people more time for discussion. We have since been working to collect input from a variety of stakeholders about water level management, including boating groups, marinas, property owners, agriculture, etc. A work group is scheduled to meet at the beginning of November to review the collected input and draft a final version of recommendations for a water level strategy. Those recommendations will be shared with the Army Corps and will be included in the lake management plan.
Water Quality Tech Team
A sub-group of the WQ Tech Team has a meeting scheduled in November to work on the comprehensive water quality monitoring plan that will be a recommendation in the lake management plan. We also have a meeting scheduled with a representative from Swim Guide to see if their app and website tools would be a good fit for the Winnebago System. The app can be used to report and view beach and water quality conditions.
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
The aquatic plant surveys of all four lakes were completed over the summer by Cason and Associates and Wisconsin Lake and Pond Resource. We look forward to their results!
Emergent aquatic plants: The WDNR, with assistance from Winnebago County, completed their mapping of emergent plant beds in all four of the Winnebago Lakes.
Habitat Tech Team
Habitat was put on hold as we worked to advance other lake management topics during the month of October.
Click the image to view flyer
Click the map to download PDF version
Shoreline Practices Tech Team
The shoreline property owners survey closed on October 15th. We received 443 responses out of 1000 survey invitations! The results are currently being reviewed.
We partnered with students from UW-Superior to analyze the results from the shoreline inventories completed in 2014 and 2018. Learn more about the 2018 shoreline erosion inventory HERE.
Recreation Tech Team
We began distributing two online surveys (one for boaters and one for paddlers) to learn about how the Winnebago Lakes can be improved for recreation. Question topics range from boat ramp parking to navigation aids. More information about the survey can be found here. The survey is being promoted through press releases, newsletter articles, email lists of various organizations, and on social media. Hard copy versions are available by request.
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
Our AIS Coordinator, Chris Acy, led a team made up of representatives from the Fox Wolf Watershed Alliance, UW-Steven’s Point, UW-Oshkosh, WI DNR, and citizen volunteers to monitor for the invasive plant, water hyacinth in Lake Winneconne. They found a small population of the plant near Lake Winneconne Park. This is the fourth consecutive year that water hyacinth has been found in this same spot in Lake Winneconne. The team of FWWA staff, partners, and awesome citizen volunteers are actively reducing the risk of water hyacinth in the lake. Chris is incorporating water hyacinth monitoring and targeted outreach into the AIS Strategic Plan for the Winnebago System. Read more about the recent finding here.
For more information, contact Chris Acy at chris@fwwa.org.
Watershed Management Tech Team
This month, project staff met with County Land Conservation Department representatives from Calumet, Fond du Lac, Winnebago and Waushara County to gather all available data on the subwatershed that are being incorporated into the planning effort. Many of the watersheds have been subjects of previous planning efforts. Reports have been gathered and are being analyzed to determined what is known and unknown about the landscape.
We also updated our project map to include the additional HUC12 subwatershed that were recently added to the project area. Click here to view the map.
Community Engagement
We began 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. If you know of an organization that should be included in our efforts, please send their contact information to Korin@fwwa.org.
We will be kicking off our Winnebago on Tap series with two public information and engagement sessions scheduled in November and December. Kendall Kamke will share his knowledge of the Winnebago System including lake science. Click here for details.
The Community Engagement Tech Team will be forming soon. Check back for more information in next month’s update.
Project Outreach and Engagement
We attended several events and meetings to promote lake management planning throughout the month of October. Some highlights from our staff were:
- Exhibited:
- Wisconsin Waterfowl Association’s Hunter’s Bash, 10/08/2018; ~30 contacts
- Habitattitude Pet Surrender Event, 10/13/18; ~102 contacts
- Meetings:
- Army Corps Fall Regulations Meeting, 10/10/2018; ~30 contacts
- Winnebagoland Conservation Alliance Meeting, 10/18/18; ~25 contacts
- Presentations:
- Neenah High School Fishing Club 10/10/2018; ~21 contacts
- Winnebago County Land and Water Conservation Committee Meeting, 10/11/18; ~9 contacts
- UW-Fox Valley Class, 10/29/18; ~21 contacts
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 October 12th as a conference call. CLICK HERE for meeting information and notes.
The next Steering Committee meeting will be held in Oshkosh at the J.P. Coughlin Center on November 9th 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.
