Transcript Phosphorus Impairment LCO Watershed

Upper Couderay River Wateshed : Including Billy Boy, Durphee, Couderay River,
Grindstone, Grindstone Creek and Springs, Gurno, Lac Courte Oreilles, Little
Courte Oreilles, Little Round, Osprey, Round, Sand, Sissabagama, Stone,
Whitefish, and Windigo Lakes.
Frank Pratt (WDNR Fisheries, Retired)
Prepared for COLA; 5-23-2014
Special Emphasis This Report
 Watershed Concept-Run-off vs. Groundwater
 Climate Change- AIC
 Impairment
 Phosphorus
 Two-Story Fisheries
 Local Level Community Action/Cooperation
Frank 3:16
 “Habitat is everything”
 “There is no such thing as enhancement- only
attempted restoration”
 “WATERSHED, WATERSHED, WATERSHED..
 “Every Raindrop Counts!!”
What is a Watershed
 Definition- Area of land surrounding the water to which
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that land drains.
Includes all land mass, wetlands, lakes, human
development, everything.
Includes soil surface and those soils and substrates
underneath through which water drains.
Geographic scale of one water on up to Oceans
Water cycle- Dynamic precipitation- run-offgroundwater-evaporation-flow
Sum total of countless raindrops
Linked other chemical cycles- nutrients and sediment
Human Watershed
Some Basic Watershed Terms
 Surface Water
 Run-Off
 Ground-water
 Evaporation
 Riparian
 Upland
 Intra-Lake
 Inter-Lake
 Watershed
Our Human Watershed
 Landowners on Landowners off Outside users
 Agencies
 Lake and Land Groups
 Future Generations-
 “To Our Children’s,
Children’s, Children”
Regional Watershed Map
 Insert Map here
Our Big Three Local Watersheds
 Upper Namekagon- 200 square miles- some major
lakes and 20 miles Wild River, many miles smaller,
cold-water tributaries
 Upper Couderay- 125 square miles- many large lakes
and lake chains.*
 Lake Chippewa- 185 square miles-many large lakes
and lake chains.*
(* Linkage via groundwater inflow to Round Lake from
Tiger Cat Chain.)
Local Watershed Map-Couderay
7
9
5
2
8
1
6
4
3
1.Sissabagama
2.Sand
3.Whitefish
4.LCO
5.Musky Bay
6.Grindstone
7.Round
8.Stone
9.Windigo
Numerous smaller
not shown
Sub-Watersheds and Lake Chains
 Sand/Whitefish Creek System- Sissabagama, Sand
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Lake, Whitefish Lake, Whitefish Creek (outlet to LCO)
Grindstone Creek System- Grindstone Springs,
Grindstone Creek, Grindstone Lake, Little Grindstone
(0utlet to LCO)
Osprey Creek System- Round, Little Round, Osprey,
Osprey Creek
Couderay R. Headwaters System- LCO,Little LCO,
Billy Boy, Couderay River
Perched Seepage- Gurno, Durphee, Stone, Windigo
Major Lakes-Upper Couderay
Lake
Area
Type
Stream
POA
Impaired
LCO*
5039
2 Story
Couderay
Yes
Yes
Round*
3294
2 Story
Osprey
Yes
?
Grindstone*
3111
2 Story
Grindstone
Yes
?
Sand*
928
Deep
Whitefish
Yes
?
Whitefish*
786
2 Story
Whitefish
Yes
Likely
Sissabagama 719
Deep
Whitefish
Yes
Yes
Windigo
Deep
Seepage
Yes
Yes
503
Plus- Many other smaller, but still important waters.
*-Indicates ORW or “nondegradation, State, category.
Couderay Watershed-Land/Water
% Area
23% Wet
Water
77% Forested
Wetland
Forest
Couderay Watershed Upland Use
20% Developed
% Area
7%
13%
Developed
80% Forest
Agriculture
Forest
Couderay Watershed Land Use
% Area
20% Developed
13%
7%
Agriculture
Human Dev
80% Wild
Forest
Water
Wetland
Near vs. Far Watershed
Watershed
Water acres
Shoreline
%Riparian
%S Buffer
U Namekagon
3990
85 miles
4%
<1%
Lake
Chippewa
18500
272 miles
6%
1%
U Couderay
15600
108 miles
3%
<1%
Combined
39,000 (16%)
465 miles
5%
<1%
Shoreline ~ 3-5% only
Water, including other lakes~16-20%
Upland ~ 80% !!
Rain
 31” per year x watershed area
 Pattern is changing to summer episodes
 X quadrillion raindrops per year!
 Each resident owns hundreds of trillions
 In sum total, each one counts!
Raindrops as Critical Mass
 < 1-5% watershed land area =“riparian”
 Other 95+% “back-watershed” drives the system,
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including other waters.
