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Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance
https://fwwa.org/2025/03/19/lake-winnebago-water-level-management-stakeholders/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=lake-winnebago-water-level-management-stakeholders
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The post Protected: Why Does Lake Winnebago’s Water Level Change in Winter? appeared first on Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance.
Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance
https://fwwa.org/2025/03/12/lake-winnebago-winter-water-level-management/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=lake-winnebago-winter-water-level-management
By Danielle Kaeding, Wisconsin Public Radio
This article was republished here with permission from Wisconsin Public Radio.
Wisconsin saw more visitors at sites managed by the National Park Service last year, and America’s national parks had a record number of visitors.
News of the growing demand at the parks comes as the Trump administration has cut staff to manage them.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/03/national-parks-see-a-record-number-of-visitors-including-in-wisconsin/
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The post Protected: Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin: A Powerhouse Waterway with a Changing Past appeared first on Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance.
Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance
https://fwwa.org/2025/03/06/lake-winnebago-history-dams-impact/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=lake-winnebago-history-dams-impact
By Katie Myers, Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco, & Izzy Ross
This coverage is made possible through a partnership between Grist, BPR, a public radio station serving western North Carolina, WBEZ, a public radio station serving the Chicago metropolitan region, and Interlochen Public Radio in Northern Michigan.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/02/us-forest-service-firings-decimate-already-understaffed-agency-its-catastrophic/
By Danielle Kaeding, Wisconsin Public Radio
This article was republished here with permission from Wisconsin Public Radio.
Permits for hundreds of energy projects may be fast-tracked by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers under the Trump administration, including plans for a pipeline project in the Great Lakes and a fossil fuel plant in Superior.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/02/trump-administration-seeks-to-fast-track-projects-in-the-great-lakes-and-wisconsin/
Ready to roll up your sleeves and make a real impact? Registration is live for Northeast Wisconsin’s largest volunteer trash cleanup, and we’re calling on you to help protect our beautiful waterways. Let’s come together and transform our local environment—one cleanup at a time! Event Snapshot When: Saturday, [...]
The post Fox-Wolf Watershed Cleanup: Registration Now Open – Join Your Community Today! appeared first on Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance.
Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance
https://fwwa.org/2025/02/24/fox-wolf-watershed-cleanup-2025-join-the-movement/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=fox-wolf-watershed-cleanup-2025-join-the-movement
This article, first posted here, was republished with permission from Wisconsin Watch.
By Bennet Goldstein, Wisconsin Watch
A year and a half after Wisconsin lawmakers earmarked $125 million to clean up toxic “forever chemicals” known as PFAS, the funds have yet to flow to contaminated communities.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/02/wisconsin-is-still-sitting-on-125-million-for-pfas-cleanup/
This article, first posted here, was republished with permission from Wisconsin Watch.
By Bennet Goldstein, Wisconsin Watch
Jay Dee Nichols stamped and packed stiff willow branches between maple wood posts, with muffled crunches.
At 63, the semi-retired handyman from the Wisconsin city of Black River Falls has trapped beavers before.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/01/an-ecosystem-engineers-vision-mock-beaver-dams-to-restore-wisconsin-wetlands/
By Danielle Kaeding, Wisconsin Public Radio
This article was republished here with permission from Wisconsin Public Radio.
A new study builds on previous research that shows winters on the Great Lakes are growing shorter due to climate change.
The Great Lakes have been losing an average of 14 days of winter conditions each decade since 1995 due to warming air temperatures, according to the study published in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Research Letters.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/01/study-finds-winter-days-on-the-great-lakes-growing-shorter-due-to-climate-change/
By Brett Walton, Circle of Blue
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan, Circle of Blue, Great Lakes Now at Detroit PBS, Michigan Public and The Narwhal who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/01/fertilizer-from-sewage-a-utility-money-maker-faces-uncertain-future/
By Danielle Kaeding, Wisconsin Public Radio
This article was republished here with permission from Wisconsin Public Radio.
