Released Goldfish Grow to Monstrous Size, Destroy Habitat

Original Story: Livia Albeck-Ripka, The New York Times

Inside a fishbowl, the goldfish — a species of carp native to East Asia, bred for aesthetic delight and traditionally believed to bring good fortune — is hardly more than home décor. Usually just a few inches long, it is among the easiest of pets to keep.

But released into the wild, the seemingly humble goldfish, freed from glass boundaries and no longer limited to meager meals of flakes, can grow to monstrous proportions. They can even kill off native marine wildlife and help destroy fragile and economically valuable ecosystems.

“They can eat anything and everything,” said Christine Boston, an aquatic research biologist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Over the past several years, Ms. Boston and her colleagues have been tracking invasive goldfish in Hamilton Harbour, which is on the western tip of Lake Ontario, about 35 miles southwest of Toronto. The bay has been decimated by industrial and urban development as well as by invasive species — making it among the most environmentally degraded areas of the Great Lakes.

Their study, published last month in the Journal of Great Lakes Research, could help pinpoint goldfish populations for culling, said Ms. Boston, who is the lead author. “We found out where they are before they start spawning,” she said. “That’s a good opportunity to get rid of them.”

The fast-growing female goldfish, Ms. Boston noted, can also reproduce several times in one season. “They have the resources,” she added, “and they can take advantage of them.”

Goldfish were first spotted in Hamilton Harbour in the 1960s, but largely died off in the 1970s because of industrial contamination. In the early 2000s, their population appeared to recover. Goldfish can tolerate a wide range of water temperatures, reach sexual maturation quickly, and can eat nearly anything, including algae, aquatic plants, eggs and invertebrates, Ms. Boston said.

The feral goldfish are also destructive, uprooting and consuming plants that are home to native species. They help spawn harmful algal blooms by consuming the algae and expelling nutrients that promote its growth, Ms. Boston said, creating conditions that are intolerable to native fish.

To track the goldfish, the researchers captured and sedated 19 of the larger adults and surgically implanted tags the size of AA batteries into their bellies. The tags, which sent signals to acoustic receivers around the bay, provided researchers with a map of their locations.

Eight of the fish died, but the remaining 11 led Ms. Boston and her colleagues to find that the fish tended to spend the winter in deep waters and moved to shallower habitats by spring, where they prepared to spawn.

Some options for removing the goldfish, she said, include capturing them with specialized nets deployed beneath winter ice, or using “electro fishing,” which involves stunning the fish with an electrical current and scooping them from the water. Both techniques, she added, would avoid killing the native fish.

Nicholas Mandrak, a professor of biological sciences at the University of Toronto Scarborough, said that while goldfish were introduced to North America in the late 1800s, the wild population had begun to “dramatically increase” in the past two decades. Their spawning explosion, he said, resulted partly from people in densely-populated areas releasing pets in urban ponds.

Climate change may play a role, because of the goldfish’s capacity to adapt to warming and poorly oxygenated waters, he added.

“There are literally millions of goldfish in the Great Lakes, if not tens of millions,” Dr. Mandrak said.

Despite the threat, he added, environmental managers tend to forget the goldfish. “They just assume, ‘It’s been there for 150 years — there’s nothing we can do about it.’”

The problem is not unique to Canada. In Australia, a handful of unwanted pet goldfish and their offspring took over a river in the country’s southwest. Feral goldfish have flooded waterways in the United Kingdom, and, in Burnsville, Minn., the discovery of football-size creatures in a lake in 2021 led officials to beg their constituents: “Please don’t release your pet goldfish into ponds and lakes!”

People wrongly believe that because goldfish are “small and cute” they won’t pose a problem when released into the wild, said Dr. Ricciardi. “It’s the ‘Free Willy’ syndrome.”

Goldfish, he added, are just a small part of a vast invasion of non-native species whose outcomes can be unpredictable, and in some cases, are worsened by climate change.

“Under human influence, beasts are moving faster farther in greater numbers, reaching parts of the planet they could never reach before,” he said. “We’re talking about the redistribution of life on Earth.”

Anthony Ricciardi, a professor of invasion ecology at McGill University in Montreal, noted that not all invasive goldfish become supersized, but even the small ones are problematic, outpacing native fish populations and damaging the environment.

Their football-shaped bodies can swell to a size that makes them too large a meal for predators — up to about 16 inches long. “A fish would have to have a really big mouth to eat it,” she said.

Photo Credit: Vincent Tullo (New York Times), Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Great Lakes Laboratory for Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences

Questions? Comments? Contact Chris Acy, the AIS Coordinator covering Brown, Outagamie, Fond du Lac, Calumet, and Winnebago Counties at (920) 460-3674 or chris@fwwa.org!

Follow the Fox Wolf Watershed Alliance’s Winnebago Waterways Program on our Winnebago Waterways Facebook page or @WinnWaterways on X! You can also sign-up for email updates at WinnebagoWaterways.org.

Check out the Keepers of the Fox Program at https://fwwa.org/watershed-recovery/lower-fox-recovery/

Winnebago Waterways and Keepers of the Fox are Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance programs. The Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance is an independent nonprofit organization working to protect and restore water resources in the Fox-Wolf River Basin.

Reporting invasive species is a first step in containing their spread. Maintaining and restoring our waters and landscapes can reduce the impacts even when we don’t have other management options to an invasive species.

The post Once They Were Pets. Now Giant Goldfish Are Menacing the Great Lakes. appeared first on Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance.

Original Article

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance

https://fwwa.org/2024/01/16/once-they-were-pets-now-giant-goldfish-are-menacing-the-great-lakes/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=once-they-were-pets-now-giant-goldfish-are-menacing-the-great-lakes

Chris Acy

Original Story: Water Action Volunteers

On August 19th, 2023, water lovers of all ages gathered for a one-day statewide aquatic invasive species (AIS) scavenger hunt as a part of the 10th annual AIS Snapshot Day. This event is coordinated by UW Extension in partnership with River Alliance, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR), and Extension Lakes. Volunteers met at different local rendezvous sites across the state to learn how to identify AIS such as Eurasian watermilfoil, purple loosestrife, and New Zealand mudsnails, and then searched for them in the field at pre-selected locations.  Initially focused on rivers and streams, Snapshot Day has expanded to include lakes and wetlands. Findings from Snapshot Day are uploaded to the statewide water quality database, SWIMS, where they can be used to track the spread of invasive species and develop management plans.

Every year, Snapshot Day provides a vast amount of AIS data to the WDNR to assist in management decisions, and this year was no exception! 145 participants gathered across 22 meeting locations and monitored 131 sites across 102 different waterbodies in Wisconsin. 48 of those waterbodies had no AIS detected. At 83 sites, volunteers located 15 different AIS species, including purple loosestrife, curly-leaf pondweed, Asian clams/freshwater golden clams (Corbicula), and faucet snails.

