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Friday
Concurrent Session 1
50 minutes
April 25, 2014
8:00 - 8:50 am
Agenda subject to change.
Plants and Animals
Big Game of Wisconsin Update
Friday, 8:00 - 8:50 am
Wisconsin is home to many rare big game species in addition to the more common white-tailed deer and black bear. These more rare species include elk, moose, and the occasional cougar. Scott will discuss the current population status of these species and where they are found in the state, as well as the future outlook for these species.
Presenter:
Scott RoepkeScott Roepke is a wildlife biologist for the WI DNR and is stationed out of Black River Falls. Prior to his current position, Scott was the state's assistant big game specialist. Scott earned his bachelors and masters degree from UW Stevens Point, with his graduate work focusing on the Clam Lake elk herd. , Wisconsin DNR Wildlife Biologist, Division of Land and Wildlife Management
People and Lakes
An Overview of Shoreland Zoning and Shoreland Mitigation Options
Friday, 8:00 - 8:50 am
You have probably heard of shoreland zoning. Perhaps you do not know much about it and how it applies to you, but are interested in learning more. Or perhaps you are familiar with it but are not up-to-date with newer aspects. In either case this presentation is for you. Following an overview of what shoreland zoning is and its value, a brief update on the current status of shoreland zoning rule (NR 115) revisions will be provided. Finally, learn what shoreland mitigation is and how it can be a part of your next shoreland development project, as it is a requirement in certain circumstances under State and County shoreland zoning rules. Numerous mitigation options will be presented and discussed, including several real-world examples.
Presenter:
Mike WenholzMike Wenholz is a Shoreland Specialist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in the Eau Claire office. He works with 23 counties, as well as the Lower St. Croix National Scenic Riverway. Mike grew up enjoying the clear waters of Stormy Lake in Vilas County, which no doubt spurred his love of lakes. Now he enjoys paddling on lakes and connecting waterways as often as possible., Wisconsin DNR Shoreland Specialist
Aquatic Invasive Species
Updates in AIS Prevention
Economics of Eurasian Watermilfoil (EWM) Invasion in Lakes of Northern Wisconsin
Friday, 8:00 - 8:25 am
Aquatic invasive species are among the top natural resource concerns for the public in lake-rich places, requiring substantial and ongoing commitments to address. The first part of this presentation highlights some recent studies that assess economic welfare losses for shoreline property owners and boaters from EWM invasions in northern Wisconsin. We will also look at social factors related to recreational and other values that drive patterns of human use. Understanding and predicting how boaters move among lakes adds another layer of insights into assessments of lake vulnerability to invasion.
Presenters:
Ben Beardmore
Ben Beardmore is a post-doc at the UW Center for Limnology (CFL), where he works on Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) and Coupled Natural-Human Systems (CNHS) projects. His area of expertise is in conducting social-scientific surveys in order to better understand public values, attitudes, and perceptions of issues affecting lakes., UW-Madison, Center for Limnology
Kate Zipp
Katherine Zipp is finishing her dissertation in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at UWMadison. She is working on a LTER project to model the spread of aquatic invasive species due to boater movements between lakes. She will be an assistant professor at Penn State University next Fall.
, UW-Madison, Dept. of Agricultural and Applied Economics
Spiny Water Flea in Wisconsin: Current Research and Life History
Friday, 8:25 - 8:50 am
Spiny water fleas were discovered in Wisconsin inland lakes around 2003 and have spread to approximately seven known locations since (excluding the Great Lakes). We've been monitoring these invasions for several years and also recently embarked on a research endeavor to better understand what habitat they prefer, what damage they cause, and what detection methods are best. This presentation will cover what we've learned about the spiny water flea invasion in Wisconsin.