The amount of cargo moving through ports on the Great Lakes is trailing behind shipments at the same time last year as the shipping season nears its end.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/01/cargo-tonnage-lagging-at-great-lakes-ports-as-shipping-season-nears-its-end/
Catch the latest energy news from around the Great Lakes region. Check back for these biweekly Energy News Roundups.
Chicago’s commitment to using 100% renewable energy at city-owned buildings went into effect Jan.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/01/energy-transition-small-wins-uncertainty-upper-midwest/
By Danielle Kaeding, Wisconsin Public Radio
This article was republished here with permission from Wisconsin Public Radio.
After decades of work, fishery managers say lake trout have fully recovered in most of Lake Superior after the invasive, fish-killing sea lamprey decimated their numbers.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/11/after-a-dramatic-decline-lake-trout-have-recovered-in-most-of-lake-superior/
Melting ice. Wildfire smoke. Crop losses. Climate change is already having an impact on the Great Lakes region. According to a 2022 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in order to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, humanity would have to reach net-zero emissions by the 2070s.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/11/environmentalists-industry-divided-over-energy-permitting-bill/
By Danielle Kaeding, Wisconsin Public Radio
This article was republished here with permission from Wisconsin Public Radio.
Ski hills in Wisconsin are relying more on snowmaking and other strategies to adapt to changing snow conditions due to climate change, according to a new study.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/11/pressed-for-powder-study-finds-ski-areas-are-relying-more-on-snowmaking/
By Izzy Ross, Interlochen Public Radio
This coverage is made possible through a partnership with IPR and Grist, a nonprofit independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future.
In Gogebic County, on the western end of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, towering old-growth evergreens carpet the landscape as it rolls down toward the deep blue of Lake Superior.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/11/public-hearing-draws-on-big-questions-about-upper-peninsula-copper-mining/
This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By Isabella Figueroa, Great Lakes Echo
Student researchers from Michigan State University and the University of Wisconsin are among the winners of an Environmental Protection Agency contest for innovations in sustainability.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/11/students-at-michigan-state-and-wisconsin-win-epa-funding-for-environmental-health-innovations/
By Danielle Kaeding, Wisconsin Public Radio
This article was republished here with permission from Wisconsin Public Radio.
Outside a September rally with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz at the University of Wisconsin-Superior, Ashland business owner and Democrat Will Pipkin set up signs with a cavalcade of slogans, including “Another cat lady for democracy” and “Without a healthy climate, there’s no freedom.”
Pipkin said he’s backing Vice President Kamala Harris and Walz in the presidential race because they’re the most progressive choice, and he thinks they would continue President Joe Biden’s work on green initiatives and climate change.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/10/climate-change-isnt-a-top-issue-in-this-election-some-wisconsin-voters-say-it-should-be/
By Danielle Kaeding, Wisconsin Public Radio
This article was republished here with permission from Wisconsin Public Radio.
Some Wisconsin groups are urging the Biden administration to do more to protect mature and old-growth forests under its proposal to conserve those trees as logging interests are pushing back against changes.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/10/environmental-groups-and-industry-at-odds-over-plan-to-conserve-old-growth-forests/
By John McCracken, Investigate Midwest
Investigate Midwest is an independent, nonprofit newsroom. Our mission is to serve the public interest by exposing dangerous and costly practices of influential agricultural corporations and institutions through in-depth and data-driven investigative journalism. Visit us online at www.investigatemidwest.org.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/10/wisconsin-towns-are-trying-to-limit-cafo-growth-big-dairy-is-fighting-back/
By Kristoffer Tigue, Inside Climate News
This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here.
MINNEAPOLIS—A record amount of federal aid will soon flow to states to help fix, replace or demolish their aging dams, many of which are under increasing pressure as climate change fuels more frequent and severe extreme weather events.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/10/midwest-dam-safety-projects-funding/
By Nina Elkadi, Inside Climate News
This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here.
