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
During the month of November, the Water Level Team met twice to draft recommendations for the water level topic of the lake management plan. The Army Corps was present at those meetings to provide input and feedback. We greatly appreciate their participation as we work to draft recommendations that are feasible and take the needs of a variety of system users into consideration. We also want the recommendations to fit within the Army Corps Marshall Order requirements and capacity of their infrastructure. The Army Corps then plans to post the recommendations for public comment and will likely hold a public meeting in January. Recommendations that are shared with the Army Corps and will also be included in the lake management plan.
We will have more information to share soon, so stay tuned!
Water Quality Tech Team
A sub-group of the WQ Tech Team met in November to work on the comprehensive water quality monitoring plan that will be a recommendation in the lake management plan. We’ve made good progress and plan to have a draft to send to the full Water Quality Tech Team soon.
Click the image to view flyer
Shoreline Practices Tech Team
While reviewing the results of the Shoreline Property Owners Survey, we realized Lake Butte des Morts was left out of the original pool of randomly selected addresses. To remedy the situation, we are sending surveys to 250 randomly selected Lake Butte des Morts property owners. Just like we did with the other lakes, we will send three rounds of mailings to those addresses: (1) initial contact and invitation; (2) reminder notice; (3) final reminder. The first mailing was sent out earlier this month. So far, we have received 42 responses of the 250 invitations. The reminder notice will be sent today, November 30, 2018. To date, we have received 485 responses our of 1250 invitations sent to property owners around the four lakes. We look forward to analyzing the results in January!
Student from UW-Superior have been working 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
In October, 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. During the month of November, we continued to promote the survey through press releases, newsletter articles, email lists of various organizations, and on social media. Hard copy versions are available by request. We’ve received 324 responses so far!
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, has been drafting the AIS Strategic Plan for the Winnebago Lakes. For more information, contact Chris Acy at chris@fwwa.org.
Watershed Management Tech Team
This month, project staff collected and began analyzing background information.
Community Engagement
During the month of November, we continued to distribute the organization questionnaire. 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 held the first Winnebago on Tap session on November 29th. The next session is scheduled for December 6th. Kendall Kamke will share his knowledge of the Winnebago System including lake science. Click here for details.
The first round of invites were sent to prospective Community Engagement Tech Team members. Check back for more information in next month’s update.
Aquatic Plant Management Tech Team
Aquatic plant management planning was put on hold as we wait for results from the aquatic plant survey and emergent mapping efforts.
Habitat Tech Team
We have a meeting scheduled with DNR mussel experts in December.
Project Outreach and Engagement
Our online presence through our project webpages, e-newsletter, and social media continues to grow. We are up to 460 Facebook followers!
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 at the J.P. Coughlin Center on November 9th from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm. CLICK HERE for meeting information and notes.
The next Steering Committee meeting will be held as a conference call 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.
