As mentioned briefly in our spring newsletter, the GLSD currently has a wonderful cost share program rain gardens in addition to shoreline restoration. A newer conservation practice, rain gardens are becoming popular nationwide as many landowners look to limit stormwater runoff from their properties. WHAT IS A RAIN GARDEN?Rain gardens are sunken gardens planted with wildflowers and other native plants that collect and soak up rainwater, mainly from the roof of a house, garage, or driveway. T...

WPDES PERMIT COMPLIANCEAs mentioned in previous newsletters, the GLSD is required to meet new, stringent wastewater discharge requirements set forth by the State of WI. The DNR regulates the discharge of pollutants to waters of the state through the Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (WPDES) program. Permits are issued for a five-year term. Like wastewater utilities all over WI, under the next permit (beginning in October of 2022) the DNR is requiring the GLSD to significantly red...

This past June, a detailed study of Green Lake was completed by the US Geological Survey, Michigan Technological Institute, and the Green Lake Association. The project began in 2016 with the GLA securing a grant to fund the study of depleted oxygen levels within the lake’s thermocline (approx. 30’ below the lake surface). Additionally, the study evaluated phosphorus reductions needed from the watershed to improve the lake’s water quality to un-impaired levels. In the last 40 years, the lake has...

The best management practice of ‘no-till’ is just what is sounds like. A no-till field management system avoids disturbing soil with tools like chisel plows, field cultivators, disks, and plows. Plowing breaks up the soil surface or flips the top layer of soil which breaks up soil stability and incorporates nearly all crop residue deeper into the soil profile. No-till management of crop fields allows the previous year’s crop to help hold and cover bare soil. This helps retain soil on fields use...

RAIN GARDENSThe GLSD has a wonderful cost share program for not only shoreline restoration, but also rain gardens. A newer conservation practice, rain gardens are becoming popular around Green Lake as many landowners look to limit stormwater runoff on their properties. The GLSD is excited to have been involved with two projects in the Green Lake Terrace area last fall. While these two projects will not solve the runoff issues in the Terrace on their own, we know that as more landowners complete...

On April 14th, Dr. Dale Robertson of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), presented the USGS’s annual “State of Big Green Lake” to the GLSD Board of Commissioners, the GLA Board of Directors, and the Lake Management Planning (LMP) Team. The focus of the meeting was for Dr. Robertson to provide an overview of the nutrient loading (specifically phosphorus) into the lake from the watershed as well as recap lake sampling results from 2019 and 2020. Phosphorus is the main nutrient that drives plant an...

Cover crops are grasses, legumes, and other forbs that are planted for erosion control, improving soil structure, moisture, and nutrient content, increasing beneficial soil biota, suppressing weeds,providing habitat for beneficial predatory insects, facilitating crop pollinators, providing wildlife habitat, and as forage for farmanimals. Although cover crops can perform these multiple functions in an agroecosystem simultaneously, they are most often grown for the sole purpose of preventing soil...

There have been many surprising footnotes to the Covid pandemic. One such tidbit is that when people are forced to stay home, apparently they clean house! In speaking with Waste Management this spring and summer, they updated us on the fact that residents within the GLSD put out more than 15% more trash in the 2nd quarter of 2020 than average. WM found this trend to be similar across all the communities it serves. Additionally, WM has seen a huge increase in cardboard being thrown away due to t...