The aquifer from which Joliet, Illinois, sources its drinking water is likely going to run too dry to support the city by 2030—a problem more and more communities are facing as the climate changes and groundwater declines.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/10/joliet-illinois-lake-michigan-drinking-water/
In a few months, many products with “forever chemicals” will be officially banned in Minnesota. Known as Amara’s Law, starting January 1, 2025 resident’s won’t be able to sell or distribute products with intentionally added PFAS from cookware, cosmetics, dental floss, juvenile products, menstruation products, textile furnishing, ski wax, upholstered furniture, cleaning products, or carpets and rugs — accirding to Vice Magazine.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/09/pfas-roundup-minnesota-pfas-regulation-said-to-be-the-strictest/
This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By Anna Barnes, Great Lakes Echo
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is banking on public oversight of the largest Great Lake to help gauge the threat of increasingly common algal blooms.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/09/wisconsin-officials-ask-the-public-to-report-algal-blooms-in-lake-superior/
By Danielle Kaeding, Wisconsin Public Radio
This article was republished here with permission from Wisconsin Public Radio.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court will hear a case that could have sweeping effects on state environmental regulators’ authority to force businesses to clean up PFAS pollution under the state’s spills law.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/09/wisconsin-supreme-court-to-hear-case-with-broad-implications-for-pfas-cleanup/
By Danielle Kaeding, Wisconsin Public Radio
This article was republished here with permission from Wisconsin Public Radio.
For at least the last decade, Dustin Soyring and his family have struggled with wolves on their farm in the northern Wisconsin town of Maple.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/09/farmers-turn-to-predator-proof-fences-to-deter-wolves-in-northern-wisconsin/
This article, first posted here, was republished with permission from Wisconsin Watch.
By Bennet Goldstein, Wisconsin Watch
Gregg Wolf vows “to put a new step forward” on “a new day” at a northwest Wisconsin dairy.
Appleton-based Breeze Dairy Group, where he serves as CEO, purchased Emerald Sky Dairy in March, shortly after the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources approved the St.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/08/how-many-manure-spills-is-too-many-st-croix-county-residents-scrutinize-big-farms-new-owner/
By Henry Redman, Wisconsin Examiner
A former Wisconsin state toxicologist who was involved in creating the state’s nitrate standards for drinking water in the 1980s alleges the science that has informed those standards for decades is deeply flawed and the standards should be stricter.
Dave Belluck, who worked as a toxicologist for multiple states and the federal government, says that “the science is the science” and regulating agencies, including the U.S.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/07/former-state-toxicologist-says-nitrate-drinking-water-standards-are-too-lax/
This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By Eric Freedman, Great Lakes Echo
A Detroit-built sailing ship that sank in Lake Michigan during an 1864 storm has been added to the National Register of Historic Places.
The three-masted Mojave, only 1 year old at the time, went down in heavy weather while northbound on the route from Chicago to Buffalo with a load of grain.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/07/ship-doomed-on-lake-michigan-now-moored-on-national-register-of-historic-places/
Hayward, Wisconsin got its first snow of the season on Halloween. But then Thanksgiving came, and Christmas, with no more white flakes. The new year started equally warm and snowless, and the organizers of the iconic American Birkebeiner ski race began to really worry. The February 24, 2024 race would be the 50th anniversary of the country’s most famous (and largest) cross-country ski event, and it would also be a World Cup competition, drawing top competitors from around the globe.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/05/disappointed-dogs-sad-skiers-frustrated-fishermen/
In yet another shakeup in the Ohio energy bribery saga that first came to light in 2020, a former state utility regulator was found dead by suicide last week. Sam Randazzo, 74, a longtime lobbyist who was appointed by Gov. Mike DeWine to chair the Ohio Public Utilities Commission, had been charged with taking a $4.3 million bribe from FirstEnergy Corp.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/04/energy-news-roundup-key-figure-in-ohio-bribery-scandal-dead-by-suicide/
By Daniel Wanschura, Interlochen Public Radio
Points North is a biweekly podcast about the land, water and inhabitants of the Great Lakes. This episode was shared here with permission from Interlochen Public Radio.
