A comprehensive fish survey is an important part of maintaining healthy fisheries in any lake. In the spring of 2023, Clean Lakes Alliance Watershed Engagement Manager Caitlin McAleavey joined a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) fisheries crew on Lake Kegonsa to learn more about what goes into assessing our lakes’ fish populations. The following is her account of the trip.
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.
A winter of warm weather meant a Frozen Assets like we’ve never seen before. While poor ice conditions meant nothing could be held on Lake Mendota, we still engaged with community members on The Edgewater’s Grand Plaza!
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.
Ice on! Temperatures below zero, combined with cold water and low wind, helped Lake Mendota officially freeze on January 15, 2024, as declared by the Wisconsin State Climatology Office. Lake Mendota, the largest lake in the Yahara Watershed, froze a full 26 days after December 20th, which is the median ice-on date for the largest lake in the Yahara River Watershed. The January 15th freeze is the 3rd latest freeze date since monitoring began over 170 years ago. The latest ice-on date is January 30th, and that took place in 1932.
Clean Lakes Alliance’s LakeForecast water quality monitoring program completed its 11th season in 2023. This program is entirely volunteer implemented, with 90 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, 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 general public to stay up to date on current lake conditions.
We reached out to 20 lakefront restaurants to find out what they felt makes them special – besides their great food and drinks! The following are the responses we received and included in our 2023 Greater Madison Lake Guide.
Henry Vilas Park is one of Madison’s oldest lakeside parks, and provides a gathering place along Lake Wingra for swimming, fishing, and even ice skating when the lagoon freezes over. The park was created from a 1904 donation from Wisconsin’s U.S. Senator, William Freeman Vilas (1840-1908), to the Madison Park and Pleasure Drive Association, an organization committed to the development of parks and scenic drives in the Madison area in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Vilas also served as U.S. Postmaster General and Secretary of the Department of the Interior under President Grover Cleveland. Henry Vilas Park is named in memory of William’s son who died in childhood.
Spend time walking along Lake Monona between Law Park and Brittingham Park, and you’ll notice anglers tossing lines from plenty of places. Unfortunately, there is a lack of accessible shoreline fishing locations. Folks fishing have to contend with hazards like the wall at the Monona Terrace or the railroad tracks…which are actually illegal to use for fishing. Still, the challenges of fishing on Lake Monona do not seem to stop diehard anglers from spending time doing what they love.
An interview with University of Wisconsin Lifesaving Station staff
Article first published in the 2023 Greater Madison Lake Guide, a Clean Lakes Alliance publication
Situated on the southern shore of Lake Mendota is a very unassuming building. You may not recognize the building, but you’ve probably seen one of the boats housed here out on the lake. It’s the University of Wisconsin Lifesaving Station and its job is to help keep everyone safe on Greater Madison’s largest lake.