Snapshot Day’s community-based science approach maximizes the number of sites being checked across the state, and the free event allows volunteers to learn about their local waters and how to keep them healthy. As one volunteer stated, “I enjoyed the hands on learning approach. It was helpful to have well informed guides and samples of the invasive species to get a close look at. Once we had a good understanding of what to look for, it was fun to go out and collect samples of what we were finding.”

We would like to extend a HUGE thank you to all of the volunteers, partner organizations, and site leaders who made this event possible.

And don’t forget to follow Snapshot Day on Facebook for future updates! https://www.facebook.com/aissnapshotday

Photo Credit: Chris Acy (Fox-Wolf), Emily Heald (Water Action Volunteers)

Questions? Comments? Contact Chris Acy, the AIS Coordinator covering Brown, Outagamie, Fond du Lac, Calumet, and Winnebago Counties at (920) 460-3674 or chris@fwwa.org!

Follow the Fox Wolf Watershed Alliance’s Winnebago Waterways Program on our Winnebago Waterways Facebook page or @WinnWaterways on X! You can also sign-up for email updates at WinnebagoWaterways.org.

Check out the Keepers of the Fox Program at https://fwwa.org/watershed-recovery/lower-fox-recovery/

Winnebago Waterways and Keepers of the Fox are Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance programs. The Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance is an independent nonprofit organization working to protect and restore water resources in the Fox-Wolf River Basin.

Reporting invasive species is a first step in containing their spread. Maintaining and restoring our waters and landscapes can reduce the impacts even when we don’t have other management options to an invasive species.

The post AIS Snapshot Day 2023; 115 volunteers Search 102 Different Waterbodies appeared first on Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance.

Original Article

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance

https://fwwa.org/2023/09/25/ais-snapshot-day-2023-115-volunteers-search-102-different-waterbodies/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ais-snapshot-day-2023-115-volunteers-search-102-different-waterbodies

Chris Acy

Original Story: J&R Aquatic Animal Rescue

Eight animals were turned in at an exotic pet surrender event at the Barkhausen Waterfowl Preserve in Brown County on Sunday September 24th. Included in the surrenders were fish and two yellow bellied sliders!

Area organizations were on hand accepting fish, invertebrates, reptiles, pet birds, small mammals, and plants — no questions asked.

In some areas, there are no rehoming options for exotic animals such as fish, birds, and reptiles. Some pet owners that are unable to care for their pet may think that releasing the animal is the right thing to do, however, releasing a pet is harmful for the animal and the environment. Pet Surrender events are now being held across Wisconsin help provide an avenue to pet owners to rehome pets without harming the pet or the environment.

There are multiple places that are currently tackling issues from illegally released domestic and exotic animals. The most well known example are the Burmese pythons that have had an enormous impact on the Everglades in Florida. However, multiple cases of released pets causing problems in our waters occur every year including an alligator found in Long Lake in Summer 2022! Released pets can easily become nuisance or invasive species if they start a breeding population.

The Pet Surrender event brought together a collection of area rehoming partners that provide responsible alternatives to release for exotic pet owners who are no longer able to care for their pets. J&R Aquatic Animal Rescue (JRAAR) hosted the October 30th event with help from several other area organizations including Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance and University of Wisconsin Sea Grant/Water Resources Institutes.

Want to learn more about the Pet Surrender Network? Visit the J&R Aquatic Animal Rescue website at www.jraar.org.

Photo Credit: Chris Acy (Fox-Wolf), Marissa Kososki (J&R Aquatic Animal Rescue)

Questions? Comments? Contact Chris Acy, the AIS Coordinator covering Brown, Outagamie, Fond du Lac, Calumet, and Winnebago Counties at (920) 460-3674 or chris@fwwa.org!

Follow the Fox Wolf Watershed Alliance’s Winnebago Waterways Program on our Winnebago Waterways Facebook page or @WinnWaterways on X! You can also sign-up for email updates at WinnebagoWaterways.org.

Check out the Keepers of the Fox Program at https://fwwa.org/watershed-recovery/lower-fox-recovery/

Winnebago Waterways and Keepers of the Fox are Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance programs. The Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance is an independent nonprofit organization working to protect and restore water resources in the Fox-Wolf River Basin.

Reporting invasive species is a first step in containing their spread. Maintaining and restoring our waters and landscapes can reduce the impacts even when we don’t have other management options to an invasive species.

The post Pet Rehoming Event in Green Bay Sees Eight Exotic Pets appeared first on Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance.

Original Article

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance

https://fwwa.org/2023/09/25/pet-rehoming-event-in-green-bay-sees-eight-exotic-pets/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=pet-rehoming-event-in-green-bay-sees-eight-exotic-pets

Chris Acy

Invasive Species Outreach Featured in Wings Over Wisconsin Kids Fishing Event Clip

During the summer months, our Aquatic Invasive Species Coordinator Chris exhibits at all sorts of events talking about Fox-Wolf’s work in the watershed as well as aquatic invasive species (AIS). Events include fishing tournaments, public festivals, expos, and kids fishing field days. At the Wings Over Wisconsin – Denmark Chapter’s annual Kids Fishing event, Chris is able to talk with over 150 fifth and sixth grade students about the importance of preventing the spread of invasive species while fishing. As part of the the event in 2023, the Larry Smith Outdoors show did a feature on the amazing event and interviewed Chris for the video. It’s absolutely incredible to work with such amazing partners in our watershed and be apart of such great events! Check out the feature below and be on the lookout for the clip with Fox Wolf’s own AIS Coordinator Chris!

Video Credit: Larry Smith Outdoors Show

Photo Credit: Chris Acy (Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance)

Questions? Comments? Contact Chris Acy, the AIS Coordinator covering Brown, Outagamie, Fond du Lac, Calumet, and Winnebago Counties at (920) 460-3674 or chris@fwwa.org!

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.

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.

Check out the Keepers of the Fox Program at https://fwwa.org/watershed-recovery/lower-fox-recovery/

Reporting invasive species is a first step in containing their spread. Maintaining and restoring our waters and landscapes can reduce the impacts even when we don’t have other management options to an invasive species.

The post Fox-Wolf Outreach Highlighted In Larry Smith Outdoors Show appeared first on Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance.

Original Article

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance

https://fwwa.org/2023/08/22/fox-wolf-outreach-highlighted-in-larry-smith-outdoors-show/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=fox-wolf-outreach-highlighted-in-larry-smith-outdoors-show

Chris Acy

Invasive European Frogbit Mapping and Control Work Ongoing

The Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance has partnered with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Brown County, and other local partners to confront an invasive species in the Bay of Green Bay. European frogbit was first discovered in the wild in Wisconsin late last summer and the known general extent at that time ranged from the City of Marinette to the City of Oconto. Additional monitoring by partners found additional populations within and beyond that range reaching all of the way to the Brown and Door County.