On November 11, 2023, Ben Karasch is up in his treestand, waiting for a deer.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/04/points-north-not-always-the-apex-predator/
Take your passion for native plants to the next level with the Wild Ones Fox Valley Area 50-hour Native Plant Certification! This unique program offers a comprehensive education in Wisconsin’s native flora, perfect for home gardeners, students, teachers, conservation professionals, and nature enthusiasts. Click here to learn more! Certification Program Highlights: Earn [...]
The post Earn Your Native Plant Certification with Wild Ones! appeared first on Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance.
Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance
https://fwwa.org/2025/02/17/wi-native-plant-certification-program/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=wi-native-plant-certification-program
This article, first posted here, was republished with permission from Wisconsin Watch.
By Bennet Goldstein, Wisconsin Watch
Last week, a divided Wisconsin Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling that limited the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ ability to regulate PFAS and other emerging contaminants under the state’s long-standing spills law.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/03/efforts-to-thwart-regulation-of-pfas-polluters-move-down-parallel-tracks/
By Katie Thoresen, WXPR
This story was originally published by WXPR. WXPR is a community-licensed public radio station serving north central Wisconsin and adjacent areas of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Listen to their stories here.
Bright blue tubes web between the trees that run to the little red pump house that sits in the woods on the edge of 10 acres full of maple trees at Whataview Farm in Phelps.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/03/the-northwoods-is-now-a-month-into-unusually-early-maple-tapping-season/
Driving through the Ottawa National Forest north of Land O’Lakes towards Dinner Lake you’ll see snow-covered piles stacked up every few feet in the woods along the road.
Many of the piles are wood debris and branches left over from logging operations on the Ottawa.
Some of the piles have been waiting there for two years as the Forest Service let them dry out.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/03/ottawa-national-forest-creates-shaded-fuel-brakes-to-help-protect-communities-from-wildfires/
This story was originally published by WXPR. WXPR is a community-licensed public radio station serving north central Wisconsin and adjacent areas of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Listen to their stories here.
Lac du Flambeau 6th Grader Gertie Moustache pulls a wooden, dulled spear from a bin.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/02/lac-du-flambeau-ojibwe-winter-games-go-on-despite-little-snow-on-ground/
The long, fast, toothy muskellunge (also known as muskie or musky) is nicknamed the “Fish of 10,000 Casts” due to its notoriously elusive nature. It is the apex predator in all waters where it’s found, known to hide in underwater cover, aggressively ambushing prey. They eat fish almost exclusively, though they have been known to consume just about anything they can swallow including birds, small mammals, and their own kind.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/02/wisconsins-state-fish-tops-the-food-chain/
The Lake Guardian is currently in its winter home, nestled along the docks in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In warmer months, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) uses this ship to gather data on water quality, and has for over forty years. And each year since 1991, a group of lucky educators has squeezed on board and, for nine days, also called this ship home.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/02/teachers-and-scientists-work-together-on-the-lake-guardian/
The PFAS research team: Lyn van Swol, Bret Shaw, Cristina Carvajal, Gavin Dehnert. Image credit: Hannan Hein of University of Wisconsin-Madison
A team from the University of Wisconsin-Madison received a grant from Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant to study PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) messaging to water users in Wisconsin with a special focus on Latinos, since they are the largest and fastest-growing minority group in the state.
PFAS, sometimes called “forever” chemicals, are found in various products and can contaminate drinking water. High levels of PFAS have been linked to health risks, such as increased cholesterol levels, decreased vaccine response, risk of thyroid disease, lower birth weights and reduced fertility in women. However, health risks at lower levels are uncertain. Communicating these risks effectively to increase understanding, avoid undue fear and provide recommendations for behaviors people can do to reduce risks is crucial to the 70% of Wisconsinites who depend on municipal water supplies.
“The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources now requires monitoring for PFAS in municipal water supplies and reporting when any are detected at over 70 parts per trillion,” said Lyn van Swol, principal investigator and a professor with UW-Madison’s Department of Communication Arts. “Given these new requirements and uncertainty about the health effects of PFAS, particularly at lower levels, public health educators are struggling with how to communicate with the public about the presence of PFAS in their municipal water supplies.”
