Volunteers Identify Aquatic Invasive Species For Snapshot Day 2021

Local Citizens Protect Their Lakes, Search for Aquatic Invasive Species

On August 21st, the Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance teamed up with partners across the states of Wisconsin and Minnesota for the sixth annual Aquatic Invasive Species Snapshot Day! All around the two states, citizens came together to search, gather, and report findings of invasive species that can cause problems in our lakes and rivers. At the site coordinated by Fox-Wolf, four volunteers were trained on how to identify and sample for aquatic invasive species before monitoring at lakes throughout southeast Fond du Lac County.

In Fond du Lac County, seven sites were monitored during Snapshot Day. Six of those sites were lakes (Auburn, Kettle Moraine, Forest, Mauthe, Long, and Crooked) and one site was a river (East Branch of the Milwaukee River at Dundee Mill Park).

At several lakes, no new invasive species were found. Populations of  aquatic invasive species (AIS) that were already known to be in those lakes were found during sampling. At Long Lake, Zebra mussels and Chinese mystery snails were found in addition to several native plants including Clasping leaf pondweed and Green bullrush. Mauthe Lake and Crooked Lake had large areas of Eurasian watermilfoil near the boat launches. At Auburn Lake, no invasive species were found but a population of native Arrowhead plants were seen.

At the other lakes and in the East Branch of the Milwaukee River, new invasive species populations were discovered. A few plants of Purple loosestrife were discovered and recorded for the first time at Kettle Moraine Lake (in addition to previously known Eurasian watermilfoil). The first finding of Banded mystery snails were seen in Forest Lake this year. And at the East Branch of the Milwaukee River, several previously unknown populations of Purple loosestrife, Chinese mystery snails, Eurasian watermilfoil, and Curly leaf pondweed were reported. A previously seen population of rusty crayfish was also found in the river. In all of these locations however, there were numerous native plants such as Common blatterwort and Northern watermilfoil that were thriving. So while the efforts of AIS Snapshot Day 2021 found new populations of invasive species in Fond du Lac County, none of the findings were the only plants or animals found while sampling.

These findings during AIS Snapshot Day 2021 will be reported to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Additional followup monitoring to determine if management action is needed will occur in the future.

THANK YOU to all of our amazing volunteers as well as Culver’s for their

generous donation to keep volunteers fueled!

This event would not have been a success without you!