fbpx

News

Aquatic plant transport barge on Lake Mendota

By Pete Jopke, Water Resources Planner with the Dane County Land & Water Resources Department
Article first published in the 2022 Greater Madison Lake Guide, a Clean Lakes Alliance publication

Aquatic plant harvesting on the Yahara lakes

The Dane County Land & Water Resources Department manages an aquatic plant harvesting program with much of the harvesting occurring on lakes Mendota, Monona, Waubesa, and Kegonsa. Occasionally, other smaller waterbodies are harvested to aid in recreation and invasive plant management. The program dates to the early 1980’s when five harvesters were in operation. In those years, harvests totaled over 300 tons of plant material. In 2021, the existing fleet of 12 harvesters recorded plant harvests of more than 12,000 tons!

Read More

2022-10_CL101_header-web

October 12, 2022 @ 8:00 am 9:00 am

2022-10_CL101_header-web

Join us for this in-person or virtual hybrid edition of Clean Lakes 101 on Wednesday, October 12, 2022. Register below as an in-person attendee or to receive a Zoom link through your confirmation email and watch virtually.

Register by entering your information in the box below

All Clean Lakes 101 events are free to Friends of Clean Lakes Alliance. Friends are individuals that support our lakes annually with a tax-deductible donation.

About this Talk

Following on the successful implementation of the City of Madison/UW/State partnership for an in-stream sediment settling channel and stream bank restoration, UW-Madison retained SmithGroup to carry out a landscape master plan to create the necessary planning and analysis documents to envision a restored Willow Creek corridor. This presentation will review the overall project objectives within the planning framework of environmental quality, green infrastructure practices, community placemaking, and land stewardship. With the increased student/faculty/staff population into the area planned with adjacent development, Willow Creek is envisioned to transcend simple stormwater conveyance into an integral component of the campus greenspace network that is set up to ensure management success and act as an amenity for the entire community.

About our Speaker

Aaron Williams, PLA, ASLA currently serves as the interim director of Campus Planning & Landscape Architecture, overseeing the development, interpretation, and implementation of the campus master plan on the spectacular 938-acre University of Wisconsin flagship campus. Additionally, he is involved in physical development area plans, land use studies, building massing studies, mobility planning, campus signage and wayfinding, as well as coordinating the municipal zoning approval process and being a liaison between adjacent neighborhoods through the Joint Campus Area Committee and UW-Madison Design Review Board. He is a UW-Madison alum and licensed landscape architect.

Aaron Williams

Event Details

This event will be held at The Edgewater hotel – Mendota Ballroom level 3 (1001 Wisconsin Pl, Madison, WI 53703). Doors open at 7:30 a.m. The program runs from 8 – 9 a.m. A Q/A session will follow the presentation as time allows. Complimentary event parking will be available at The Edgewater parking ramp. Parking spots fill up quickly and may be limited depending on hotel capacity.

A Zoom link will be sent to all registrants via your confirmation email.

Clean Lakes 101 Lecture Series

Clean Lakes 101 is a series of educational events open to the public and a great chance to learn more about the science behind the issues that affect our lakes. Each month we feature a different expert to make the science accessible and interesting to non-technical audiences. The series is produced in partnership with the UW-Madison Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and UW-Extension Lakes, with presenting sponsors First Weber Foundation and Johnson Financial Group, hosting sponsor The Edgewater, supporting sponsor National Guardian Life Insurance Company, and media sponsor WKOW.

CL101_sponsor_footer-2022

2022-06_CL101_header-web

June 8, 2022 @ 8:00 am 9:00 am

Clean Lakes 101

Join us for this in-person or virtual hybrid edition of Clean Lakes 101 to learn about research to predict summertime algal abundance. Register as an in-person attendee or to receive a Zoom link through your confirmation email and watch virtually.

About this Talk

In recent decades, cultural eutrophication of coastal waters and inland lakes around the world has contributed to a rapid expansion of harmful cyanobacteria (blue-green algae). Potential outbreaks of toxin-producing cyanobacteria species have drawn concern from health officials and water managers given their negative ecological, aesthetic, and socioeconomic impacts.

Currently, little information regarding expected summertime cyanobacteria abundance is available prior to the season. With sufficient lead time, communicating the likelihood of elevated cyanobacteria abundance may be informative for proactively managing potential threats to lake and beach safety. We developed a model to issue predictions in early June of expected summertime cyanobacteria abundance for Lake Mendota. The prediction model demonstrates moderate to good skill and an ability to accurately predict summers with above-normal cyanobacteria abundance. Associated beach closure predictions also show promise but are highly sensitive to the short observational record – a limitation directly being addressed by Clean Lakes Alliance volunteer monitors and researchers at UW-Madison.

About our Speaker

Dr. Paul Block is an associate professor in civil and environmental engineering at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. His research focuses on hydroclimatology and water resources systems, with a goal to couple climate, hydrology, and management models and knowledge to reduce risks and promote sustainability of water resources for societal benefit. He is involved in many national and international projects that promote season-ahead forecasts as a means to inform decision-making, with applications to reservoir operations, agricultural planning, water quality assessment, and disaster management. He also has extensive experience as a licensed civil engineer working on groundwater protection and extraction, landfill management, and storm water control projects.