Van Swol and the grant team will work to develop effective communication strategies about PFAS risks, focusing on engaging messages that encourage actions such as using water filtration systems. They will do this in three parts. First, they will gather data on people’s internet searches related to PFAS information. Second, they will test specific messages with municipal water users, and finally, test which messages engage social media audiences.
They will share their results via webinars, news releases and collaborations with Spanish-speaking media. The team will also develop resources for environmental and health communication professionals designed to enhance public understanding and proactive response to PFAS exposure in their communities.
The grant team is comprised of van Swol and Bret Shaw, professor with the Department of Life Sciences Communication and an environmental communication specialist with UW-Division of Extension; Gavin Dehnert, emerging contaminant scientist with Wisconsin Sea Grant; and Cristina Carvajal of Wisconsin Eco-Latinos.
Other partners include UW-Madison Extension, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Public Health Madison & Dane County and the UniverCity Alliance.
The study is part of a larger project coordinated by Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant that addresses PFAS knowledge gaps in the Great Lakes region.
The post PFAS in municipal drinking water: New grant designed to improve risk communication in Wisconsin first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant
News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant
https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/pfas-in-municipal-drinking-water-new-grant-designed-to-improve-risk-communication-in-wisconsin/
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The National Science Foundation has given a consortium of Great Lakes-area universities and tech companies $15 million to develop ways to extract harmful substances from wastewater.
The foundation announced Monday that it has named the Great Lakes ReNEW group as one of 10 regional innovation engines across the country.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/01/ap-consortium-of-great-lakes-universities-and-tech-companies-gets-15m-to-seek-ways-to-clean-wastewater/
Waves of Change is a new online interview series highlighting the diverse faces and perspectives shaping the environmental justice movement throughout the Great Lakes region.
This month, we spoke with Huda Alkaff, an ecologist, environmental educator and the founder and director of Wisconsin Green Muslims. The group’s work touches a variety of climate issues, including renewable energy.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/01/waves-of-change-meet-wisconsin-green-muslims-founder-and-director-huda-alkaff/
Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance is implementing conservation projects to protect our waters for future generations. Help us prioritize future restoration projects and strengthen funding requests by telling us how you enjoy the lakes!
Please be specific – we are interested in the areas you use the most (we are looking to improve your spots, not steal them!). The map will be made public but your name will not be tied to the points you add.
To get started, please click the button “Take the Survey Now!” or use the QR Code on the right.
Once on the map, click the “Edit” icon located on the upper left corner underneath the search bar. The icon looks like a list with a pencil. Select the type of activity that you would like to add, then click on the map where you do this activity to add it.
Add as many points as you’d like, keeping in mind we are interested in the areas most important to YOU. Adding an area that covers a whole lake is not as helpful as adding three points of the areas you fish the most and the boat launch you use to access it.
If you enjoy our waters in a way not listed, please select the most similar activity or select “other”, and add a description of the activity in the notes.
Thank you for your help and participation!
Contact Katie R with any questions or concerns at katherine@fwwa.org
Winnebago Waterways is a Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance recovery initiative. Contact us at wwinfo@fwwa.org
The post Tell us where and how you use the waterways! appeared first on Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance.
Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance
https://fwwa.org/2024/01/15/recreationsurvey/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=recreationsurvey
This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By Shealyn Paulis, Great Lakes Echo
Fish-leather purses and wallets may make their way into Great Lakes fashion with an initiative to use 100% of commercially caught fish by 2025.
One of the latest projects of a binational Great Lakes organization is to fully use the region’s whitefish, lake trout, yellow perch, walleye and white sucker.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/01/twenty-companies-pledge-to-use-all-parts-of-great-lakes-fish-by-2025/
In 2020, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) developed a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for the Upper Fox and Wolf River (UFW). A TMDL is a calculation of the maximum amount of a pollutant that a body of water can absorb and still meet water quality. The TMDL was utilized in the creation of the EPA’s Nine Key Elements (9KE). Within the 9KE there is a requirement for reductions in pollution to meet water quality goals. The goals within this plan are to reduce Total Phosphorus (TP) which also relates to the reduction of Total Suspended Solids (TSS) such as erosion and flooding.