To help reduce the population in the Green Bay area, Fox-Wolf is assisting in monitoring and control work for European Frogbit (EFB). Our aquatic invasive species coordinator Chris is joining partners on large group work days to find and remove EFB. One of the recent large group work days was filmed by Dan Larson from Com-Video Productions as part of a documentary on Green Bay; the same producer that brought you the documentary Power of the River. Check out his clip of our European Frogbit monitoring days below!

The free-floating European Frogbit is native to Europe, Africa, and Asia. It likes slow-moving habitats like sheltered inlets, rivers, and ditches. The plant resembles native water lilies but is much smaller and doesn’t root in the lake bottom. The plant forms dense mats that can interfere with boaters and shade-out native plants. If you see European frog-bit, take a few photos, make note of the location, date and time of the finding, and report to Amanda Smith, WI DNR Regional Invasive Species Coordinator.

Video Credit: Dan Larson (Com-Video Productions)

Photo Credit: Chris Acy (Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance)

Questions? Comments? Contact Chris Acy, the AIS Coordinator covering Brown, Outagamie, Fond du Lac, Calumet, and Winnebago Counties at (920) 460-3674 or chris@fwwa.org!

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.

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.

Check out the Keepers of the Fox Program at https://fwwa.org/watershed-recovery/lower-fox-recovery/

Reporting invasive species is a first step in containing their spread. Maintaining and restoring our waters and landscapes can reduce the impacts even when we don’t have other management options to an invasive species.

The post Fox-Wolf, Partners Tackle Invasive Plant in Green Bay appeared first on Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance.

Original Article

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance

https://fwwa.org/2023/08/22/fox-wolf-partners-tackle-invasive-plant-in-green-bay/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=fox-wolf-partners-tackle-invasive-plant-in-green-bay

Chris Acy

The Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance set up an educational booth at the August 6th Levitt AMP concert series along the Fox River in Green Bay. On this Sunday evening, Fox-Wolf’s Trash Free Waters program was on site providing program information to concert attendees and engaging local residents with “Cleanup Bingo”, where volunteers were given a reusable cleanup bingo card, trash grabbers, gloves, and a trash bag, and they set off to clean up litter in the park–hoping to get a “bingo” on their cards. Once they found a trash item from any horizontal, diagonal, or vertical line on the card, the volunteers returned to the Fox-Wolf booth to collect a prize item for their efforts. We had volunteers of all ages cleaning up at Leicht Memorial Park who removed over 12 pounds of trash from this public site.

Throughout Sunday evening, Fox-Wolf staff talked with many local residents about our basin, volunteer opportunities, and current projects we’re working on to improve water quality–we also got to listen to some fantastic music!  We love being able to work with local residents who volunteer to help keep our water trash free!

For more information, please contact:
Kelly Reyer
Trash Free Waters Program Coordinator
Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance
✉ kelly@fwwa.org
📞 920-915-1502

Support Trash Free Waters
Join the Trash Free Waters Email List

The post Volunteers Clean Up During Levitt AMP Music Series appeared first on Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance.

Original Article

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance

https://fwwa.org/2023/08/07/volunteers-play-cleanup-bingo-at-23-walleye-weekend-3/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=volunteers-play-cleanup-bingo-at-23-walleye-weekend-3

Kelly Reyer

By Margaret Ellis – Yotsi’nahkwa’talihahte (Wild Rose), Oneida Nation
University of Wisconsin-Green Bay First Nations Graduate Assistant, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Wequiock Creek Natural Area is one of six places managed by the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay (UWGB). Other areas include the Cofrin Memorial Arboretum and Point au Sable.

In the early stages of the management and restoration of the Wequiock Creek Natural Area, David Overstreet was hired to work with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to identify interested parties to the land and to conduct an archaeological dig. Overstreet is a consulting archaeologist for the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin and has been doing cultural digs such as this one for many years. The area is the original homeland to many First Nations: Menominee Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin, Ho-Chunk Nation, Potowatomi and Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. At this point, UWGB knew it had to bring the Indigenous voice back to the lands to ensure any restoration efforts incorporated its original inhabitants.

Consulting Archaeologist David Overstreet, works with Menominee youths on Point au Sable in Green Bay. Image credit: Margaret Ellis

One such effort to bring the voice back is to connect Indigenous youth to the area. Overstreet and Bobbie Webster, the natural areas ecologist from the UWGB Cofrin Center for Biodiversity, hosted an archeological dig at Point au Sable this spring. The Point au Sable area is an important site to the Menominee Nation as it is the ancestral and ceded territories of the Menominee Nation. There are references in surveyor notes from early 1800 to Menominee, Ho-Chunk, Potawatomi and others.

Point au Sable was always a popular spot. We also know Chief Lamotte had a residence at Bay Settlement when he signed the Menominee Treaty of 1831. The goal of the dig was to find any artifacts that may be from Menominee ancestors so they can be analyzed and protected from any further restoration efforts and movement of lands. The dig was also a means of connecting Menominee youth with their original homelands and historical items.

This was the second year that Overstreet organized the dig with Menominee Indian High School students at the tip of Point au Sable, about a mile walk out into the bay of Green Bay. The students were led by Christine Fossen-Rades, a science educator at the Menominee Indian High School. After a quick visit to Wequiock Falls, the students met at Point au Sable.

Overstreet and his son, Ryan, marked off archaeological sites prior to the dig so that once everyone arrived, the students could just grab their shovels and sifters and trek the mile to the dig site. They were asked to dig holes to a certain depth or until they hit darker soil. They then used shaker boxes made of screen mesh to sift the soil and sand. The items they were looking for included important artifacts such as cracked rocks, bones, coal and any other objects that may have come from the original inhabitants.  Overstreet educated them in the process of bagging items of interest and labeling them so he could bring them to his lab for analysis. The Menominee youth and Tribe are a big part of this process and benefit from any research and lab results.

Menominee Indian High School students helped uncover the past on Point au Sable in Green Bay. Image credit: Margaret Ellis.

My favorite part about this activity was seeing the elements of past, present and future — Menominee students working on lands that belonged to their ancestors in an effort to support the preservation of their culture while using modern-day science. The activity represented an Indigenous worldview of continuity and the circular nature of our being. Experiencing this connection to the past felt like coming full circle and I’m glad to have been involved in it.