Presenters:
Carol WardenCarol is an aquatic invasive species (AIS) specialist with the University of Wisconsin Center for Limnology at their Trout Lake research station. She also works directly with the WI DNR on many AIS research topics
, UW Trout Lake
Jake WalshJake is a graduate student with Dr. Jake Vander Zanden at the University of Wisconsin Center for Limnology. His work has focused on assessing the impacts of the spiny water flea in Wisconsin’s lakes, with a focus on the Madison Chain of Lakes. He has also worked with the WI DNR in managing the spiny water flea in WI through modeling lakes’ vulnerability to spiny water flea invasion and developing consistent spiny water flea detection methods, UW-Madison Center for Limnology
Lake Science
Groundwater Pumping Threats Grow: Where We're At In 2014
Friday, 8:00 - 8:50 am
High capacity wells are drying lakes, streams, and wetlands, and their threat grows along with their increasing numbers. The good news: the recent unanimous Supreme Court decision (Beulah) has reinforced the State’s duty to protect public trust surface waters and consider impacts to them in well decisions. The bad news: DNR is minimizing its court mandate, powerful interest groups are lobbying for unlimited pumping, some politicians are pushing industry-friendly “solutions” that will accelerate approval of new and larger wells, and new limits on citizen challenges to well permits are set to take effect on July 1. We will recap these recent developments and share a strategy for citizens looking to take leadership roles in protecting lakes and rivers.
Presenters:
Scott Froehkle, Project Manager, Central Sands Water Action Coalition
Carl Sinderbrand, Attorney, Axley Brynelson, LLP
George Kraft, Professor, Center for Watershed Science, UW-Stevens Point
Presentations:
Lake Science
Green Farms, a Cure for Green Water: Managed Grazing as a Superior Water-quality BMP
Friday, 8:00 - 8:50 am
Learn why livestock and grass are a watershed’s best-friend. Once environmental taboo, grazing - when properly managed - is considered to be in the upper echelon of management practices available to today’s livestock producers. Paramount is managed grazing’s effectiveness at reducing soil erosion and nutrient loading to surface water. Since 2005, Golden Sands Resource Conservation & Development Council’s managed grazing program has assisted hundreds of farmers in converting thousands of row-cropped acres to permanent managed pasture. Our current project targets the watershed of Mill Creek, a 303(d) listed impaired waterway in Portage and Wood Counties. Mill Creek’s water flows into the Wisconsin River and eventually into the Petenwell and Castle Rock Flowages, both well-known for their problems with toxic algae blooms. Hear how we plan to make a difference for Mill Creek and its downstream neighbors by working with farmers in the watershed.
Presenter:
Teal Fyksen, Golden Sands RC&D
Lake Science
Global Impacts of Climate Change on Freshwater
Friday, 8:00 - 8:25 am
This talk will highlight a variety of impacts of climate change to freshwater ecosystems globally. This presentation will cover glacier movement, changing precipitation patterns, warmer temperatures, and lake water quality. Also being discussed is the phenology (e.g. timing of migration) and distributions of many aquatic species that will change as a result of climate change.
Presenter:
Katie HeinKatie Hein is the Lakes Monitoring Lead for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR). In her position at WDNR, Katie is updating the lakes monitoring strategy, developing a lake level monitoring network, and analyzing data to understand how lake water quality in Wisconsin has changed over time. Previously, Katie spent 4 years working in Arctic Sweden where she studied the impacts of climate change on Arctic and boreal lakes. She is a Wisconsin native and received her M.S. in limnology at University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2005 and her Ph.D. in ecology at Utah State University in 2009.
, Wisconsin DNR
Key Findings from the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts (WICCI) Adaptive Assessment
Friday, 8:25 - 8:50 am
In February 2011, the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts (WICCI) released its first adaptive assessment of the impacts of climate change on Wisconsins natural resources. This report was the result of a collaboration between university climate scientists, researchers in various natural resource disciplines, and state and local agency resource managers, to assess the impacts of recent and projected increased temperatures and changes in rainfall patterns on water, land, forests, fish and wildlife, and the built environment. The purpose of the assessment was to provide a common foundation for developing adaptation strategies at state and local levels to anticipate, plan for, and if possible, minimize potential impacts in a proactive and informed manner. This presentation will provide an overview of WICCI and the key findings from the report, with a focus on water resources impacts and adaptation concepts and strategies.
Presenter:
Tim AsplundTim is the Surface Water Monitoring Section Chief in the Wisconsin DNR's Bureau of Water Quality. He previously served as Statewide Limnologist and Lake Researcher with the DNR, and has been involved with evaluating and communicating the impacts of climate change on lakes for most of his career.
, Wisconsin DNR
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