And….we’re back!

Greetings Lake Fans! Hope everyone had a great summer. We sure did – lots of activities and even more meetings! Our momentum is almost breathtaking. So much to share…so little room. We’ll have more summer fun updates next month.

Sincere thanks for your continued support.

Dane County Water Champion Awards

In early June, the Clean Lakes Alliance hosted an awards reception at the Edgewater Hotel. This is the second year we have hosted the event, and we were happy to be part of the special awards going to Kathleen Falk and Dave Cieslewicz for their support and love of our lakes. Great lake friends, and fun fare – culminating in a sweet thunderstorm rolling across Lake Mendota.

Yahara Pride Farm Conservation Team

With the help of Kevin Connors at Dane County Land and Water Resources, a fantastic group of energetic, progressive farmers has formed a strategic committee to help self-organize the farm community. The team has been meeting monthly since February at our Clean Lakes Alliance offices and has made a ton of progress in identifying best land-management practices and beginning to lay out an incentive and recognition-based plan that will lead to better farmland conservation.

We are excited to have the following Ag Professionals on the committee: Jeff Endres, Dave Fahey, Will Hensen, Rob Klink, Walter Meinholz, Bob Uphoff

Ex Officio: Kevin Connors, Dave Merritt

City Slickers: Don and James

September Community Board Meeting Highlights

1. A presentation from InVision, which is donating services to develop not only a business plan for organizing Clean Lakes Alliance but also a strategic plan for the 2012 launch of the Clean Lakes Initiative.
2. A report on the 5th Annual Clean Lakes Festival held on August 27 2011, which raised nearly $100,000 and drew a record attendance of 4,000-plus people who enjoyed fun-filled day connecting to our lakes.
3. News that Clean Lakes Alliance has secured/requested $155,000 in dedicated funds and commitments to finance an Engineering Report that will prioritize all activities related to a 50-percent phosphorous reduction in the Yahara Watershed.
4. A presentation on Adaptive Management under consideration at the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District. This strategy involves meeting the Rock River Basin total maximum daily load (TMDL) by investing in targeted Yahara Watershed improvements rather than spending at least twice as much for a brick-and-mortar addition to deal with problems such as storm-water outfalls.

Strategic Direction Committee

This past spring, the Community Board determined that the best way to identify the direction of the Alliance in terms of watershed work was to pare down to a strategic direction committee and meet more frequently to chart our course.

Committee members:

• Lloyd Eagan – DNR
• Kevin Connors – Dane County
• Sue Jones – Dane County
• Greg Fries – City of Madison
• Genesis Steinhorst – City of Madison
• Lars Barber – Baird
• John Magnuson – UW Limnology
• Dave Taylor – MMSD
• Randy Peterson – Lands’ End
• Tom Groth – Thermo Fisher
• Mike Gerner – Clean Lakes Alliance
• John Kothe – Clean Lakes Alliance

Here are the highlights of their progress so far:

• Set a goal of 50 percent reduction of phosphorus to the lakes.
• Agreed that the Yahara CLEAN report had the information needed to develop a road map to achieve the goal.
• Determined that a private engineering firm with Yahara Watershed knowledge would be best suited to create the road map.
• Created an RFP and sent it to six local/regional firms.
• Reviewed proposals and presentations and chose Strand Associates as the firm best suited for this task.
• Set January 15 as the completion date of the road map.

Lots of progress…and lots more work to do. Stay tuned for next steps!

Aquapalooza – A Wet Music Fest!

In late July the Clean Lakes Alliance joined Skipper Bud’s in hosting Aquapalooza near Picnic Point on Lake Mendota. Hundreds of boats and a floating band stage rocked the lake for the 90º afternoon. Raised money. Raised Awareness. Raised a glass to Madison’s lakes.

Clean Lakes Festival – A splash for the whole family!

If you missed the fifth annual Clean Lakes Festival…you missed a great time. A sun-kissed day at Olin Park, with Madison’s beautiful skyline as a backdrop, the Festival was filled with boats and music and food and fun for everyone.

Thousands of lake lovers landed at Olin beach early in the day to enjoy canoes, kayaks and paddleboards from Wingra Boats. They tried their hands at rowing with the Camp Randall Rowing Club. And they rolled around the beach on a log with the Madison Log Rolling Club.

Free Betty Lou cruise rides were provided by the Clean Lakes Alliance all day and into the night.

As afternoon disappeared, the Mad-City Ski Team took to the water for a fun ski show. Then Steez hit the sound stage for the last of four concerts held throughout the day. It’s hard to explain the atmosphere with a great band playing and the by-now glistening city lights at their backs. Madison at its finest.

The event again raised nearly $100,000 from festival proceeds and generous sponsors. Thanks to everyone who had a chance to join us.

See you next year!

Clean Lakes Alliance in the News

It was hard to miss us on TV, radio and print this summer. We were very honored to kickoff our lake season with a panel on WISC’s “For the Record” show with Neil Heinen. You can watch that show here.

Clean Lakes Alliance was also featured in the Lakes issue of Madison Magazine in June, in editorials at Wisconsin State Journal in June and July, and lots of coverage before and during the festival. Ads for our Crazy4Lakes.com website ran all summer long on Channel 3 and channel3000.com

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

To our wonderful sponsors, members and donors that have made 2011 a breakthrough year for the Yahara Lakes: Without your support, we would not be able to maintain our momentum and keep the fire lit under this important cause.

New Business Members of the Alliance

• American Family Insurance
• Placon Corporation
• Metcalfe’s Market
• CG Schmidt
• CresaPartners
• Greater Madison Convention & Visitors Bureau
• HyCite Corporation
• ATC
• Bruce Company
• UW Alumni Association

New Friends of Clean Lakes

• Natural Heritage Land Trust
• Friends of Lake Waubesa
• New Community
• Board Members
• Bob Miller, Monona Mayor
• D. Michael Mucha, Chief Engineer and Director at Madison Metro Sewerage District
• Katie Crawley, Assistant to the Mayor of Madison
• Melissa Mallot, Chair, Dane County Lakes and Watershed Commission
• Bryan Thompson, Lake Kegonsa Representative
• Jim Welsh, Executive Director, Natural Heritage Land Trust

Contact us Anytime!

Don Heilman
don@cleanlakesalliance.com

James Tye
james@cleanlakesalliance.com

Phone:608.836.6973

The Lake-O-Gram is intended to keep our members and partners up to date with our current efforts. If you have any suggestions to improve our Alliance or this newsletter, please let us know.

Thank you for your support of our lakes.

Striving to return to a clean and thriving watershed.