Carp Be-gone

Carp and other "rough fish" being taken from the holding
pen for transport to market.

Carp cause all sorts of trouble by uprooting aquatic plants.  The loss of plants means the loss of shelter and food for fish and wildlife.  It also means the loss of ecosystem functions plants provide by holding and filtering out sediments and nutrients.  Carp also stir up plenty of sediments in their search for food and spawning activities.  Carp certainly are not the only cause and perhaps not the major cause of the lakes troubles.  Most of the lakes sources of trouble come from the landscape, nutrients and sediment come off of farm fields, construction sites and peoples lawns.  Dealing with hundreds of these sites takes decades, and success ten miles upstream will benefit Lake Puckaway, but it is still hard to see.  What is easy to see are 250,000 pounds of carp and other "rough fish" leaving the lake in the back of a two eighteen-wheelers.    The fisherman project they will be able to take 400,000 lbs of fish from the lake this year.  Will it be enough to help restore Lake Puckaway and reduce turbidity?  Not likely in one year, but it is a good start.  

People who fish the lake are understandably concerned about the safety of game fish during these operations   Anytime someone catches a fish whether it be hook and line, or in a net they will stress fish, and some percentage will die.  The day I had came to take these pictures, the game fish had been released, but there were no signs on the shore of any trouble.  I did see one dead yellow bass in the holding pen.  The cold weather no doubt helps keep stress levels down for the fish.
Click below for more photos.

Lake Puckaway Shoreland Restoration Program

The Lake Puckaway Protection and Rehabilitation District announces a shoreland restoration program. This program will promote the establishment of natural vegetation buffers along the shores of Lake Puckaway to protect and restore water quality and fish and wildlife habitat. Buffers with native vegetation have deep roots that hold in the soil, preventing or slowing erosion. The plants offer cover and food for songbirds and other wildlife, while at the same time deterring Canada geese from using adjacent lawns. Buffers also intercept sediment and nutrients that can cloud the water and cause algal blooms.
The District will cost share ten pilot projects around the lake that will contain different types of plantings and erosion control elements. The grants will be competitive, based on the type of restoration and landowner commitment and match. The district will be taking applications through November 25th. Work should be completed by the end of the 2012 growing season. More information and applications are available on the district’s website www.lakepuckaway.com or by writing to Lake Puckaway Protection and Rehabilitation District, W591 Fox Ct., Montello, WI 53949

Water Clarity: October 6, 2011 (+snake)

It was a great day in October to be on the lake with blue skies, light wind, and temperature around 77 degrees.  A real bluebird day as some frustrated duck hunters call them.  I didn't see any bluebirds, and I did not see any ducks flying. Water clarity is improving on the lake because algae growth is slowing as water temperature drops (60 degrees today) and day length shortens.

A bizarre thing occurred while I motored up the Fox River.  I noticed a garter snake crossing the river, which is not odd, and moved closer to take a picture of the snake (see photos below boat).  As I got close the snake turned and headed straight to the boat.  The snake was frightened and decided to take shelter in the only cover in mid-river the Lake District's Jon boat.  I put the engine in neutral and just as I did so the snake zipped up the motor and took refuge in the motor, and then tried to hide in the boat.  I removed the snake and "placed" it back in the water.  Pretty strange.

Garter snake crossing the Fox River

Stowaway

Water Clarity: September 16, 2011

It was a beautiful clam, overcast, but chilly day on Lake Puckaway.  Temperatures have dropped to 60 degrees in the Lake and River reversing the heavy algae bloom of August.  Water clarity is slowly rebounding in the lake, but still poor, and upstream the Fox River is excellent with clarity at 8.75 feet!  For the first time the secchi disk hit bottom at the inlet, but was still clearly visible.  I would imagine the clarity there was in excess of seven feet.

Red indicates the secchi disk hit the bottom and total
water clarity depth cannot be measured.

2011 Emergent Plant Stabilization (EPS) Survey

Yours truly counting emergent plant stems,
in this case Stiff Arrowhead (Sagittaria rigida)

Once upon a time the East Basin of Lake Puckaway was nothing more than a river channel in a sea of wild rice and bulrushes that concealed the lake below.  Also in the shallows grew arrowheads, cane (Phragmites), sedges and cattails.  These are all emergent plants, which means a major portion of the plant sticks out of the water.  These plants are critically important to many fish and wildlife.  Northern pike only attach their eggs to vertical stems, so without this type of vegetation there could be no natural reproduction of northern pike.  Emergent and other vegetation also have a profound effect on water quality by holding sediment in place, dampening wave action, and several other mechanisms.  In parts of a lake the water clarity may be less than a foot while in a healthy bed of aquatic plants the water is much clearer.

