By Kim McDarison

Some 80 residents on Saturday filled the Whitewater Common Council Chambers, with more residents spilling into the Whitewater Municipal Building’s first-floor hallway and entryway to the chambers, each of whom was eager to learn about continued restoration plans for Trippe and Cravath lakes, and share their concerns with Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources biologist Heidi Bunk.

At least 15 residents approached the podium to share their concerns, many of whom voiced disappointment with the lakes restoration project’s outcome so far. The $1.5 million project was begun by the city in 2020.

In addition, the city has committed to a $111,000 project that includes some dredging near shorelines in front of city-owned property, with work anticipated to complete this fall.

After listening to a 30-minute presentation made by Bunk and Michelle Dujardin, the city’s Recreation and Community Events Programmer who was identified Saturday as the interim Parks and Recreation director, stepping in after former Parks and Recreation Director Eric Boettcher’s departure from the role earlier this month, Council President Jim Allen, who led the meeting, opened the floor for public comments.

Also in attendance were city council members Lisa Dawsey Smith, Jill Gerber and David Stone.

During their presentation, and aided by slides, Bunk and Dujardin touched upon several lakes-related topics, including the condition of the lakes, water level management, cattail management, fish stocking redux, chemical treatments, fall of 2023 dredging plans, helpful resources for landowners, city-approved geese and duck hunting permits for use in lake-related zones, and requirements associated with forming a lake association or district.

After the meeting, City Manager John Weidl said he had created a check list of topics on which he would follow up to aid the city council in its plans to address the lakes moving forward.

Items on his list included learning more about chemical treatment plans, finding a hydrologist or other lakes-related expert who could offer further guidance, learning more about maintenance plans used on a lake in the neighboring community of Palmyra, following up on webinars suggested by Bunk about creating lake districts and associations, and learning more about a Healthy Lakes grants project.

Bunk’s impressions of the lakes in June

Dujardin opened the presentation by introducing herself and Bunk, and directing meeting attendees to a selection of handouts made available on a table. Among items made available was a guidebook, titled: “People of the Lakes: A Guide for Wisconsin Lake Organizations.” The booklet is in its 12th edition and made available through the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point College of Natural Resources lakes extension office. A link to the university’s “extension lakes” page, which provides links to the full publication, is here: https://www3.uwsp.edu/cnr-ap/UWEXLakes/Pages/organizations/guide.aspx.

Following her introduction, Bunk said she had last visited Cravath and Trippe lakes by boat in June.

During her visit, she said, she noted that the water in Whitewater Creek was “quite clear.” She listed a variety of aquatic plants growing along the creek, which, she said, were keeping the creek “very balanced and healthy.”

Within Trippe Lake, she said, she found “a lot of open water,” further noting that she was able to “boat it quite well.”

In Spring Brook, which she described as the inlet to Cravath Lake, she, again, noted water that was “quite clear,” again noting aquatic plants along the shore.

“Navigation was quite good,” she said, further describing navigability as “a big change from before the drawdown project where we had a hard time navigating certainly in the lakes … and the tributaries as well.”

Turning her attention of Cravath Lake, she said, “Cravath Lake was a little bit different of a story.

“There’s a lot of filaments of algae, there are water lilies, there are some of the aquatic plants that I mentioned, but the response of this lake is certainly different than the response of Trippe Lake.” 

Anticipated questions

Bunk said she next would work to address several anticipated questions as suggested by Dujardin. Aided by slides, anticipated questions, and an answer to each, were as follows:

Bunk asked: “What if we just raised the water level of the lakes?”

In response, Bunk said that state statutes stipulate a “minimum required discharge requirement to the downstream,” which, in the case of Whitewater’s lakes, would be Whitewater Creek.

The law is in place to help the streams “keep functioning,” she said, noting that the requirement ensures that the waterbody is provided with “enough oxygen, water volume, enough cooler water, so the animals in the stream can continue with their life-stage requirements of feeding, rearing, reproducing.”

She noted that she had been in contact with Boettcher before he left his position with the city, and he had made her aware, she said, that “the gates on both dams are currently at their highest level that they can legally be placed. Certainly our drought, and hot and dry weather, contributes to the lower water level this year.”

With the lower water level, she said, “there is less to retain behind the gates.” 

Bunk asked: “Why not lower the water level again to manage the cattails?” 

She responded: “So certainly it’s a different permitting process, but drawdown, when you have established cattails, will actually help those cattails persist longer in the lakes.”

She understood, she said, that people within the community were concerned with the growth of cattails. 

According to Bunk, drought was another condition that would help cattails persist.

