Editor’s note: Following is the first of two parts of an expansive view of Whitewater’s two downtown lakes, Trippe and Cravath. The city of Whitewater will be hosting a lakes-related meeting on Saturday, Aug. 26, at 11 a.m., in the council chambers of the Whitewater Municipal Building, 312 W. Whitewater, St., Whitewater. According to city officials, Department of Natural Resources biologist Heidi Bunk will be in attendance during the meeting. While much of the discussion in recent years about the lakes has focused on activities beginning in 2017, when the city’s Parks and Recreation Department began exploring lake-related restoration plans, a desire by some Whitewater residents to see improvements made to the lakes has a longer history, dating back to at least 2005. In addition, the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (SEWRPC) completed a study of the lakes in 2011, after which it published its “Memorandum Report No. 191: A Lake Protection Plan for Cravath and Trippe Lakes.” Part 1 of this story will focus on efforts begun in 2005. A second part will look at findings within the SEWRPC report.

By Kim McDarison

Perched on a hill, on a peninsula extending into Trippe Lake, Clay Street resident of 20 years Carol McCormick has watched the landscape change.

A retired math and science teacher from within the Waukesha school system and a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, she arrived on the lake in 2000 as a single adult and condo resident, and married and subsequently moved, with her husband, Patrick, to the couple’s lakefront home in 2003.

McCormick also is a former Whitewater Common Councilwoman, serving for three terms, between 2017 and 2023. She was among council members working with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) during the city’s lake restoration projects on Trippe and Cravath lakes, which spanned a two-year period between 2020 and 2022.

When the couple arrived, she said, the lake was characterized by open water, but some plants were starting to take root. With 1,000 feet of shoreline under the couple’s care, McCormick said her husband asked her to explore available options for vegetation abatement.

On a Tuesday in June, as she looked across her manicured yard in the direction of the lakebed, she described her property as “land locked.”

Sprawling some 30 feet from the shoreline was a wall of cattails. Between the shoreline and the stand of cattails was a 100-foot long channel of water, which, McCormick said, was the result of a dredging project undertaken by she and her husband in 2021, the same year that the city of Whitewater contracted to have dredging services performed in the connected Cravath and Trippe lakebed. As a result of the city’s project, in June, the two lakes had a navigation channel of open water running through the center of the full waterbody.

McCormick said she and her husband paid approximately $40,000 to complete their own dredging project, a 50-foot by 100-foot area in front of their shoreline, which was an option made available to lake property owners in concert with the city’s plans, and their project looked promising, but as soon as warm weather arrived, the vegetation began to grow, ultimately cutting the couple off from the navigation channel, and leaving them without lake access.

Costs associated with the city’s project, as estimated by city officials in June, were approximately $1.5 million. An additional expenditure of $111,450 for some shoreline dredging was approved in August.

In June, during a city council meeting, city staff proposed projects, spanning up to three years, to dredge shorelines near Cravath and Trippe lakefront parks, and the Clay Street Nature Area. Costs, including weed cutting and dredging, were estimated at approximately $145,000 each year. 

While the first year of the project was approved, plans proposed for the following two years have been postponed, pending further exploration of costs and options. An earlier story about the three-year abatement plan, as published on WhitewaterWise’s sister site, Fort Atkinson Online, is here: https://fortatkinsononline.com/council-postpones-until-next-month-cravath-tripp-lakes-cattail-abatement-plans/.

During the council’s meeting held Tuesday, June 6, several residents, McCormick among them, shared their views during public comments, advocating for, among other ideas, the purchase of a weed-cutting device and the formation of a lakes association. 

The project was next discussed on Aug. 1, at which time council approved a contract with Waukesha-based ECO Waterways Service, for $111,450 for dredging along shoreline it owns in both Cravath and Trippe lakes. The shoreline in both cases is within city-owned parks.

Looking in June across Trippe Lake from the McCormick’s property, and past the navigation channel, it’s easy to see that cattails are thriving. Visions, today, of an open-water lake are found by the couple in photographs.

