Management plan for Mirror, Shadow lakes nearing completion
A draft management plan for the city's Mirror and Shadow Lakes will soon go before the Common Council.
The Friends of Mirror and Shadow Lakes group will review the plan when it meets on Jan. 24 before taking it to the council.
Work on the plan began about a year ago, and once a plan is approved, the group could revisit it on an annual basis.
During the group's Nov. 29 meeting, aquatic plants were the topic of discussion.
Nancy Turyk, a water scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point's Center for Watershed Science and Education, said, "I think these lakes are pretty well in balance."
An aquatic plant survey conducted on the two lakes last summer shows there were 17 species of plants in Mirror Lake and 25 species in Shadow Lake.
"For an urban lake that gets a lot of use and disturbance, it is in a good place," she said of Shadow Lake. "On Mirror, you would expect to see fewer species, because it is pretty constant around it."
Turyk said scientists look at what types of plants are in a lake is because the more variety of plants it has, the more stable the lake community probably is.
Aquatic plants provide a habitat for turtles and small and large fish and are also a source of food for wildlife, she said.
Last summer's aquatic plant survey also included a search for several invasive species - Eurasian water milfoil and curly-leaf pondweed.
A small infestation of Eurasian water milfoil was found last June at the northwest corner of Shadow Lake. The city treated it with an herbicide.
Turyk said none was found during August's aquatic plant survey. "Additional sampling was done on Shadow in the area where it had been treated," she said.
It is recommended that both lakes continue to be monitored for the invasive and that if necessary, measures be taken to eradicate it.
Turyk said they did not see any large beds of curly-leaf pondweed in Mirror Lake. In Shadow Lake, they had a full rake of it in a bay area.
"It seems to be growing in concert with the rest of your plants," she said. "It is something to keep an eye on."
Turyk said another thing they found is that areas of the lakes that have decent shoreland vegetation is then reflected in more diversity of aquatic plants near the shores of the lakes.
"You have two options," she said.
In regard to property owners who already have nice buffers along the lake, she said they might want to think of how they can preserve those buffers in the properties went into someone else's hands.
And, in cases where property owners are mowing the grass to the edge of the lake, Turyk said they may want to think of creating incentives for restoring those shores.
"I don't see any reason, other than invasives, to put together some type of aquatic plant management plan," she said.
The Friends of Mirror and Shadow Lakes group will review the plan when it meets on Jan. 24 before taking it to the council.
Work on the plan began about a year ago, and once a plan is approved, the group could revisit it on an annual basis.
During the group's Nov. 29 meeting, aquatic plants were the topic of discussion.
Nancy Turyk, a water scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point's Center for Watershed Science and Education, said, "I think these lakes are pretty well in balance."
An aquatic plant survey conducted on the two lakes last summer shows there were 17 species of plants in Mirror Lake and 25 species in Shadow Lake.
"For an urban lake that gets a lot of use and disturbance, it is in a good place," she said of Shadow Lake. "On Mirror, you would expect to see fewer species, because it is pretty constant around it."
Turyk said scientists look at what types of plants are in a lake is because the more variety of plants it has, the more stable the lake community probably is.
Aquatic plants provide a habitat for turtles and small and large fish and are also a source of food for wildlife, she said.
Last summer's aquatic plant survey also included a search for several invasive species - Eurasian water milfoil and curly-leaf pondweed.
A small infestation of Eurasian water milfoil was found last June at the northwest corner of Shadow Lake. The city treated it with an herbicide.
Turyk said none was found during August's aquatic plant survey. "Additional sampling was done on Shadow in the area where it had been treated," she said.
It is recommended that both lakes continue to be monitored for the invasive and that if necessary, measures be taken to eradicate it.
Turyk said they did not see any large beds of curly-leaf pondweed in Mirror Lake. In Shadow Lake, they had a full rake of it in a bay area.
"It seems to be growing in concert with the rest of your plants," she said. "It is something to keep an eye on."
Turyk said another thing they found is that areas of the lakes that have decent shoreland vegetation is then reflected in more diversity of aquatic plants near the shores of the lakes.
"You have two options," she said.
In regard to property owners who already have nice buffers along the lake, she said they might want to think of how they can preserve those buffers in the properties went into someone else's hands.
And, in cases where property owners are mowing the grass to the edge of the lake, Turyk said they may want to think of creating incentives for restoring those shores.
"I don't see any reason, other than invasives, to put together some type of aquatic plant management plan," she said.
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