This dig is part of an ongoing effort to bring Indigenous voices and presence to UWGB natural areas. As an Indigenous person and UWGB student, I appreciate the movement toward a more inclusive as authentic relationship between UWGB, its natural areas, and the Indigenous Nations that once called them home.

The post Reconnecting Menominee students with their roots in the bay of Green Bay first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/reconnecting-menominee-students-with-their-roots-in-the-bay-of-green-bay/

Marie Zhuikov

Wisconsin residents invited to help search Wisconsin’s waters for invasive species on August 19th

Water lovers of all ages are invited to join the statewide search for aquatic invasive species (AIS) on August 19th, 2023. This fun, hands-on effort, known as AIS Snapshot Day, relies on participants to monitor streams, lakes, and wetlands at designated sites across the state, for signs of non-native plants and animals that pose risks to Wisconsin waterways and wildlife.  Volunteers have a choice to register at one of over twenty event locations hosted by local conservation groups.

Coordinated in partnership by UW-Madison Division of Extension, UW-Stevens Point Extension Lakes, River Alliance of Wisconsin, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Snapshot Day is entering its’ 10th successful year. Information collected will be provided to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to inform and guide monitoring and response efforts. Volunteers are key to the success of the event.

“Projects like AIS Snapshot Day are a fun and simple way for volunteers to get engaged and for the local site leaders and DNR to collaborate” says Maureen Ferry, DNR AIS Monitoring Coordinator. “DNR has a long list of sites with suspected but unverified AIS that AIS Snapshot Day monitoring targets. This increases the chances of volunteers finding a species. Plus, each year, we make new detections.”

Last year over 150 volunteers rolled up their sleeves to monitor at more than 234 sites across the state making for a fun and safe event.

This is a free event. Recommended for ages 8 and up, minors must be accompanied by an adult.

LOCAL EVENT DETAILS:

Saturday, August 19th

8:30 am-12:30 pm

Pamperin Park, Green Bay

REGISTRATION:

Register and see all event details at: https://wateractionvolunteers.org/events/

Advance registration is requested to help Site Leaders build monitoring plans.

Photo Credit: Chris Acy (FWWA)

Questions? Comments? Contact Chris Acy, the AIS Coordinator covering Brown, Outagamie, Fond du Lac, Calumet, and Winnebago Counties at (920) 460-3674 or chris@fwwa.org!

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.

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.

Check out the Keepers of the Fox Program at https://fwwa.org/watershed-recovery/lower-fox-recovery/

Reporting invasive species is a first step in containing their spread. Maintaining and restoring our waters and landscapes can reduce the impacts even when we don’t have other management options to an invasive species.

The post *CLICK* Snapshot Day Returns August 19th, 2023 appeared first on Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance.

Original Article

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance

https://fwwa.org/2023/07/19/click-snapshot-day-returns-august-19th-2023/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=click-snapshot-day-returns-august-19th-2023

Chris Acy

Wisconsin residents invited to help search Wisconsin’s waters for invasive species on August 19th

Water lovers of all ages are invited to join the statewide search for aquatic invasive species (AIS) on August 19th, 2023. This fun, hands-on effort, known as AIS Snapshot Day, relies on participants to monitor streams, lakes, and wetlands at designated sites across the state, for signs of non-native plants and animals that pose risks to Wisconsin waterways and wildlife.  Volunteers have a choice to register at one of over twenty event locations hosted by local conservation groups.

Coordinated in partnership by UW-Madison Division of Extension, UW-Stevens Point Extension Lakes, River Alliance of Wisconsin, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Snapshot Day is entering its’ 10th successful year. Information collected will be provided to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to inform and guide monitoring and response efforts. Volunteers are key to the success of the event.

“Projects like AIS Snapshot Day are a fun and simple way for volunteers to get engaged and for the local site leaders and DNR to collaborate” says Maureen Ferry, DNR AIS Monitoring Coordinator. “DNR has a long list of sites with suspected but unverified AIS that AIS Snapshot Day monitoring targets. This increases the chances of volunteers finding a species. Plus, each year, we make new detections.”

Last year over 150 volunteers rolled up their sleeves to monitor at more than 234 sites across the state making for a fun and safe event.

This is a free event. Recommended for ages 8 and up, minors must be accompanied by an adult.

LOCAL EVENT DETAILS:

Saturday, August 19th

8:30 am-12:30 pm

Pamperin Park, Green Bay

REGISTRATION:

Register and see all event details at: https://wateractionvolunteers.org/events/

Advance registration is requested to help Site Leaders build monitoring plans.

Photo Credit: Chris Acy (FWWA)

Questions? Comments? Contact Chris Acy, the AIS Coordinator covering Brown, Outagamie, Fond du Lac, Calumet, and Winnebago Counties at (920) 460-3674 or chris@fwwa.org!

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.

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.

Check out the Keepers of the Fox Program at https://fwwa.org/watershed-recovery/lower-fox-recovery/

Reporting invasive species is a first step in containing their spread. Maintaining and restoring our waters and landscapes can reduce the impacts even when we don’t have other management options to an invasive species.

The post *CLICK* Snapshot Day Returns August 19th, 2023 appeared first on Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance.

Original Article

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance

https://fwwa.org/2023/07/19/click-snapshot-day-returns-august-19th-2023/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=click-snapshot-day-returns-august-19th-2023

Chris Acy

Wisconsin residents invited to help search Wisconsin’s waters for invasive species on August 19th

Water lovers of all ages are invited to join the statewide search for aquatic invasive species (AIS) on August 19th, 2023. This fun, hands-on effort, known as AIS Snapshot Day, relies on participants to monitor streams, lakes, and wetlands at designated sites across the state, for signs of non-native plants and animals that pose risks to Wisconsin waterways and wildlife.  Volunteers have a choice to register at one of over twenty event locations hosted by local conservation groups.

Coordinated in partnership by UW-Madison Division of Extension, UW-Stevens Point Extension Lakes, River Alliance of Wisconsin, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Snapshot Day is entering its’ 10th successful year. Information collected will be provided to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to inform and guide monitoring and response efforts. Volunteers are key to the success of the event.

“Projects like AIS Snapshot Day are a fun and simple way for volunteers to get engaged and for the local site leaders and DNR to collaborate” says Maureen Ferry, DNR AIS Monitoring Coordinator. “DNR has a long list of sites with suspected but unverified AIS that AIS Snapshot Day monitoring targets. This increases the chances of volunteers finding a species. Plus, each year, we make new detections.”

Last year over 150 volunteers rolled up their sleeves to monitor at more than 234 sites across the state making for a fun and safe event.

This is a free event. Recommended for ages 8 and up, minors must be accompanied by an adult.

LOCAL EVENT DETAILS:

Saturday, August 19th

8:30 am-12:30 pm

Pamperin Park, Green Bay

REGISTRATION:

Register and see all event details at: https://wateractionvolunteers.org/events/

Advance registration is requested to help Site Leaders build monitoring plans.

