Science & Outdoors
Portage county lakes planning project
The Pointer
jspra793@uwsp.edu
Lake management plans are currently being processed for Portage County lakes with help from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Center for Watershed Science and Education.
Teaming up with the Department of Natural Resources and local municipalities, planning sessions for residents of these lake areas are being organized in order to update concerned citizens on the current issues facing the 29 lakes of Portage County.
“We want to get as many people involved in the planning process as we can,” said communications specialist Jen McNelly.
The citizens of these areas play a key role in the water management of the lakes. The purpose of these planning sessions is “to have enough informed citizens around the county to monitor and protect the lakes and make informed decisions in the lake and land,” said Nancy Turyk, water resource scientist.
With these plans in place, “we’ll have healthier lakes for people to enjoy,” she said.
The Portage County Lakes Planning Project initially began in 2002 with a study done by UW-SP faculty and students of the 29 lakes inhabiting the county. The data is now being used to inform the public of the conditions and habitats of the lakes to evoke proper decisions for the management plan.
Conditions such as water quality and invasive species are hot topics, along with shoreland and fish habitats.
Deterioration of shorelands occurs when residents or lake users undertake similar actions to the lake shores and lands as they would their residential lawn. This destroys the natural habitats, including the homes of frogs and turtles, surrounding the lake.
Invasive species like Eurasian watermilfoil, an aquatic plant, are being found in freshwater areas throughout the county, such as McDill Pond.
“A lot of recreational users lake hop. If they don’t watch [their equipment] they can spread invasive species pretty quick,” McNelly said.
It is also important for the plan to balance endangered species like the Fassett’s locoweed, which has been found in Wolf and Pickerel lakes. The plant depends on the fluctuating water levels occurring in these lakes.
“It’s really not found a whole lot of other places in the world,”
McNelly said.
Planning meetings for Wolf, Pickerel and Fountain lakes are currently being held. Surveys from
these lakes have been processed and the results will be posted in March on the Portage County Lakes Web site: http://www.co.portage.wi.us/ Anyone can take the surveys.
The surveys are a “good way for us to figure out what things we need to educate people on,” said CJ Boettcher, research assistant to Turyk. “It’s possible that, maybe, they see something and we don’t.”
The second meeting for Wolf, Pickerel and Fountain lakes will be held at the Belmont Town Hall in Almond on Feb. 19 at 6:30 p.m. Professionals and specialists will be brought in to discuss the results of the surveys.
A shoreland restoration workshop at UW-SP is being held on Mar. 28, in Trainer Natural Resouces room 122 from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. It’s open to the public and will include speakers Nancy Turyk, UW-SP master gardener and a lakes specialist from the UW-Extension.