“A higher water level will help them die back faster, and then here is something I’ve cautioned in previous meetings, a sudden or sustained high-water level can cause sections of cattails to break off and float around the lake in bogs.” 

Bunk asked: “If an area is dredged, will it take out the entire seedbank of cattails?”

She responded, “no,” next asking: “Will it take out some?” to which she responded, “yes.” 

She asked: “If you dredge out cattails will they return?” She answered: “yes, they have a possibility of returning.”

Bunk said she spoke recently with a colleague in Oshkosh, whom, she noted, had “dealt with a lot of drawdown projects on millponds.

“So we talked about the characteristics of Trippe and Cravath, and these three millponds” — she pointed to a slide which listed Iola, Marion and Wautoma millponds — “he felt were the most comparable to your lakes.” 

Bunk said her colleague indicated that, in all cases, the millponds he referenced had “multiple year drawdowns, just like you did,” which, she said, typically meant “at least two summers.”

Describing her colleague’s findings, she said cattails that are growing in 5 to 7 feet of water typically died back after two full growing seasons, while cattails growing in 3 to 4 feet of water typically died back after 2 to 4 full growing seasons, and cattails growing in less than three feet of water typically persist longterm.

In Whitewater, she said, since the drawdown, a growing season and a half had elapsed, noting that water began returning to the lakes at the mid-point of last summer.

“So we could start anticipating the cattails growing in the deepest water to start dying back next year,” Bunk said.

Bunk next sought to explain the value of cattails in the lakes, noting that they “play a very big role in keeping this lake restoration project in achieving its goals.”

Among project goals, she cited the creation of a diverse aquatic plant community that would sustain a balanced fishery, which, she said, would serve the community through fishing as both a source of pleasure and “also, possibly to eat the fish.”

She added that in the past, before the drawdown, the aquatic plant community was dominated by essentially four aquatic plants, two of which were non-native. The non-native species were Eurasian milfoil and curly leaf pondweed.

“Certainly before the drawdown project, passage by boat was quite difficult. I even had trouble sometimes passaging with a canoe or a kayak,” she said, adding that the additional benefits of cattails in the lakes were that they “help block the wind, they help to allow the aquatic plants growing at present in the seedbank to germinate and grow. And we are trying to get a longterm established diverse aquatic plant community, and that diverse aquatic plant community will help sustain all the animals using the lakes including your fish. So frogs, turtles, birds, we want to have feeding, covers, spawning, resting, cruising available to those animals,” Bunk said. 

Bunk next talked about stocking of fish which occurred in the lakes last fall.

Returning to the anticipated questions, she asked: “Could we have more variety of fish? Does the DNR have the ability to stock?

In response, she noted that the DNR raises northern pike, but does not raise other species, such as bass and panfish.

Those species were available for purchase through private vendors, she said.

The DNR did stock northern pike in the lakes last fall and this spring, she said.

She recommended several species of fish, which, she said, would “do fine” in Whitewater’s two lakes, including bluegills, perch, crappie and largemouth bass.

Among fish that she said would not do well in Whitewater’s lakes, she listed smallmouth bass and walleye, citing a sensitivity to declines in dissolved oxygen, and the presence of warm water, brought about by the shallow depths of the two lakes. 

She shared through a slide a plan by the city to stock bluegills, black crappies, yellow perch and golden shiners to both lakes this fall.

Additionally, she said, the DNR was planning a fish evaluation project to be conducted within the two lakes, with anticipation of performing that work in the spring of 2024.

Bunk asked: “What about doing a large-scale cattail chemical treatment, because it’s (vegetation) blocking my sightline, my kitchen window; we want to be able to get out to the lake, things like that?”   

She responded: “So right now the cattails are taking up a lot of the nutrients in the lake and they are helping with the clarity and they are helping with the establishment of the desirable submersed water plants.

“If a large number of them are killed all at once, you would greatly increase the chances of having a large-scale algae bloom on the lakes, blue-green algae, which we certainly don’t want because it can release toxins and filamentous algae that is certainly aesthetically displeasing. 

“So, as I said before, the cattails are helping to establish those native aquatic plants in the water that are submersed. They certainly provide wildlife habitat and then the impact to the amphibians and birds, there can be of course impacts to their habitat. And also there are some secondary impacts to birds and frogs through some of the chemicals, they might not be lethal but they can certainly hinder their ability to live their fullest life.” 

Bunk talked about chemicals available for aquatic use, such as 2, 4D, which, she said, is typically used in agricultural and aquatic spaces to eradicate milfoil.

She described milfoil on the two lakes as “not very widespread.”

“I was told this question might come up: What’s going on with 2, 4 D; is it ok to use?” Bunk said.

