News

Dane County Executive Melissa Agard speaks at the 2025 event

Thank you for helping make the Community Coffee a success!

We extend our heartfelt gratitude for your support in ensuring that this year’s Clean Lakes Community Coffee was a resounding success! This cherished event, held every other year, serves as a platform to foster unity within our community, provide educational opportunities, and enhance awareness about the significance of our lakes. Your participation has truly made a difference in highlighting the importance of preserving and protecting this vital natural resource for current and future generations.

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Shoreline Monitoring (Melissa Michaud) on Lake Waubesa July 2023 - Courtesy Carolyn Betz 2

Lake Waubesa Conservation Association primed to take action

By Carolyn Betz, Project Manager and Lead Author of the Lake Waubesa Management Plan

Lake Waubesa Conservation Association and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources approved a comprehensive lake management plan in late 2024. The plan presents an up-to-date analysis of historical and current water quality data, the unique wetlands, and phosphorus inputs from rural and urban land uses. The plan presents dozens of recommendations to protect and improve the lake.

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2025 FA 5K

Thank you for helping make Frozen Assets a week to remember!

Thank you for helping make the 2025 Frozen Assets Festival and 5K Run, Walk, and Skate one of the best ever! Throughout the week, Frozen Assets not only brought the community together, but it also educated people and raised awareness for our number one asset – the lakes!

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LakeForecast water quality monitoring in 2024

Clean Lakes Alliance’s LakeForecast water quality monitoring program completed its 12th season in 2024. This program is entirely volunteer-implemented, with over 100 trained monitors assessing water quality conditions from nearshore and offshore locations across all five Yahara lakes (Mendota, Monona, Wingra, Waubesa, and Kegonsa). From Memorial Day through Labor Day, volunteers recorded water clarity, air and water temperature, waterfowl presence, the extent of floating plant debris, and the severity of green algae and cyanobacteria at public beaches, lakeside parks, and private piers. Submitted data can be seen in real-time on Lakeforecast.org or our free app, allowing the public to stay up to date on current lake conditions.

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Ice on Lake Mendota on January 15, 2024, courtesy Robert Bertera

Cold overnight temperatures help Lake Mendota freeze, briefly

Ice on! Cold nighttime temperatures, combined with cold water and light winds, helped Lake Mendota officially freeze on December 25, 2024, as declared by the Wisconsin State Climatology Office. Two days later, on December 27th, Lake Mendota reopened as high temperatures climbed well into the 40s. The largest lake in the Yahara Watershed froze for the first time in the 2024-2025 winter season just five days after December 20th, which is the median ice-on date for Lake Mendota. The latest date ice-on has been declared is January 30th, and that took place in 1932.

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Aquatic plants being harvested in Lake Monona (photo courtesy Dane County)

An interview with a Dane County Aquatic Plant Harvester Operator

If you’ve spent time around any of Greater Madison’s lakes, you’ve probably seen these large machines in action. Unofficially and incorrectly known as “weed cutters,” the machines and their operators play a vital role in keeping our lakes open to everyone. The proper name for the machine is aquatic plant harvester, because they’re not just cutting weeds, they’re harvesting and removing vegetation from our lakes. 

So how do they work? What are they doing? Who is out there driving them? Clean Lakes Alliance visited Lake Monona on a beautiful August day to ride along on one of Dane County’s aquatic plant harvesters driven by Donn Kidd to get some answers.

Aquatic plants being harvested in Lake Monona
Riding along with Donn Kidd on one of Dane County’s aquatic plant harvesters on Lake Monona in 2023, photo courtesy Dane County
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Frozen Assets cancels all Lake Mendota events due to poor ice conditions

Due to continued warm weather, Clean Lakes Alliance has made the decision to cancel all Frozen Assets events scheduled to take place on Lake Mendota. The decision was made after multiple days of drilling test holes in Lake Mendota, as well as speaking with experts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a local meteorologist, and local law enforcement officials. Events including skydiving, Kites on Mendota, snowshoeing, pond hockey, and the Mary B will not be at Frozen Assets this year.

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