Early concerns about vegetation growth

Armed with notes and letters, documenting her findings since 2005, McCormick shared a chronology of events, which, she said, has impacted the lakes.

When she arrived at the lake as a property owners, she said, she and her husband had concerns about encroaching plants.

“There was milfoil, algae and European lotus flowers,” she said, adding that, from their perspective, the vegetation was taking over the east side of the lake. 

In 2005, McCormick said, she began looking into the situation. At the time, the Whitewater city manager was Kevin Brunner. he was the first of several officials who would visit the McCormick’s home to better understand the situation.

At that time, McCormick said, other neighbors had shared their concerns about the growth of vegetation.

McCormick said she also met with DNR lake specialist Heidi Bunk.

McCormick said that while she pointed to the lotus, milfoil and other plants as invasive, Bunk said they were not. She defined the plants, McCormick said, as indigenous and protected.

In 2006, McCormick said, Audrey Greene, a Walworth County Lakes Specialist, arrived to look at the lakes.

That same year, property owners along the lakes formed what she described as “an unofficial group,” to discuss the lakes. An initial meeting was held in December.

The meeting was held at Whitewater’s Municipal Building, and was attended by about 20 people, most of whom were lake residents, McCormick recalled.

A DNR representative was not in attendance and the people gathered, she said were “mainly concerned citizens who wanted to voice their concerns.” 

In 2007, an ad hoc committee was formed, with help from Brunner, and McCormick began talking to neighbors about organizing their concerns and identifying goals.

“Heidi Bunk was brought in,” and the Trippe and Cravath Lakes Restoration Committee was formed, McCormick said. 

A first meeting was held in 2008, at which time, McCormick said, the committee met with University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Lakes Extension representative Robert Korth.

The group also received results from a citywide survey from Bud Gayhart, then-director of the Small Business Center at the UW-Whitewater.

Also in 2008, the committee released information to city residents, asking them to send a monetary contribution and form a lake association.

The released information noted: “Everyone in Whitewater can appreciate the beauty of our lakes, Trippe and Cravath. In past years, these lakes were central to the community’s outlet for summer and winter water recreation. Our lakes have many problems making them almost unusable for recreation.”

The document introduced to the broader community the formation of the committee, noting its goal to develop “interest in assessing the (lake-related) problems and seeking solutions,” further noting: “The formation of the Lake Association is critical to our ability to secure numerous and lucrative grants that can help us in achieving the following goals.” The document enumerated several goals as follows:

• • To contribute to the overall conversation and wise use of our lakes through environmentally sound management.
• 
  

• • To return to high-quality, water-based recreational activities.
• 
  

• To effectively manage or enhance ecosystems of appropriate aquatic plants, fish and wildlife.

• • To improve water quality condition of the lakes.
• 
  

• • To enhance the aesthetic value of the lakes.
• 
  

The group also received documents citing information developed by the DNR in 2005, which additionally cited “Report No. 30” developed by SEWRPC in 1979, titled: “A Regional Water Quality Management Plan for Southern Wisconsin.”

Information presented to the group, and shared in June by McCormick, titled: “Proposed Wisconsin Lake Management Planning Grant Planning Program for Cravath and Trippe Lakes, Walworth County,” offered a “project description,” which, the document stated, outlined a “proposed program of study” for data gathering, analysis and data synthesis, to plan preparation to make application for a Lake Management Planning Grant.

The document stated: “The resolution of the city of Whitewater, together with a letter of support for this planning grant application from Walworth County, are submitted in respect of this grant application.”

The document outlined proposed study expenses as $12,750 for “other services” from UW-Whitewater, and $1,000 for “other services” from SEWRPC, among others, for a total proposed project cost of $14,500. A state share request of $10,000 was proposed, of which, the document read, the “local share provided” would be $4,500.

Goals of the proposed project included a description of the conditions of the lakes, including “identification and quantification of potential point and nonpoint sources of pollution, nutrient and contaminant inputs, and nutrient and contamination balance; identification of “existing and potential future water quality problems likely to be experienced in the lakes; an assessment of “the degree and intensity of recreational water use in and around Cravath and Trippe lakes, and the formulation of “appropriate management programs, including public information and education strategies, organizational responses, and other possible actions necessary to identify problems and issues of concern.”