She responded by saying that the DNR had been partnering with the UW-Madison to perform “some studies on fish and see if this most commonly used chemical could have an impact on them.”

She noted that with chemicals that are approved by such regulatory agencies as the EPA and others, tests are performed on fish species, which she described as “not very sensitive.”

Referencing the DNR and UW-Madison’s study, she said: “this study is looking at the fish in their very early development as eggs and as larvae.”

She described the feeding cycle of larvae, noting that they begin feeding on microscopic animals in the water between three and seven days after they hatch.

“In those studies, they found that there are impacts to fish both when they were in the eggs and when they were in that larval state,” she said, adding that the fish that were impacted in those stages included fathead minnow, white sucker, northern pike, large mouth bass, white crappie, walleye, and yellow perch.

Citing anticipated questions, Bunk asked: “What would you use for chemical treatment of cattails?” 

She answered: “Typically it’s Imazapyr, glyphosate, and both of those do best when they have a surfactant added to them. And a surfactant basically is a substance that when dissolved in water, lowers the surface tension and allows the chemical to be absorbed better by the plant you are targeting.”

Bunk said there are a number of different surfactants available, but, she said, “the ones (treatments) that aren’t using Methylated Seed Oil (MSO) are toxic to frogs and turtles.”

She advised that any treatments considered for use against cattails should include MSO. 

Offering information specific to city-approved dredging plans this fall, Dujardin said areas that would be targeted include the fishing pier, canoe launch and bump-out in Cravath Lake and the boat launch in Trippe Lake.

Bunk asked: “Who owns the water?” and “Who owns the lakebed?”   

Bunk noted that waterbodies within the state of Wisconsin are held in trust for the people of Wisconsin, and are regulated by the DNR. 

“If you are a riparian landowner, your ownership stops at what’s called the ordinary high water mark. The ordinary high water mark is where you have a distinct mark on the bank — maybe you have rocks, maybe you have seawall, maybe you have … plants —  and you will see a distinct mark where the water is most often at.

“So the city doesn’t own that lakebed. The citizens of Wisconsin own it and it is regulated by the Department of Natural Resources,” she said.

Ownership is calculated differently regarding streams, she said, with riparian ownership to the center of the stream, but, she noted, “if there is water, then the public is allowed to use that stream bed. If it is dry because of a low water level, the public has to keep their activities in the areas that have actual water.” 

Bunk said handouts provided during the meeting offered information to riparian landowners about resources they might consider when dredging, mowing, and using chemical treatments on their properties.

“In terms of removal of aquatic plants, if you are doing it by hand — no mechanical devices — you can do 30 feet along your frontage and out into the lake up to 100 feet by hand. You must remove all the cut material, you must place it in an upland, it cannot go in a wetland, in cannot go in a floodplain, and it cannot go back into the lakebed,” she said.

She added: “If you are doing any sort of mowing, then you need a permit. If you want to remove more than that 30 feet by hand, you need a permit.”

Bunk noted that chemical treatment of any type would require the landowner to apply for a permit. When using a contractor, she said, the company typically fills out the paperwork for the client. She advised that homeowners allow contractors to take those steps on their behalf.

“If you want to do some dredging of navigational channels, you need a Chapter 30 permit,” which, she said, was handled by the DNR’s water management specialists.

Dujardin next shared a slide offering information about obtaining permits through the city to hunt geese and ducks within zones on both lakes.

Permit applications were due Aug. 23, she said. 

Hunting of geese and ducks will begin on both lakes on Sept. 1. The permits runs until the end of the year.

Forming a lake association or district

Bunk next offered information about forming lake associations and districts, saying that, to date, the city has undertaken the task of management of the lakes. Many lakes have either a lake association or a lake district to perform the management duties, she said. 

Bunk described a lake association as a membership-driven group where members pay dues and membership is voluntary.

A district, she said, requires that a boundary is set and those living within the boundary pay a tax to the district.

“Districts clearly would have more spending power to do projects, and so there is a very complicated process to become a district. Becoming an association is much simpler. If the membership here decides that they would like to pursue the potential to become a district, then I would arrange for a webinar. There are a couple of folks at UW-Extension that are experts on this and so they’ve done a lot of webinars to help you get started,” she said. 

“Typically districts manage contract harvesting, or in-house harvesting, for example, here by Whitewater/Rice lakes, they have their own in-house harvesting. So they own equipment, they hire staff, and do their own harvesting,” Bunk adding, noting that she was aware of grants that are available to help districts with projects.

“The city did receive one grant for this project,” she said.

Dujardin said city staff and “a group of individuals” were exploring options, “to see what all of this entails.”