Green Lake Association

The gla is actively pursuing strategies and pilot projects that will likely cost tens of millions of dollars. While we wish we could flip a switch and immediately fund strategies to help the Lake, we must build up an arsenal so that, when we are ready, we can aggressively pursue those interventions that will best meet our needs. The Green Lake Association (gla) has organized its work under four areas: phosphorus reduction, aquatic invasive species prevention, data evaluation, and community activation. Our total expenditure on programming was 735,254. Below are many of the highlights of our work in 2022: - phosphorus reduction for 70 years, brook trout were missing from dakin creek - pushed out of existence by eroding stream banks, phosphorus runoff, and a lack of habitat. When the Wisconsin department of natural resources (wdnr) found that brook trout had multiplied last year without fish stocking, it confirmed that our work to lower a perched culvert, repair eroding streambanks, and add critical habitat has restored a missing species. Brook trout are once again healthy and happy enough to call dakin creek home - an important indicator of the cleaner water now flowing into Green Lake. In november, the gla hosted Wisconsin's first-ever all-volunteer redd survey, which found 31 test redds (brook trout nests) and two active redds, demonstrating that the brook trout were actively reproducing or preparing to do so. -aquatic invasive species prevention for the 2022 Lake season, the gla sponsored four clean boats clean waters (cbcw) watercraft inspectors to protect all eight public boat launches around big Green Lake. The cbcw inspectors check boats and boat trailers and educate Lake users on how to prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species (ais). 1,548 boats were inspected during the 2022 season on Green Lake. In the five days before entering Green Lake, these boats collectively traveled to 32 other water bodies and encountered 13 ais not currently present in Green Lake. This window of time is when ais can still survive and represents the greatest risk for ais transfer. These annual inspections help prevent new ais from entering big Green, limiting future ecological and economic damage. -data evaluation blue-green algae blooms are a reality of summer in Wisconsin, fueled by human impacts and climate change. Luckily, they have historically been rare and isolated in Green Lake, but it is critical to collect data to better understand their frequency and occurrence over time. In the summer of 2022, the gla developed and launched a new monitoring program aimed at shrinking community alert times of harmful algal blooms from weeks to minutes. The project is bolstered by the gla's participation in a beta-test of a bloomoptix field microscope that uses artificial intelligence to quickly identify blue-green algae. In april, the us environmental protection agency and wdnr approved a watershed management plan, written by the gla on behalf of the Lake management planning team. This data-heavy plan is critical for our watershed to unlock access to robust federal grants to support our collective efforts to reduce phosphorus in Green Lake. -community activation in a packed courtroom on december 22, 2022, the Green Lake county board of adjustment voted to uphold an appeal of the conditional use permit for skunk hollow mine by the Green Lake Association, the Green Lake conservancy (glc), the Green Lake sanitary district (glsd) and a local landowner. The verdict meant that the skunk hollow mine application - a non-metallic quarry near sensitive spring and trout streams - was denied. This victory is a major win for Green Lake's waterways, specifically mitchell glen, dakin creek, white creek, and powell spring. Out of the 66 public comments shared at the december hearing, 64 expressed concern about the project, signaling the community's deep conviction to protect the area from the negative impacts of the proposed mine. These unique resources near the proposed skunk hollow mine are tens of thousands of years old. The community and local government came together to prevent irreversible damage - and that decision will be powerful for generations yet to come.