A projected timeline would see the proposed project completed by the end of 2008.

According to McCormick, the committee was meeting quarterly by 2008, but, she said, Heidi Bunk believed all of the vegetation growing in the lake was protected, and the committee thought its hands were tied.

“At that point, the residents were frustrated,” McCormick said.

McCormick as council member

McCormick said she won her first-term seat on the city council in 2017.

Before she was elected, she noted, Matt Amundson was the city’s Parks and Recreation director.

“He was mostly focused on the city’s athletic fields, not lake improvements,” she said.

Still, McCormick recalled, the city, with permission from the DNR, performed some chemical treatments.

A new city manager, Cameron Clapper, had joined the city staff, and McCormick said, she was working with him to explore opportunities for lake restoration.

Clapper became the city’s manager in 2012. He left the position in August of 2022. 

John Weidl was hired as interim Whitewater city manager in August, receiving a permanent appointment in October of 2022. 

In 2017, McCormick said, “I ran (for elected office) on getting attention for the lakes and a grocery store. I prioritized both lakes,” she said, adding that the waterbodies reside in the city’s Aldermanic District 1, which she came to represent.

After winning her seat, McCormick said, she was appointed as the council’s representative to the Parks and Recreation Board. She served for six years on the board, and for her last five years as its chair.

In 2017, Eric Boettcher joined the city staff as the parks and recreation director.

Also in 2017, McCormick noted, the board “decided to take up the lakes project, and see what could be done.”

The DNR was consulted, she said.

McCormick noted that the process used to improve the lakes was called a “drain down,” which she said, was what took place in 2021 and 2022.

In 2018 or 2019, she recalled, the weeds were so bad that the local ski team said it would not enter the water to perform during the city’s Fourth of July festivities.

Lake restoration plans form

According to McCormick, the objective of the community was to create a lake that was more conducive to activities like boating and fishing.

The city set aside $1.5 million as part of its capital budget to provide funding for lake restoration.

In 2019, with council approval, city staff sought bids to have work performed.

“They all came back way over what was budgeted,” McCormick said, noting that the lowest among them was between $1.7 and $1.8 million. The council determined that it would refuse all three bids it received, and asked the company submitting the lowest bid to rebid the project within the city’s budget.

McCormick said that the city explored, and had even considered employing an individual to cut the weeds. The city contracted to have the weeds cut one time, she said, adding that “cutting wasn’t doing it.”

According to McCormick, Bunk suggested that cutting the vegetation “in low water” would create a better result. She suggested that the city allow the lakes to drain.

“She also suggested the city create a navigational waterway about six to seven feet deep,” McCormick said, adding that the DNR helped develop the city’s dredging plan.

To undertake the plan, the DNR required a permit, at a cost of $2,000, that would allow the city to dredge along properties it owned up to 50 feet from the shoreline, McCormick recalled.

Residents also could apply for permits for dredging their privately owned shorelines, McCormick said, adding that she and her husband, and three other lake residents, applied for the permits.

Following the drain-down, the lakes were refilled with water on May 2, 2022. By that time, the lakebed had been drawn down for two years.

Looking ahead

Faced in June with an abundance of cattails, McCormick said that she and her husband believed that cutting the vegetation would be a solution.

McCormick, who no longer serves as a councilwoman, has appeared as a lake resident before council, advocating for the formation of a lake district, which, she said, would give the district an ability to receive funds from the state to help cover some of the costs associated with purchasing weed cutting equipment.

She noted that after she and her husband completed their dredging project, the cattails began to grow as soon as the weather warmed. 

“It was like watching grass grow,” she said.

Looking back over her interactions with Bunk and the DNR, she said, she believed the DNR’s vision of an optimal end to the project was not in alignment with the expectations of the residents.

In June, she said, she believed the lakes, moving forward, will not have the same look as they once did. She continued to view weed cutting as a future solution to restore lake access and improved recreational use of the waterbodies.