Event Details

This event will be held at The Edgewater hotel – grand ballroom level 5 (1001 Wisconsin Pl, Madison, WI 53703). Doors open at 7:30 a.m. The program runs from 8 – 9 a.m. A Q/A session will follow the presentation as time allows. Complimentary event parking will be available at The Edgewater parking ramp. Parking spots fill up quickly and may be limited depending on hotel capacity.

A Zoom link will be sent to all registrants via the Eventbrite confirmation email.

Clean Lakes 101 Lecture Series

Clean Lakes 101 is a series of educational events open to the public and a great chance to learn more about the science behind the issues that affect our lakes. Each month we feature a different expert to make the science accessible and interesting to non-technical audiences. The series is produced in partnership with the UW-Madison Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and UW-Extension Lakes, with presenting sponsors First Weber Foundation and Johnson Financial Group, hosting sponsor The Edgewater, supporting sponsor National Guardian Life Insurance Company, and media sponsor WKOW.

Free
1001 Wisconsin Place
Madison, Wisconsin 53703 United States
+ Google Map

Water quality monitoring equipment

LakeForecast water quality monitoring in 2021

In 2021, our volunteers embarked on the 9th season of LakeForecast water quality monitoring. This work involved collecting nearshore condition reports at piers, beaches, parks, and access points around the five Yahara lakes. From May through September, volunteers took water quality measurements. They measured water clarity, recorded air and water temperature, identified the presence of green algae and cyanobacteria, and noted additional visual observations. Reports are entered into the LakeForecast app where all data are updated in real time.

Read More

Frozen Assets parachuter 2022

Thank you for supporting our lakes at the Frozen Assets Festival

We had so much fun at the Frozen Assets Festival and hope you did too! Whether you participated in person or virtually, we THANK YOU for supporting lakes Mendota, Monona, Wingra, Waubesa, and Kegonsa!

Read More

Lake Mendota frozen 7Jan2022

It’s official – Lake Mendota freezes over!

Temperatures below the freezing mark, combined with cold water, helped Lake Mendota officially freeze in the early morning hours on Friday, January 7, 2022. The official declaration comes from the Wisconsin State Climatology Office. Lake Mendota, the largest lake in the Yahara Watershed, froze 23 days shy of January 30th. The latest ice-on date ever declared was on January 30th, 1932.

Read More

Iolight portable microscope

New opportunities to learn about and help our lakes can arise unexpectedly. Such is the case when Madison Gas and Electric‘s Jeff Jaeckels reached out to Clean Lakes Alliance about a research group looking for volunteers to study the lakes in a novel way. Studying the lakes through artificial intelligence will allow Clean Lakes Alliance and our partners to better monitor and research harmful algal blooms.

Read More

lake-mendota-ice

Clean Lakes Alliance kicks off annual Mendota Freeze Contest

On Wednesday, December 1st, 2021, Clean Lakes Alliance kicked off its 10th annual Mendota Freeze Contest. This year, Greater Madison experienced near-normal November temperatures. As of the first of the month, Lake Mendota, and the other four Greater Madison lakes, remained completely open. Despite this week’s mild temperatures, more than 165 years of data show the median freeze date for Lake Mendota is only a little under three weeks away on December 20th.

Read More

2022-04_CL101_header-web

April 13, 2022 @ 8:00 am 9:00 am

Clean Lakes 101

Join us in-person or virtually Wednesday, April 13th to learn more about Lake Mendota’s storied history of research and challenges.

About this Talk

Lake Mendota is a beloved resource for thousands of people, but many don’t know that it has a rich history of testing scientific hypotheses. Often cited as the most studied lake in the world, it has been researched extensively since the 1880’s. This talk will chronologically cover how Lake Mendota has undergone large shifts in its food web and water quality over the last several decades. It will also incorporate current research to better understand the current state of the lake in anticipation for what the future might hold.

About our Speaker

Ben Martin is a PhD candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he works with Jake Vander Zanden on understanding food web ecology of lake ecosystems. Ben has been focused on synthesizing large-scale food web shifts in lakes in northern Wisconsin, the Madison lakes, and the Great Lakes. Ben has been very encouraged since moving to Madison from Pennsylvania as the Madison community has shown great interest in science, especially when it involves our lakes.

Event Details

This event will be held at The Edgewater hotel – grand ballroom level 5 (1001 Wisconsin Pl, Madison, WI 53703). Doors open at 7:30 a.m. The program runs from 8 – 9 a.m. A Q/A session will follow the presentation as time allows. Complimentary event parking will be available at The Edgewater parking ramp. Parking spots fill up quickly and may be limited depending on hotel capacity.

A Zoom link will be sent to all registrants via the Eventbrite confirmation email.

Clean Lakes 101 Lecture Series

Clean Lakes 101 is a series of educational events open to the public and a great chance for residents to learn more about the science behind the issues that affect our lakes. Each month we feature a different expert to make the science accessible and interesting to non-technical audiences. The series is produced in partnership with the UW-Madison Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and UW-Extension Lakes, with presenting sponsors First Weber Foundation and Johnson Financial Group, hosting sponsor The Edgewater, supporting sponsor National Guardian Life Insurance Company, and media sponsor WKOW.

Free
1001 Wisconsin Pl
Madison, WI 53703 United States
+ Google Map
6085358200
View Venue Website