Land up to 5 miles distant from its surface water
Land use/habitat determine fate of raindrop
Sum raindrops = water quantity and water quality
“downstream”
The entire land mass is the “Buffer Zone”
Nutrient transport-Especially Phosphorus
Climate Change is a Game Changer
Surface Water Comes From
 RAIN…then
 Typical (Couderay/Chippewa)- 35% groundwater and
65% run-off.
 Namekagon is likely more groundwater
 Watershed management functions in two waysgreater infiltration to ground-water, and slowing
down run-off.
 Determines both water quality (Temp, nutrients,
clarity) and quantity (floods, drought, flows,
level)
Forest
Erosion
Agriculture
Impervious Run-Off
Raindrops Journey-Upper Couderay
Evaporation 25%
Sissabagama
Sand
4 yrs. Ground
2 yrs. flow
3 yrs. flow
Whitefish
LCO
10 yrs.
flow
11 yrs. flow
Different Approaches Stewarship
Individual Water
Watershed Level
 Exclusive- “Me/Mine”
 Inclusive-Our
 A surface water
 All water
 Limited Resources
 Pooled Resources
 Narrow Buffer
 Wide Buffer
 Expediency-Here/now
 Visionary-Long-term
 Shoreline-Water linkage
 Land-Water linkage
 End of Water Cycle
 All of Water Cycle
 Intra-Lake
 Inter-Lake
 Social
 Political
Watershed Fish-UC20
Lake Whitefish
Cisco
Muskellunge
Big Money
+1 ppb TP = - 1 ft. =
$25,ooo up in flames
TP- Total Phosphorus-UC20
Lake
Class
Type
TP standard
Status
Impairment?
Impairment
Sissabagama
Sissabagama
Deep ORW
Deep,
Deep
30 ppb
20
ppb
Impaired
Impaired
Sand
Deep, ORW
30 ppb
Not*
Whitefish
Two-Story, ORW
15 ppb
Likely
Musky Bay
Deep, ORW
30 ppb
Impaired
LCO
Two-Story,ORW
15 ppb
Likely
Site-Specific
10 ppb
Close
Already impaired, threatened, impact
others, or insufficient data-WATERSHED
Lakes Class-TP Standards
 LCO- Site Specific- 10 ppb (Impaired)
 Sissabagama- Headwater, Drainage, Stratified- 20 ppb
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(Impaired)
Sand- Drainage, Stratified- 30 ppb
Stone, Windigo- Seepage, 20 ppb
Whitefish, Grindstone, Round- Two Story- 15 ppb
Durphee, Gurno, others- Shallow, Seepage?? 40 ppb (No data)
Site Specific ORW- Core samples some historic baseline.
Problems: Insufficient data, standards are too high,
methodology is too liberal, many lakes already exceed anyway,
solutions will be aggressive and costly…only way is……
WATERSHED, WATERSHED, WATERSHED
Sand Lake- Meets its TP but ………………..
40
35
SDL 30 ppb
30
25
20
TSL 15 ppb
15
10
5
Watershed 10 ppb
Mean
Mean==24
24
90%CI=21-27
90%CI=22-27
Range= 17Range=17-37
37
Mean=25
90%CI=22-29
Range=10-36
0
2009-13
2004-08
Whitefish Lake is struggling to meet 2-Story
standard…..and furthermore……
30
25
20
TSL 15 ppb
15
Watershed 10 ppb
10
5
Mean= 15.4
90%CI= 14-17
Range= 11-22
Mean= 14.2
90%CI= 13-16
Range= 8-24
0
2009-13
2004-08
Climate Change as Game Changer
 Growing season 1-2 months longer. Magnifies
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oxygen depletion in deep lakes, and increases
water temp. in cold-water streams.
Run-off of sediment and Phosphorus increase
Flooding, Droughts, warmer water/longer
Especially at risk- Cold-water fish communities
Lake problems compounded
Let’s not be like Nero
 AIS IS very important…..but
 We cant ignore watershed and Climate Change d
 Fiddling while Rome Burns
Literally!.
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Current State Lake Grants (~$9M)
Other ~ 2 M
AIS ~ 7 M
Pratt Rx for Lakes and Rivers
 Watershed- Organize and cooperate to pool resources for concerted
effort to advance shared objectives. Watershed Conference Sept. 6!!
 LCO TMDL- Reduce P ~ 25% via emphasis on shoreline buffers!!!!
 Recognize watershed, climate change, nutrients, and responsibility to
future generations.
 Armor the landscape to anticipate increased run-off. The entire
watershed is a wide Buffer Zone.
 Keep Wild land Wild- Conservation Easements
 Encourage land use that maximizes ground-water and minimizes runoff.
 Actively manage run-off and impervious surfaces
 Active management and enforcement of nutrients where needed under
Impaired Waters, Clean Water Act, ORW, BMPs, TMDLs, etc….
 Make every raindrop, including the human raindrop count!
 YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!