Clear water in aquatic plant bed, Western Lake Puckaway.
Mid-lake the  water clarity was less than a foot.

Starting with the construction of the dam at Princeton, water level management began to have a slow but steady negative effect on emergent plants.  Coupled with poor agricultural practices and shoreland use, this eventually led us to a greater than 80% loss in emergent vegetation.  The Emergent Plant Stabilization project recognizes the importance of this habitat and the need to halt and reverse these losses.

As part a study to measure the current state of and recent trends in emergent vegetation, surveys are conducted on an annual basis since 2010.  Derek Kavanaugh and I surveyed vegetation this year on August 25th.  The tools are simple: a one meter sampling square made from PVC pipe, something to measure water depth, and field guide to aquatic and wetland plants.  Together we estimated the total coverage of floating leaf plants, the coverage of submergent plants, and counted the stems of the emergent plants in three study areas.  A comparison of 2011 and 2010 will appear in a future post.

Derek using the GPS in the LPPRD's work boat.

Emergent Plants in the Survey

Stiff arrowhead, Sagittaria rigida

Soft-stem bulrush, Schoenoplectus acutus 

Giant Reed (cane), Phragmites australis

Pulling the boat through shallow water to another survey point.

Water Clarity: August 31, 2011

This was the last day of the season for monitoring phosphorous, chlorophyll a (a measurement of algae) and several other variables. When I receive the all the test results from the state lab, I'll report them here.  In the mean time I will continue to get water clarity readings every two weeks to see how the lake clears up as winter approaches.  As the temperatures cool, and the days get shorter the algae will begin to die down and the water will clear up.

  

Water Clarity: August 15, 2011

Water Clarity: August 5, 2011

Water Clarity: July 31, 2011

Algae continues to color Lake Puckaway's waters green, but you may have also noticed a bright green "slick" on the surface of some channels or coming out of the Fox River.  This is not single-celled algae, but watermeal (Wolffia sp.) the worlds smallest flowering plant.  Each individual is the size of corn meal and is capable of producing a tiny flower, but they almost never do.

This week I have added two new sites to the District's monitoring program.  One is just south of the dredge bank sometimes called bird island, or mid lake.  The other is at the Fox River inlet.

Water Clarity: July 14, 2011

Algae is beginning to turn the water green, and reducing water clarity on Lake Puckaway.  Water clarity increases moving east to west through the basin. 

Forster’s Terns Nesting Fails

The Forster’s terns nesting on Lake Puckaway came to an end June 22nd when high water destroyed many of the 143 nests, causing the rest of the colony to abandon the site.  These birds nest on floating mats of vegetation, which are susceptible to wind, waves and water level increases.  Nesting was late this year because of high water, and there is a chance that they may nest again, but given that I only saw 10 individuals on the lake Thursday I don’t think it is likely.  It has been a bad year for these terns in our area.  They normally nest in large numbers on Lake Poygan in Winnebago County, but that colony had all of its nesting material taken away by this spring’s flood and high winds.  The LPPRD is keeping tabs on Forster’s terns and their habitat and will develop a program to stabilize the lake’s population.  

Impacts of Farm Runoff on Our Lakes

This talk is over in Fond du lac, but it also relates to Lake Puckaway and every other Wisconsin Lake.

How might the runoff from local farms be affecting our lakes and what can farmers do to help protect the Winnebago system?

Eric Cooley, a University of Wisconsin-Extension expert on rural runoff, will address these questions at the next program of the Winnebago Lakes Council Speakers Series. It will be held Wednesday, June 29, at 7:30 p.m. at the Fond du Lac Yacht Club, 705 Mohawk Ave.

Cooley is the research coordinator of Discovery Farms, a UW- Extension program that explores the environmental and economic effects of agricultural practices of participating farms and helps improve communication about these issues.

DIRECTIONS:  Exit 99 of Highway 41 (Route 23 / Johnson Street), east on Highway 23, left onto North Park Avenue, right onto Winnebago Drive, left onto Mohawk Avenue.

State Endangered Forster's Terns Preparing to Nest

Forster's Terns

This spring's cold weather and high water have delayed the nest of Forster's terns on Lake Puckaway.  The endangered birds typically nest on mats of floating vegetation.  They have patently waiting for the water to go down and the nesting sites become stable.  A June 8, 2011 survey conducted by Daryl Christensen and myself found 80 terns over their traditional nesting site.  Just last week dozens of tern could be seen loafing on the rocks of the dredge bank, but now that their nesting habitat is ready there is no more time for loafing. 

Welcome to the Lake Puckaway Blog

The Lake Puckaway Blog is sponsored by the Lake Puckaway Protection and Rehabilitation District and features news from around the lake, district programs, activities and projects.