Group Projects

The Waushara County Watershed Lakes Council’s member groups are involved in varying projects that may be county-wide, lake group specific, and/or part of DNR grant-funded programs. Some of these activities address issues that may monitor/treat Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) documented in Waushara County lakes, help to collect data and create current Lake Management Plans for each participating public-access lake group, or identify unique projects that a lake group determines require intervention to maintain or improve the health of a lake. Collaboration between lake groups also provides an opportunity to minimize costs when possible as well as helping groups be successful in their projects. Volunteers provide hours of work and effort in many activities and are greatly appreciated.

Project-specific Activity examples:

• • • DNR-funded “Small Scale Planning” grant 2019 – Welcome to Waterfront Living packets for new property owners, distributed by WCWLC groups
    • Clean Boats-Clean Waters public landing boat inspections by volunteers
    • Eurasian watermilfoil (EWM) hand-pulling workdays assisting divers
    • Diver-Assisted Suction Harvest (DASH) projects on several lakes in county
    • Reed canary grass removal from a lake outlet to maintain an open water flow
    • Flowering rush hand-pulling workdays from boats/kayaks
    • Invasive non-native Cattail removal post treatment after lake is frozen
    • Fish cribs – making/placing around lakes; tree-drops in lakes for fish habitat
    • Shoreline buffer restoration projects using Healthy Lakes grants for property owners
    • Healthy Lakes projects – rain garden, shoreland native plantings, rain diversion, rock infiltration, fish sticks (5 best practices – improve habitat/water quality by riparian property)

Educational Event examples:

• • • Snapshot Day 8/17/19 – AIS Identification /Monitoring in Montello, Marquette Co.
    • UW-Ex Lakes & Wisconsin Lakes “Lake District Officers Training” 5/18/18 at Silvercryst, Wautoma
    • AIS Surveys on requesting lakes by Golden Sands RC&D
    • Wild Rose Fish Hatchery Tour 8/14/16
    • Plant ID Workshops – UW-Ext. Citizen Lake Monitoring Network Educator
    • Waushara County Lakes Fair 8/10/13 – Camp LuWiSoMo
    • Hand-pulling EWM Methods Instruction/Supervision by Golden Sands RC&D