Photo Credit: Chris Acy (FWWA)

Questions? Comments? Contact Chris Acy, the AIS Coordinator covering Brown, Outagamie, Fond du Lac, Calumet, and Winnebago Counties at (920) 460-3674 or chris@fwwa.org!

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.

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.

Check out the Keepers of the Fox Program at https://fwwa.org/watershed-recovery/lower-fox-recovery/

Reporting invasive species is a first step in containing their spread. Maintaining and restoring our waters and landscapes can reduce the impacts even when we don’t have other management options to an invasive species.

The post *CLICK* Snapshot Day Returns August 19th, 2023 appeared first on Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance.

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Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance

https://fwwa.org/2023/07/19/click-snapshot-day-returns-august-19th-2023/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=click-snapshot-day-returns-august-19th-2023

Chris Acy

Current outreach efforts focused on flood resilience, water quality enhancement and conservation

Wisconsin Sea Grant has provided Great Lakes research, education and outreach in the state since 1968 and in that time funded 91 Green Bay-focused research projects, investing more than $8.8 million. Some of the research was conducted by University of Wisconsin-Green Bay-based scientists. Other projects were undertaken by researchers from Lawrence University, St. Norbert College and University of Wisconsin schools based in Milwaukee, Madison and Stevens Point who came to the Lower Fox River-Green Bay.

In 1978, Sea Grant sited a field office in the culturally, recreationally and economically important Green Bay watershed. During a news event today, Sea Grant explored past research on topics such as contaminants, the Lake Michigan food web and water quality. It also reflected on its alignment with the Cofrin Center for Biodiversity at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, using that as a base from which to respond to local needs, which currently are centered on assisting communities in building flood resilience, enhancing water quality and fostering conservation of natural resources.

Speakers came from Sea Grant, and others who made comments were Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich; Erin Giese, interim director of the Cofrin Center; and Nicole Van Helden, director of land conservation with The Nature Conservancy. Each speaker highlighted the value of collaborating to fulfill a commitment to what has been termed the world’s largest freshwater estuary, with the city of Green Bay sitting at its head.

At the Jack Day Environmental Educational Center at the mouth of the Fox River with the shining waters of Lake Michigan behind him, Sea Grant Director Jim Hurley said, “For more than 50 years, Sea Grant has embraced and activated a model of strong science to underpin decisions that serve the people of Green Bay and surrounding areas.” He continued, “We also look to the future when that kind of research investment will continue, along with the important science outreach our specialist based at UW-Green Bay, Julia Noordyk, provides on water quality and coastal community issues.”

Close-up of a person wearing glasses, suit, tie and smiling.

Green Bay Eric Genrich is working with Sea Grant staff on addressing flooding issues in the East River watershed. Photo credit: city of Green Bay

 “The city of Green Bay has benefitted tremendously from the close partnership that exists between city staff and UW Sea Grant,” said Mayor Genrich. “We’ve collaborated deeply on efforts to prevent flooding and develop neighborhood resiliency within the East River watershed, which is vitally important work to improve the quality of our natural resources and strengthen our community.”

Giese said, “We are excited to celebrate Sea Grant’s huge conservation successes over the years and are grateful to partner with them at Wequiock Creek Natural Area as we bring Indigenous voices back to the land. We are privileged to coordinate an annual tobacco blessing with Sea Grant and UW-Green Bay’s First Nations Studies.”

“We are so fortunate to have Wisconsin Sea Grant working in northeast Wisconsin,” said Van Helden. “They are an essential partner with local presence, expertise in both social and environmental science and an ability to make lasting, positive change. Our work together in the East River watershed is increasing local flood resiliency. Sea Grant staff member Julia Noordyk helped design the ongoing project and two key ingredients were, first, listening to the needs of the flood-impacted communities, then, creating knowledge-sharing opportunities to find flood solutions together.”

The event was also a part of the celebration of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s 175th anniversary. Sea Grant is a program of the University of Wisconsin System, with its headquarters on the flagship campus. Sea Grant also has field offices at the UW-Green Bay, Manitowoc Campus, UW-Milwaukee and UW-Superior.

 

The post Sea Grant impact in Green Bay: More than $8.8 million invested in research first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/sea-grant-impact-in-green-bay-more-than-8-8-million-invested-in-research/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sea-grant-impact-in-green-bay-more-than-8-8-million-invested-in-research

Moira Harrington

Original Article

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance

https://fwwa.org/2023/05/23/build-your-own-rain-barrel-workshop-june-17th-2023/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=build-your-own-rain-barrel-workshop-june-17th-2023

Alyssa Reinke

A new study has found that a plume of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from an industrial source has made its way into Green Bay, Lake Michigan, through the movement of groundwater.

PFAS are often referred to as “forever chemicals” because they do not readily break down in the environment. They have been used to make a wide range of products resistant to water, grease, oil and stains and are also found in firefighting foams, which are a major source of environmental PFAS contamination. The chemical compounds have been shown to have adverse effects on human health.

Christy Remucal with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and postdoctoral co-investigator Sarah Balgooyen published their work in the Dec. 27, 2022, issue of the journal Environmental Science & Technology, https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.2c06600 It was funded by a grant from the Wisconsin Sea Grant College Program.

“We used a forensics approach to investigate how the PFAS fingerprint from an industrial source changes after undergoing environmental and engineered processes,” Remucal said.

Woman wearing lab goggles, gloves and a lab coat in a lab.

Researcher Christy Remucal in her lab on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus is analyzing water samples taken from a known contamination site.

Researchers tracked the movement of PFAS through groundwater and surface water flow, as well as the chemicals’ presence in biosolids on land. Analysis of samples showed that, unfortunately, a large PFAS plume has moved into Green Bay, Lake Michigan.

Green Bay is one of the largest bays on the Great Lakes, an interconnected freshwater system providing drinking water for 30 million U.S. and Canadian residents. That makes it even more important for researchers to understand what contaminants are present and where they may have come from.

The source of this Great Lakes contamination has been traced to Tyco Fire Products. The company’s fire-training facilities in Marinette and Peshtigo have previously been identified as a source of PFAS contamination in groundwater and private drinking water wells in the area.

The forensic technique in this study used PFAS fingerprinting, a process that uses ratios of individual PFAS compounds to identify PFAS contaminants and their sources. In this case, the PFAS fingerprint in Green Bay is nearly identical to PFAS associated with Tyco and includes PFAS known to be active ingredients in firefighting foams. This fingerprinting method could be used to hold polluting companies responsible for the contaminated water, the researchers said.

