Jan 7, 2017 – The Manitowoc County Soil and Water Conservation Department has made a commitment in their new 10 year plan (Land and Water Resource Management Plan 2016-2026) to reduce phosphorous in Carstens Lake by 20% before 2026. We hope that we can effect a larger reduction, as it would take a 67% reduction to meet State Surface Water Standards. Participating in addressing the effort, MCLA has instituted the first step, a water quality sampling program. Steve Hoffman and Brian Robley are collecting water samples throughout the watershed to ascertain the sources of thenutrient loading. Lakeshore Water Institute is conducting analysis and delivering results to the SWCD office. Russ Tooley has placed a data-logger to measure flow volumes in Pine Creek above the lake.
MCLA, Stantec, and Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership are pursuing a Lake Planning Grant and a Lake Plan Implementation Grant to outline a strategy for comprehensive watershed improvement. The SWCD, the UW Extension, the NRCS, the DNR, and Discovery Farms are all very active in addressing their respective areas of concern. Melissa Curran, an Environmental Scientist and Botanist leading the Stantec group, states, “We have great hopes for this collaboration. Being in a position to secure the funding allows us to pursue our passion, and as a private consultant, we are able to expand the project partners to include many other environmental groups and not-for-profit organizations. Because of the size of the watershed relative to the lake, Carstens Lake will be challenging, but our success here will develop a model protocol applicable to all lakes in the County.”
Grant cycles will make this initiative a slow process, as the first grant application is not due until December. Pending approval of that grant, the implementation grant would be submitted the following cycle. We can only hope the full initiative gets funded, but in the interim, work is being advanced through the SWCD office.