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Farm Tour

When many of us think composting, we think about throwing a banana peel or two on the heap. But composting has a place in agriculture too – three farms in the Yahara River watershed are implementing manure composting practices and seeing major benefits.

“The initiative Yahara Pride Farms has taken shows that farmers can do the composting process,” said Andy Skwor, agriculture team leader at MSA Professional Services Inc., a Midwest-based consulting firm.

We spoke with Andy last week about this exciting project to test both the costs and environmental benefits of windrow manure composting.

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Mayor Paul Soglin

A message from Paul Soglin, Mayor of Madison, for the 2015 State of the Lakes Annual Report:

The year of 1973 is notable for a couple of firsts. The same year that I was first elected Mayor, we adopted the City’s original salt reduction resolution. Another environmental milestone was achieved ten years later, in 1983, when the City passed one of the region’s first storm water ordinances. 

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Streambank and Stormwater Projects

Nakoma Channel Before. Photo by Phil Gaebler.

Nakoma Channel Before. Photo by Phil Gaebler.

The City of Madison completed two major channel restorations in 2015, including 2,000 feet of Wingra Creek and 500 feet in the Nakoma Channel, north of Lake Wingra. The city also completed stormwater pollution prevention plans for eight public work sites, and implemented control structures at two of these sites. These include a stormwater catch basin and screen structures and separators, which trap debris and sediment from high-volume runoff.

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Volunteer with Clean Lakes Alliance

We are happy to place volunteers on projects that support our lakes! Opportunities include skilled office and administration assistance, special events, and watershed projects like shoreline restoration or beach clean ups.

Sign up for existing volunteer opportunities below. If you’d like to be added to our email list for volunteer opportunities, please email us at volunteer@cleanlakesalliance.org.

Loop the Lake Volunteering

We need your help to make the Loop the Lake Benefit Bike Ride happen on Saturday, June 15th, 2024. Volunteers are needed for event setup and cleanup, water distribution, packet pickup, and more. Volunteering your time is a great way to give back to the lakes. Sign up to volunteer here.

Event Volunteering

For more information about volunteering for upcoming events, contact volunteer@cleanlakesalliance.org.

Large Group Volunteer Days

To coordinate a watershed volunteer project for your group, please contact us by phone or at volunteer@cleanlakesalliance.org.

Lake Water Quality Monitoring

To see current opportunities to participate in sampling the quality of our lakes, please see our water quality monitoring page.

Water Quality Monitoring

Build your career and learn about our lakes

To learn more about our internship program, click here.

 

 

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Volunteer around the watershed

Mendota

Friends of Cherokee Marsh The Friends of Cherokee Marsh formed in 2006 to protect, preserve, and restore the beauty, value, and health of Cherokee Marsh and the upper Yahara River Watershed.

Friends of the Pheasant Branch Conservancy The Friends of Pheasant Branch Conservancy work to restore, preserve, and promote the value of conservancy lands and other habitats in the Pheasant Branch Watershed for today and tomorrow.

Lakeshore Nature Preserve The University of Wisconsin-Madison Lakeshore Nature Preserve permanently protects the undeveloped lands along the shore of Lake Mendota. The Preserve shelters biologically significant plant and animal communities for teaching, research, outreach, and environmentally sensitive use, and safeguards beloved cultural landscapes.

Monona

Friends of Starkweather Creek is a citizen’s group dedicated to the enhancement of the Starkweather Creek Watershed’s environmental quality. The Friends seek to raise public awareness and appreciation of the creek through education and outreach to watershed residents, businesses, and landowners; and serve as advocates for sound watershed planning and management practices.
The mission of the Friends of Starkweather Creek is to work for a healthy urban stream and to benefit the community through stewardship, education, and advocacy.

Wingra

Friends of Lake Wingra Friends of Lake Wingra came together in 1998 with an interest in improving the health of Lake Wingra through coordinated watershed management and by engaging the watershed community in stewardship of the lake and its watershed.

University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum The Arboretum’s mission is to conserve and restore Arboretum lands, advance restoration ecology, and foster the land ethic.

Kegonsa

Friends of Lake Kegonsa Society FOLKS is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to protect, maintain and enhance environmental and recreational values at Lake Kegonsa and its surroundings, and to represent the collective interests of the members. In other words, FOLKS is a volunteer organization interested in preserving our neighborhood.

Lake Kegonsa State Park Friends Group The Friends work to support Lake Kegonsa State Park.

Waubesa

Lake Waubesa Conservation Association The Lake Waubesa Conservation Association engages in information and educational activities to preserve and enhance the land, air, and water resources in and surrounding Lake Waubesa to ensure a quality environment.

Friends of Capital Springs The Friends of Capital Springs assist Dane County, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and other key partners in the implementation of the master plan for the Capital Springs Recreation Area. We connect visitors to the park’s diverse natural resources through educational, recreational, archeological, and scientific opportunities.

Yahara

Friends of the Yahara River Headwaters, Inc. To enhance and protect the quality of the Yahara River headwaters while educating the community and providing sustainable recreational opportunities.

Friends of the Yahara River Parkway Friends of the Yahara River Parkway work hard to restore and enhance this National Register of Historic Places Landscape; from Lake Monona to Tenney Park

Yahara Lakes Association The Yahara Lakes Association is a non-profit organization which works to improve and preserve the lakes and rivers in the Yahara chain of lakes in south-central Wisconsin. YLA is dedicated to representing waterfront property owners and advocating for the vitality of the Yahara chain of lakes so that everyone may enjoy them.

Regional

Clean Wisconsin At Clean Wisconsin, we envision a future for our state where: Everyone has access to healthy air and clean drinking water; Residents, businesses and visitors enjoy an abundance of swimmable, fishable lakes, rivers, and streams; Wisconsin’s economy is strong and powered by clean energy; and Wisconsin remains a wonderful place to live, work, and play.