The study also found that PFAS associated with the industrial facility are present in streams near some agricultural fields. The researchers believe this PFAS contamination may have come from the treated biosolids many farmers use to fertilize their fields.

Biosolids are the product of wastewater treatment and are rich in nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus. PFAS in wastewater undergo extensive processing and some PFAS tend to concentrate in biosolids during treatment.

Remucal and Balgooyen determined that PFAS from biosolids can still mobilize after being spread on land. So, when farmers spread biosolids on their fields, PFAS can eventually make their way to adjacent streams.

Blonde woman wearing safety goggles, gloves and a lab coat in a lab.

Sarah Balgooyen is a postdoctoral investigator of PFAS, which is a group of man-made chemicals known for stain- and water-resistance, but also causes cancer in humans.

“Treated biosolids are commonly spread on fields all across Wisconsin,” Balgooyen said. “This information may impact how municipalities across Wisconsin and other states approach the use of biosolids as an agricultural fertilizer.”

The post New study: Northeastern Wisconsin PFAS plume moves into Green Bay via groundwater first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/new-study-northeastern-wisconsin-pfas-plume-moves-into-green-bay-via-groundwater/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-study-northeastern-wisconsin-pfas-plume-moves-into-green-bay-via-groundwater

Moira Harrington

Teacher mentor program connects both teachers and students

Teachers with a passion for the Great Lakes are sharing their expertise across the region with other teachers in a program that benefits the educators and their students. The mentor program, organized by the Center for Great Lakes Literacy (CGLL), is funded through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

Wisconsin is home to five teacher mentor/mentee pairs. They’re organized by Anne Moser, senior special librarian and education coordinator for Wisconsin Sea Grant. She explained that this is the first formal year of the program and that it’s growing.

“The teachers we chose for mentoring are really dynamic Great Lakes educators,” Moser said. “They’re so committed to bringing place-based education to their students and then sharing that love for Great Lakes literacy with either colleagues in their school or with their wider community.”

The mentors were chosen from a pool of teachers who had participated in past CGLL programs. Moser explained these teachers are always, “thinking through the lens of the Great Lakes. Whatever they’re teaching, they’re drawing on their knowledge of the watershed.”

The program kicked off last June with a two-day workshop where the mentors and mentees got to know each other better and plan which activities they wanted to work on. A check-in this past fall included a professional learning opportunity, featuring a presentation by Jackson Parr, the J. Philip Keillor Flood Resilience-Wisconsin Sea Grant Fellow who is working with communities on flooding issues. In January of this year, the teachers were introduced to the Watershed Game, an interactive, educational tool that helps people understand the connection between land use and water quality.

Kelly Kollar, Bay View Middle School. Submitted photo.

One of the mentors is Kelly Koller, technology integration specialist at Bay View Middle School in Green Bay. She actually has two mentees: Mona Forbes, an eighth-grade science teacher, and Chandra Johnson, a special education teacher.

Koller first became involved in mentoring when she applied to one of the CGLL summer professional learning workshop aboard the Denis Sullivan sailing ship in 2019. That experience showed her the value of such relationships. For her current mentoring connection, she’s working with Forbes and Johnson to provide their students with opportunities like raising brown trout in the school library and growing wild rice plants.

Koller works in the library and thought the fish would be a great addition. “We didn’t have any pieces of student engagement that were living. Everything is books and decorations, and I thought fish would be an addition that would capture students’ interest.”

Koller organized the fish rearing through Trout in the Classroom, a program offered by Trout Unlimited. By raising the fish from egg stage to adult, the students gain knowledge about the fish and the environment where they live. The goal is to release the trout into a local stream, under the guidance of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

The wild rice project is being done in conjunction with the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, which provided the seeds and equipment. The goal is to plant the rice in a wetland the university is working to restore.

Brown trout raised in the library by students at Bay View Middle School in Green Bay. Submitted photo.

Koller explained she did the heavy lifting to get the projects started so that the weight of organizing didn’t all fall on the mentee teacher’s shoulders, since they had enough challenges already teaching during a pandemic. To orient Johnson’s students to the fish’s environment, she organized a boat trip on Green Bay through Hands on Deck, a local nonprofit.

“So, even before the students started putting together our trout tank and receiving the trout eggs, they were learning about the Great Lakes through being on one of them. Any time you have a shared outdoor experience it helps build relationships and a positive sense of community,” Koller said.

After navigating two months of start-up challenges, Koller received the agency permissions needed to house the tank. Johnson’s students set up the tank and then Forbes’s students took over once the eggs arrived. Three middle-schoolers have shown impressive dedication: Mercades Bryfczynski, Sandra Thompson and Emily Jarmuskiewicz.

Students at Bay View Middle School test the water quality of their trout tank. Submitted photo.

“They do all the water measurements on their own. They take the pH level, the ammonia level, they change out water daily. They’ve been just wonderful about the caretaking involved with the trout and seeing them grow,” Koller said.

Despite a rough start one weekend after the automatic feeder malfunctioned and a third of the larval trout died, the students said the experience of caring for the fish has made them more interested in nature.

“I’ve been having a little bit more fun in science, learning about the fish,” said Bryfczynski. She also said that seeing the tank sparks interest from other students in the library. “We’ve had people come in and ask us questions about the fish, like how big they’re going to get or how old they’re going to live, and what we do with the tank.”

Jarmuskiewicz said that learning about the fish’s life cycle has sparked her interest in biology. Thompson has also enjoyed watching the fish grow under their care.

When asked if they are excited to release the fish into the wild, the girls all replied with a resounding, “Yes!”

“We hope that they’ll be healthy because they grew up healthy with us, and that they’ll stay healthy in the river once we release them,” Bryfczynski said.

A student tends to the wild rice in a project done in conjunction with the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Submitted photo.

At the end of the school year, Moser said the mentor/mentees and their students will gather together for a student showcase. This will offer the students an opportunity to present their project and receive feedback from other students across Wisconsin and Minnesota. In summer, mentor/mentee pairs will be invited to their own summit where they can provide the CGLL network feedback about their experiences. The goal of both events is to build a community of educators passionate about Great Lakes literacy and to build a community of youth who will be future stewards of the Great Lakes watershed.

“It’s been an exciting year, even as we have had to navigate the challenges of a global pandemic. To work with such passionate and resilient educators has been a gift,” Moser said.

A new mentor/mentee cohort will be formed in the fall of 2022. Please contact Anne Moser if you are interested in learning more.

The post Thinking through the lens of the Great Lakes first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/thinking-through-the-lens-of-the-great-lakes/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=thinking-through-the-lens-of-the-great-lakes

Marie Zhuikov

University of Wisconsin-Green Bay research supported in part by Wisconsin Sea Grant has now made it to publication, shedding valuable light on how the bay of Green Bay has changed over time.

