The Adaptive Management Committee was established along with the revised Lake Management Plan which was adopted in 2004. The committee is comprised of two Lake Puckaway District Commissioners, two DNR staff, and three Lake District members.

The committee may call upon other experts as needed for assistance. They serve at the pleasure of the District Chairman and can be appointed or replaced at the time of the Annual Meeting each year.

The AMC’s charge is to summarize and evaluate data from past and present monitoring of water quality, water levels, aquatic vegetation, carp and fish populations. The committee will monitor the health of the lake, set up a baseline for the lakes condition and recommend specific targets for the lakes health based on science, not emotions, and make recommendations to the Board of Commissioners who will present them to the membership at the District’s annual meeting for approval. .

This years AMC consists of Kathy Moore, Roger Swanke, Brian Zimmerman, Derek Kavanaugh, Mark Sesing, Paul Gettelman and Randy Schmidt. The committee meets every other month and here are some of the things we have been doing this past year and plan on doing in the coming months.

Green Lake Land Conservation Department has completed the elevation marker on each of our three water level gauges on the lake to USGS coordinates and the gauges are now at absolute elevations.

The AMC had their annual Lake Tour in late summer. The District Commissioners, AMC members, staff from the DNR and Derek Kavanaugh from Green Lake Land Conservation Department were in attendance. We looked at the eastern dredge bank and the erosion that has happened over the years and also the dredge bank that was rocked years ago. It was agreed by those on the tour that these dredge banks are areas we would like to enhance as they protect the aquatic plants around them.

We put out two carp exclusion barriers last spring to see the effect that carp have on the vegetation. Because of the high water last spring these exclusion barriers didn’t get out early enough and we didn’t get any noticeable data from them. We plan on getting them out again this spring and monitoring them.

The AMC applied for a small scale planning grant to do a feasibility study on the dredge bank. This grant will look at the material the dredge bank is comprised of, depth of the dredge bank, substrate of the dredge bank and where it is. We were successful in getting the grant. Green Lake Land Conservation and a summer student will be doing the study for the Lake District. This information will be needed if we enhance the dredge banks.

The AMC planted 500 willows and dogwoods on May 2 on the eastern dredge bank. This is a project we are hoping will stabilize some of the dredge bank. We will be monitoring to evaluate its success. The District will be pursuing other plantings in the future.

Lake Puckaway has experienced dramatic losses of emergent plants like bulrush, cane, wild rice, and sedges over the last several decades. (D. Kavanaugh 2009, Bach et al 2008).The effect of this loss has been poor water quality, imbalances in the fishery, wildlife declines, and increasing shoreline erosion. Several factors are responsible including boating, carp, water turbidity and water level fluctuations. In 2009 lake data was analyzed and the conclusion was bleak; Near 80% of emergent plants on the lake have eroded away.

In 2004 the LPPRD adopted the long range Lake Management Plan. The goals for aquatic plants within the plan are clear: Monitor, maintain, and improve healthy beds of native aquatic plants. Basically, the plan objectives include actions to analyze available data, develop aquatic plant restoration strategies and monitor the outcome. One major strategy adopted by the Lake District, in partnership with Green Lake County and WI DNR, involves emergent plant stabilization or “EPS”.

In May of 2010 the LPPRD has applied for a lake grant from Wisconsin’s Lake Partnership to implement multiple approaches to stem the continuing declines.

These actions are all intended to turn the tide of plant loss. Success will mean a clearer lake, a more stable lake, and a lake with improved fishing and wildlife. The grant application, if successful, could bring $200,000 to Lake Puckaway for implementation.

Good things don’t come easy. At some point, all friends of Puckaway will be presented a choice of whether to make a temporary sacrifice for the permanent good of the lake or to continue down the same path and hope for the problems to go away.

Randy Schmidt