Groundswell Conservancy The mission of Groundswell Conservancy is to protect special places, forever. Since its inception in 1983 (originally as the Dane County Natural Heritage Foundation and later as Natural Heritage Land Trust), the group has protected hundreds of special places.

Wisconsin Wetlands Association a statewide non-profit dedicated to the protection, restoration, and enjoyment of wetlands and associated ecosystems through science-based programs, education, and advocacy. We envision a state where wetlands are healthy and plentiful and support ecological and societal needs, and where citizens care for, appreciate, and interact with these natural resources.

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Clean Lakes Alliance is a nonprofit organization devoted to improving the water quality of the lakes, streams, and wetlands of the Yahara River Watershed

We are a unique partnership of diverse stakeholders who are building on and expanding upon decades of ongoing efforts to preserve and restore our waters.

Our goal is to raise community awareness of the issues facing the watershed, advocate for the welfare of our lakes, and help procure the necessary funding to clean and protect these waterways.

We work closely with state, county and local government agencies, waterway user groups, lakefront property owners, and community nonprofits to serve as both a positive voice for the promotion of our cherished lakes and a fundraising vehicle for achieving these ends.

Renew the Blue cover

Renew the Blue

Renew the Blue is a cross-sector partnership initiative that commits to untapping the full potential of Greater Madison’s lakes. The initiative, developed and led by a diverse coalition of 19 community groups, offers an updated blueprint for cleaner lakes and beaches.

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State of the Lakes Report

The State of the Lakes Report reports on the current status of water quality in our lakes and illustrates our collective progress towards our phosphorus-reduction goal.

Badger Volunteers - Water Quality Monitoring

Water Quality Monitoring

Clean Lakes Alliance’s water quality monitoring program trains volunteers to gather data about water quality and beach conditions at near- and off-shore sites on all five Madison lakes.

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Lake Forecast

Lakeforecast.org is our easy to use mobile-ready website where you view real-time water quality conditions on all five Yahara lakes during the monitoring season. LakeForecast is also available as an app on Android and Apple – download the app for free!

Volunteer Day

Clean Lakes Volunteer Days

Our Clean Lakes Volunteer Days provide hands-on, meaningful volunteer opportunities for local companies, where employees help maintain our lakeshores while learning more about our lakes.

Yahara CLEAN

Yahara CLEAN Strategic Action Plan

The Yahara CLEAN Strategic Action Plan for Phosphorus Reduction details 14 actions to achieve our goal to cut phosphorus runoff to our lakes in half.

Read more about Clean Lakes Alliance’s community programs.

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Project update via Peter Foy, President of the Friends of Lake Kegonsa Society

The Friends of Lake Kegonsa Society (FOLKS) has initiated what is hoped will result in a major carp removal project that will be conducted over the next two years on Lake Kegonsa. An initial carp tracking study is intended to identify times and locations where large concentrations of carp might be targeted for removal. FOLKS is working closely with Dane County, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) and the UW Limnology Department on this challenging project. The project will be supervised and monitored by Kurt Welke, Fisheries Manager, WDNR with support from Dr. Richard Lathrop, honorary fellow at UW-Madison Center for Limnology and retired DNR limnologist.

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Welcome to Waves in the Watershed, an in-depth newsletter for donors of the Clean Lakes Alliance (CLA). Waves in the Watershed is published every two months and details the progress that CLA is making toward our goal of reducing phosphorus in the Yahara watershed by 50% by 2025 and in engaging the community in our efforts.

Please note – the Lake-O-Gram will continue to be delivered each month to the inboxes of over 8,000 individuals who have expressed an interest in CLA’s initiatives and events. The Lake-O-Gram is a brief digest that promotes upcoming events and volunteer opportunities and includes highlights and snapshots of lake efforts in the watershed.

In Partnership,

The Clean Lakes Alliance Team

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Welcome to Waves in the Watershed, an in-depth newsletter for donors of the Clean Lakes Alliance (CLA). Waves in the Watershed will come out every two months and will detail the progress that the CLA is making toward our goal of reducing phosphorus in the Yahara watershed by 50% by 2025 and in engaging the community in our efforts.

Please note – the Lake-o-Gram will continue to be delivered to the inboxes of over 7000 individuals who have expressed a general interest in the CLA’s initiatives and events. The Lake-o-Gram is a brief digest that promotes upcoming events and volunteer opportunities and includes highlights and snapshots of what we’re working on. 

In Partnership,

The Clean Lakes Alliance Executive Team
Don Heilman, James Tye and Elizabeth Katt-Reinders

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June 13, 2012
Public Health – Madison & Dane County
For Immediate Release Contact:
Jeff Golden 608 243 0302

Summer is Blue-Green Algae Season
Avoiding Contact is Best Way to Avoid Problems

MADISON, Wis. — Based on recent news reports and Public Health beach closing notices, this year´s blue-green algae season has clearly begun. The safest response when you see a bloom is to keep yourself, your children, and your pets out of the water and avoid all contact.

While blue-green algae often occurs intermittently throughout the summer season, the dry, hot, and sunny weather forecasted for the next seven to ten days may create favorable conditions for increased blue-green algae blooms on area waterways.

Blue-green algae are actually not algae, but photosynthetic bacteria (sunlight-loving) known as cyanobacteria.  Some of these bacteria are capable of producing toxins. Exposure to these toxins can produce a range of reactions, from rashes and lip blistering to negative effects on the liver and nervous system.  It can include sore throats, headaches, muscular and joint pain and asthmatic and gastro-intestinal symptoms.  Dogs swimming in or drinking water covered with a bloom can suffer near fatal or fatal consequences.

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