“Benthos of Green Bay, Lake Michigan revisited after 40 years: A temporal update and assessment of environmental associations” was published in the Journal of Great Lakes Research and is available online. Until this effort, the benthos of lower Green Bay had not been comprehensively studied since 1978. (The benthos encompasses the organisms found on the bottom, or in the bottom sediments, of a body of water.)

From left to right, Cadie Olson, Chris Houghton and Brandon Falish are shown conducting research on Green Bay. Findings from this work were recently published in the Journal of Great Lakes Research. (Photo: Cadie Olson)

Cadie R. Olson, who worked with UW-Green Bay scientist Chris Houghton on this effort while she was a graduate student, is the paper’s first author. In addition to Olson and Houghton, other contributors include biology professor Patrick Forsythe.

“We are delighted that this collaborative effort among Wisconsin Sea Grant, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the EPA and UW-Green Bay is being shared through the Journal of Great Lakes Research,” said Olson. “This project has implications for water quality, ecosystem function and management of the Area of Concern. Green Bay continues to prove that is it is a complex and dynamic ecosystem, and benthos are no exception. We hope that this data will be used to help determine water quality criteria, prioritize areas of restoration, and develop our knowledge of benthic responses to introductions of non-native species.”

Houghton expects the work to be widely cited into the future. Yet, he noted, “Our recently published research is really just the tip of the iceberg in understanding the Green Bay benthos and ecosystem. Now that we know how things have changed over the last 40 years, and what organisms are now present, we can do the work understanding how benthic communities support upper trophic levels, from bait fish to yellow perch and walleye, to muskellunge and pelicans.  In the future, we will seek to finish our survey in the area north of Oconto and Sturgeon Bay, and continue the collaborations that were developed during this project.”

The Sea Grant-funded project from which the team’s paper sprang was titled “Spatial and temporal distribution of the benthic macro-invertebrate community of Lower Green Bay, 1938-present.” You can find our 2019 coverage of that work here. The team’s research built upon a trove of historical documents that had been assembled by UW-Green Bay professor emeritus Hallett J. “Bud” Harris and are now kept in the campus library.

Olson now works for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, having completed her master’s in May 2021. “It has been an adjustment going from large lakes to streams, but I’m thrilled that I’m continuing to apply my knowledge of macroinvertebrates and learn more about them in a different ecosystem,” said Olson of the transition.

Learn more about the Green Bay research in a Wisconsin Sea Grant presentation given by Olson and Brandon Falish on Oct. 22, 2020, as part of the “Lake Talks” series.

The post Sea Grant-supported work on the bay of Green Bay published in Journal of Great Lakes Research first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/sea-grant-supported-work-on-the-bay-of-green-bay-published-in-journal-of-great-lakes-research/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sea-grant-supported-work-on-the-bay-of-green-bay-published-in-journal-of-great-lakes-research

Jennifer Smith

In the April installment of Wisconsin Sea Grant’s “Lake Talks,” Sarah Balgooyen will discuss “Forever Chemicals: PFAS in the Green Bay Watershed.”

The Lake Talks are informal, interactive science presentations on Great Lakes issues, especially those involving Lake Michigan. In light of the ongoing pandemic, spring 2021 Lake Talks are being offered via Zoom.

Balgooyen will speak Thursday, April 15, from 7-8 p.m. (Register now for this Zoom webinar.)

Dr. Sarah Balgooyen at work in a laboratory on the UW-Madison campus. (Photo: Bonnie Willison)

PFAS are a category of chemicals frequently found in firefighting foams, Teflon and many other common products. They are a hot topic in water research because they are estimated to contaminate the drinking water of 16.5 million people in the United States alone, and much more needs to be understood about these chemicals.

One site of concern in Wisconsin is the Tyco Fire Products facility in Marinette. These concerns involve not only drinking water from private wells in the area, but also the possibility for contaminants to get into the bay of Green Bay and, ultimately, out into Lake Michigan.

Balgooyen, who completed her Ph.D. at UW-Madison in 2019, has been studying this area as the J. Philip Keillor Water Science Fellow at Wisconsin Sea Grant.

In this informal talk geared toward a general audience, Balgooyen will talk about her research process and what she’s found so far. There will also be time during the hour for audience questions. This Zoom webinar is free and open to all.

For connection information for future talks, visit the Lake Talks page of the Wisconsin Sea Grant website, or follow Wisconsin Sea Grant on Facebook or Twitter. You can register for Sarah Balgooyen’s talk now.

For questions about this series, contact Wisconsin Sea Grant science communicator Jennifer Smith.

The post Informal science talk to address PFAS in the Green Bay watershed first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/informal-science-talk-to-address-pfas-in-the-green-bay-watershed/

Jennifer Smith

Today, the Wisconsin PFAS Action Council (WisPAC) released a final report of statewide initiatives regarding per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) with Gov. Evers to the public. Representing the entire University of Wisconsin System, Christina Remucal, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is one member of the council composed of representatives from 17 state agencies. The council has been working on the PFAS Action Plan for over a year to identify priority actions in response to growing concerns about PFAS and the hazards this class of chemicals pose to human health. The council was put together in 2019 by the governor to ensure Wisconsinites have access to clean, safe drinking water.

Christina Remucal. Image credit: University of Wisconsin-Madison

Remucal brought her research experience with PFAS to the table, including her most recently funded Wisconsin Sea Grant project, where she is investigating the fate of PFAS in Green Bay and Lake Michigan sediments and water for two years.

“We often think of PFAS as a groundwater contaminant, but here we have an interesting scientific opportunity to learn about how these chemicals move in surface waters,” Remucal said. Her research team is looking in and around the city of Marinette, which has a known PFAS contamination site and also the bay of Green Bay. They plan to collect samples out on Lake Michigan next year.

Unlike other traditional environmental contaminants like PCBs, which tend to be found more in sediment, Remucal said PFAS dissolve easily in water and move about more freely. There are thousands of different kinds of PFAS. Their chemical structure determines where they’re more likely to travel in the environment. “The ones that are longer-chain compounds – the ones that are a little bigger – are more likely to be found in the sediment,” Remucal said.

One mystery her team is focusing on is why the amounts of PFAS measured in sediment in the field are different than what’s been observed in the laboratory. “In the lab we always try to mimic the environment, but I think these compounds, because of their chemical properties, don’t behave very well. That’s why it’s important to make those measurements in the field as well,” Remucal said.

Remucal recently met with Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources staff members to share what her team has found so far, which is that PFAS concentrations in sediment vary widely. “The Tyco facility drainage ditch sites have a lot of PFAS in them, which we knew. The amounts that are ending up in the sediment vary a lot. We’re finding more of the longer-chain compounds in the sediment than the shorter-chain compounds – more of the sulfinates and the carboxylates. It really depends on the chemistry,” Remucal said.

