Thursday Concurrent Session 3
40 minutes
April 11, 2019 ~ 1:45-2:25 pm
Agenda subject to change.
Adaptation Strategies for Wisconsin Lakes Facing Climate Change
Wisconsin’s 15,000 inland lakes are a vital economic and cultural natural resource statewide but are threatened greatly by climate change. Recent harmful algal blooms, flooding, and fish kills can all be attributed to a warmer, wetter climate. To evaluate and compile adaptation strategies, the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts gathered researchers and managers with expertise on Wisconsin’s inland lakes. In this session, we’ll discuss the climate change impacts identified and possible adaptation strategies for four thematic areas relevant to inland lakes: water levels, water quality, aquatic invasive species, and fisheries. While adaptation strategies for each theme differ, there is consensus around the need for a multifaceted approach that incorporates communication and outreach, policy and regulation changes, traditional resource conservation approaches, and novel engineering designs. This approach should focus on protecting high-quality lakes, building lake resilience, and retaining beneficial ecosystem services. Thoughtful, strategic interactions with stakeholders are key to implementing these strategies.
Presenter: Madeline Magee, Office of Great Waters Monitoring Coordinator, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Organizational Capacity
Organizational capacity is a reflection of a lake group’s internal operations. There are numerous ways that lake organizations can structure themselves: some operate under fairly loose principles, while lake districts must follow Wisconsin state statute to answer questions of leadership, meeting scheduling, and budget development. We’ll focus mostly on the options facing lake associations and look at the pros and cons of different approaches to budgeting, planning and leadership.
Presenter: Eric Olson, Director, Extension Lakes
The Poet as Scientist
Why was Henry David Thoreau (poet, philosopher, and journalist) the first person to deliver a paper on ecological succession--and not a scientist? Why was Thoreau, as Darby Nelson writes, "America's first limnologist"? Here's why: Thoreau counted his emotional and aesthetic responses to natural phenomena as actual data about those phenomena; he refused to separate beauty and feeling (poetry) from other recorded responses to the natural world (science). Come join us to learn practical tips for writing the poetry of science and for keeping a journal in which aesthetic and emotional responses count as data about the natural world!
Presenter: John Coletta, Professor of English, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
*Two 20-minute presentations
Economic Data on Oneida and Vilas County Waters
The Impact of Water Clarity on Home Prices in Vilas and Oneida Counties, Wisconsin
This session will discuss the results of a study done on property values in northern Wisconsin. This study estimated the residential property value gains associated with improvements in water clarity on 60 different lakes across Vilas and Oneida counties. From this study, we were able to conclude that a one-meter improvement in water clarity would produce an $8,090.87 to $32,171.12 improvement in the market price of an average residential property on a lake within the study area.
Presenter: Thomas Kemp, Department Chair & Professor of Economics, University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire
Economic Data for the Surface Waters of Oneida and Vilas Counties
What, where, and how? In this session, we’ll explore how property values, tax revenues, and visitor spending affect local economies, and we’ll examine the effects of protection and remediation of degraded water quality on the local economy. We will also discuss how Oneida and Vilas counties have collected this data, and how they have gone about disseminating their findings.
Presenters:
Dave Noel, retired Engineer, member of Oneida County Lakes & Rivers Association
Quita Sheehan, Conservation Specialist, Vilas County Land & Water Conservation Department
Fisheries 101: Fishes in Your Lake
There are over 70 fishes that inhabit non-flowing (lentic) waters in the Upper Midwest—ecosystems such as glacial lakes, wetlands and river backwaters. Some of these species only occur in lentic environments. From the largest predatory species down to the smallest plankton and insect eating species, we will provide a brief introduction to fishes common in food webs in lentic environments in your backyard. After a brief introduction to the major groups of Midwestern lake fishes and to the lake aquatic food web, we will open the forum to a question and answer session driven by you! Ever wonder about those other fish in your lake? Bring your questions and ideas to the discussion. We are likely to do some myth-busting along the way!
Presenter: Justin Sipiorski, Professor of Biology, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
SEE THE VIDEO HERE (YouTube link)
*Two 20-minute presentations
Crayfish of Wisconsin
Crayfish are an interesting component of biological communities in Wisconsin lakes and streams. This session will explore the basic components of crayfish biology, and you’ll learn ways to identify the various Wisconsin crayfish species. We’ll also discuss the ecological impacts of the invasive rusty crayfish and the influence that a trematode parasite has on their populations.
Presenter: Craig Roessler, Water Resources Management Specialist, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Rusty Crayfish in Sparkling Lake 18 Years After a Removal Experiment
Rusty crayfish invaded Sparkling Lake in the late 1970s and caused declines in aquatic plants, the native virile crayfish, and panfish like bluegill and pumpkin seeds. In 2002, researchers from UW-Madison’s Center for Limnology began removing hundreds of thousands of rusty crayfish with traps. The population crashed within a few years, and in 2008, the researchers stopped removing the few rusty crayfish that remained. Though some rusty crayfish can still be found in Sparkling Lake today, the lake has changed. Aquatic plants and panfish are now abundant. Come and listen to the story of rusty crayfish in Sparkling Lake, from the old days of trapping thousands of crayfish a day to more recent adventures SCUBA diving through schools of panfish.
Presenter: Katie Hein, Lake Water Quality Lead, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Skip to main content