Approximately 34% of the reduction from the TMDL needs to come from the Winnebago Waterways Recovery Area with 51% of that reduction assigned to agriculture. Alteration in farming practices and structural changes will help make reductions.
Currently, a missing piece in the TMDL and draft 9KE plan is streambank erosion. Streambank erosion is lumped in with agricultural loading estimates and required reductions in the TMDL. In some watersheds, we anticipate streambank erosion being a significant contributor to the total TMDL agricultural load. We need to inventory the streambanks in each HUC12 so that we can estimate potential TP/TSS reductions that could come from stabilizing streambanks to stop streambank erosion and to prioritize project locations. Stabilizing streambanks would be paired with efforts to increase infiltration on the land to reduce the volume and rate of flow that damages streambanks during storm events.
For this project, we will begin by completing streambank inventories in the four highest loading HUC12s located within the WWRA. The pollutant load from these HUC12s significantly contributes to water quality impairments of the streams within each HUC12, the Winnebago Lakes, and Lake Michigan. In addition to providing loading estimates from streambank erosion, this project also seeks to identify and prioritize potential locations for future restoration projects to help reduce nutrient loading and protect or enhance existing habitat. Going forward, this project will serve as a template for completing future streambank inventories for the remaining 28 HUC12s located in the WWRA.
Target HUC12 Subwatersheds in the 2023 Streambank Erosion Inventory
HUC12 to be Inventoried HUC12 Code Stream Miles
Town of Dale-Rat River 040202022102 60
Eldorado Marsh-Fond Du Lac River 040302020204 63
Lake Poygan – Willow Creek 040302022006 88
Pipe Creek – Frontal Lake Winnebago 040302020303 91
In the Spring of 2023, a method was developed using GIS to determine streambanks to be physically inventoried as they are representative of the HUC12 they are located in. The method developed has been recorded in SOP#1: Streambank Erosion Inventory Desktop Review so it can be duplicated.
Fieldwork was accomplished in the summer of 2023. Streambank information from the desktop review was utilized to complete a physical inventory of these sections.
December 2023 – February 2024: Streambank Inventory Data Analysis was developed along with the extrapolation. These tools will allow an estimation of sediment loss and load & phosphorus loss and load for an entire watershed.
Winnebago Waterways is a Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance recovery initiative. Contact us at wwinfo@fwwa.org
The post Prioritizing stabilization projects using streambank erosion inventories in the Fox-Wolf River Basin appeared first on Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance.
Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance
https://fwwa.org/2024/01/11/streambank-inventory/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=streambank-inventory
Since assuming the helm of Milwaukee’s sewerage agency (MMSD) in 2002, Kevin Shafer has been focused on managing and expanding the city’s deep tunnels designed to keep sewage out of Lake Michigan.
Knowing that tunnels alone are not enough, Shafer also started a campaign to emphasize green infrastructure and over the years, Milwaukee went from having a reputation as a bad actor to being a national leader in managing sewage overflows.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/11/wisconsin-agencys-expanded-mission-led-to-record-450-million-investment-in-milwaukee-waterways/
Chelsea Volpano’s coastal erosion study began drawing attention on social media last week, but not for the reasons you would expect.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison student was gathering the final data set for her Ph.D. on October 30 when her small boat stopped responding to the remote control.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/11/coastal-erosion-researcher-appeals-for-help-in-finding-her-remote-control-boat/
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Federal, state and local officials have agreed to spend about $450 million to dredge contaminated sediment from Milwaukee’s Lake Michigan harbor and area rivers.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday that it will devote $275 million from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to the project.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/10/ap-federal-local-officials-agree-on-450-million-deal-to-clean-up-milwaukee-waterways/
WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — A Milwaukee suburb has finally started to pull millions of gallons of water per day from Lake Michigan after spending years seeking approval from regulators.
The city of Waukesha began the diversion Monday. City officials say 90% of the city will be using Lake Michigan’s water within five days.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/10/ap-milwaukee-suburb-pulling-millions-gallons-lake-michigan/