The researchers are analyzing the sediments themselves to see if their composition might explain why the PFAS amounts vary.

Remucal finds all the public interest in PFAS and her research refreshing and in keeping with Sea Grant expectations to engage stakeholders in research. “It’s challenging working with these chemicals and communicating about them because the chemistry is so complex, but it’s been rewarding to have people so interested in what we are doing.”

Christina Remucal works with PFAS samples in her lab. Image credit: Bonnie Willison, Wisconsin Sea Grant

The post Investigating the fate of PFAS in Green Bay and Lake Michigan first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/investigating-the-fate-of-pfas-in-green-bay-and-lake-michigan/

Marie Zhuikov

Trash Fish: Marine debris becomes sculptures at Great Lakes aquariums and museums

An array of more than 80 marine-debris-turned-art works will be making another Great Lakes stop, adding a lake sturgeon sculpture when it’s installed at a Wisconsin site next year.

Made entirely of plastic trash, these larger-than-life figures have realistic designs. They come as part of the traveling exhibit, Washed Ashore, which aims to educate people about plastic pollution.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/trash-fish-marine-debris-sculptures-great-lakes-aquariums-museums/

Natasha Blakely

Topics include aquatic invasive species, eating local fish and Green Bay’s ecosystem

Wisconsin Sea Grant’s “Lake Talks” series of free, public events will return this fall—in cyberspace. Four virtual events in the series will take place on Thursdays at 7 p.m. between Sept. 10 and Nov. 12.

The series was launched earlier in 2020 with an in-person event in Green Bay in early March. However, remaining spring events were canceled due to public health concerns surrounding the coronavirus. Now, because of ongoing health concerns and university policy, the series will move to a virtual format this fall. Wisconsin Sea Grant is headquartered at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The Lake Talks cover topics of special interest to residents in communities along or near the Lake Michigan shoreline—though anyone is welcome to attend.

Fall speakers and topics are:

Sept. 10: Molly Bodde of Kenosha, Wisconsin Sea Grant aquatic invasive species outreach specialist for southeast Wisconsin, will present “But It’s So Pretty: Combating Purple Loosestrife with Look-a-likes.”

Sept. 24: Chris Litzau of Racine, Great Lakes Community Conservation Corps director.

Oct. 22: University of Wisconsin-Green Bay graduate students Cadie Olson and Brandon Falish will speak about “Green Bay: A Saga of Life, Destruction and Restoration.”

Nov. 12: Titus Seilheimer of Manitowoc, Wisconsin Sea Grant fisheries specialist, will offer “How to Eat Wisconsin Fish.” Seilheimer will talk about his favorite fish, the benefits of eating Wisconsin fish—both wild-caught and farmed—and how you can incorporate local fish into upcoming holiday celebrations.

Zoom will be used as the online event platform. Each event will last one hour and include time for Q&A after the presentation.

While web links and other technical details for the sessions are still being finalized, those interested can get more information when it is announced by following Wisconsin Sea Grant on social media (at the handle @UWiscSeaGrant on both Facebook and Twitter), or by going to the Wisconsin Sea Grant website at seagrant.wisc.edu (search for “Lake Talks”).

Questions about the series may be directed to Wisconsin Sea Grant science communicator Jennifer Smith at smith@aqua.wisc.edu.

Original Article

News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/wisconsin-sea-grant-to-host-virtual-lake-talks-this-fall/

Jennifer Smith

Scientists collect a snapshot of a bird’s life when they capture, band, and release it. Each coded band and any data collected at the same time like date, location, sex, age etc. are recorded in a database that can be shared by scientists around the world. When the same bird is seen somewhere else, that observation location provides another snapshot that is added to the database, helping scientists to reconstruct the movements of individual birds. This continuously growing database makes it possible to study dispersal and migration, behavior and social structure, life-span and survival rate, reproductive success and population growth.

Environmental Science & Policy Master’s candidate Tom Prestby is observing shorebirds migrating along the lower Bay of Green Bay (Brown County, Wisconsin, USA) in order to provide much needed information about the importance of near shore habitat for numerous species of conservation concern including three species in high peril and 12 in high continental concern.

Semipamated Sandpiper photo by Tom Prestby
Semipalmated Sandpipers on the shore of the Bay of Green Bay.

He photographed the Semipalmated Sandpiper shown here in late May 2015 at his research site in Green Bay. The code on the blue band on the bird’s leg allowed him to discover that it was banded on January 14, 2014 in Maranhao, Brazil, and so had traveled nearly 2000 miles to get to Green Bay. Semipalmated Sandpipers, so-named because their toes are webbed for only part of their length, breed on open tundra, so it’s journey is only a little more than half finished. It still must travel another 1200 miles or more to northern Canada and Alaska to breed this summer, resting at along mudflats, sandy beaches, shores of lakes and ponds, and wet meadows. These birds make that incredible 3000 mile journey in only about two months time and rely mostly on stored fat reserves to power them through migration.  Summer is short in the arctic, so after they breed they begin their fall passage in July at a more leisurely pace and typically arrive back in their South American wintering grounds by mid-October.[1]

Unfortunately, this species is on the 2014 State of the Birds Watch List, which lists species most in danger of extinction without significant conservation action. Even though populations appear to be stable at some arctic breeding grounds in Alaska, surveys by researchers in Canada and the United States indicate that the numbers of birds reaching South America wintering grounds have declined by 80% over the last 20 years. Canadian scientist Stephen Brown who has been tracking the birds as they arrive on Coats Island in the far north of Hudson’s Bay explains, “We need to understand the migratory pathways of the species in order to know where the decline is occurring, and what can be done to reverse it.”[2]

Prestby’s observation is helping other scientists to do just that. He is continuing to monitor shorebirds at his research sites including the recently restored Cat Island Chain in person and through the use of remote cameras. He is enthusiastic about his graduate experience. “It is fascinating to be able to look into the life of one of these birds and very satisfying to contribute to a great database!” His master’s research will provide important information about shorebird migration and use of wetlands encircling the bay of Green Bay that will help scientists to better understand and conserve these trans-American travelers.

References

1. All About Birds: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Semipalmated_Sandpiper/id

2. Manumet Center for Conservation Studies:  https://www.manomet.org/newsletter/first-ever-geolocator-results-semipalmated-sandpiper-show-remarkable-year-long-odyssey

 

Considering a career in Environmental Science? Learn more educational opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay, the Original #EcoU!

 

 

 

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Biodiversity

Biodiversity

https://blog.uwgb.edu/biodiversity/2015/06/snapshots-can-help-conserve-shorebirds-in-decline/

Vicki Medland