22 days on Lake Koshkonong

May 1st = 781.39

Today = 779.42

DOWN just 2 feet in May

Another Slow Week On Lake Koshkonong

May 15th = 779.97
Today, 5-22 = 779.42

Loss of 6.6 inches

Lake Koshkonong; Top 15 Water Levels all time

#1    6/21/08    15.12**

#2    1959          13.00*

#3    4/23/13    12.39

#4    4/25/93    12.23

#5    1979          11.74*

#6    4/18/08    11.65**

#7    6/05/04    11.49

#8    6/07/00    11.02

#9    4/07/07    10.58**

#10  8/30/07    10.46**

#11  4/23/98      9.77

#12  4/28/99      9.73

#13  3/23/90      9.45

#14  3/21/94      9.19

#15  3/14/97      9.02

 

*Estimate using flow chart

**Two month’s or more between levels 

Who wins? Lake Koshkonong!

Reviewing the mounds and mounds of paperwork required to win the $100k grant from the WI DNR for the experimental dredge project.

Thanks to Rob Montgomery and his team at MA-RS for designing the schematics and submitting the app - a two year process!

Bob Venske = No Show

Despite including the Town of Albion on our meeting agenda last night, despite personally emailing the town hall to personally invite Mr. Venske to address the RKLD Board, despite his making time for his secret, locked door private meeting at the Albion Town Hall Wednesday night, despite his time spent lobbying town board meetings around the lake -- despite all the time he dedicated to his crusade in trying to impugn the integrity of the RKLD and our volunteer Board of Commissioners, Mr. Venske could NOT make time to attend the RKLD Board meeting last night.

It is the Bob Venskes of the world who discourage good, honest, reasonable people from wanting to serve in local government.

Bob Venske's Secret Meeting

Allegedly - based on reports from several town supervisors - Mr. Venske held a closed-door (locked door) meeting among town chairmen last night in a public facility; the Albion Town Hall.

If the REAL concern is RKLD operations, then why not simply invite an RKLD Board member to the Albion Town Hall?

RKLD has included an agenda item for Mr. Venske on our agenda.  An emailed invitation has been extended.  No reply has been sent.

These tactics are really very.....secretive.

And will likely result in Albion Town taxpayers funding their lawyer, as well as forcing the RKLD to dedicate our team of lawyers to talk to their lawyer -- leaving taxpayers paying for both sides of an argument that never needed to be started.

Nice move.

Very Little Lake Level Loss this week

May 8th = 780.32
May 15th = 779.97

Lake Koshkonong drained just 4.2 inches during the past week - due to rain throughout the watershed north of Fort Atkinson.

Transparency - Our Motto

It must also be noted to our electors, that each of the townships - Fulton, Milton, Sumner, Albion, Koshkonong - receives our agenda as a Public Meeting Notice to be posted at their town halls.

We also publish the meeting notice in the Edgerton Reporter and Milton Courier, as well as being posted at the Administrative Building of the CKSD.

So, it is an inaccurate claim that our elected colleagues in local government do not know when or where we hold our Board meetings.

We invite all to participate in our local unit of government and help us protect and promote the lake and river for ALL user groups.

Agenda Makes Time for Bob Venske

RKLD Board Meeting is tomorrow, Thursday and the agenda has been posted on the MEETING INFO Tab on the website -

HERE

We have included an agenda item for the Town of Albion, and RKLD has also extended an invitation - via the town clerk - to Mr. Venske to address his concerns.

Mr. Venske has circulated letters and (reportedly) personally attended town board meetings, expressing his concerns about RKLD, so we fully expect the courtesy of his attendance Thursday.

We have no doubt that once we learn what it is that is troubling Mr. Venske, RKLD will answer those concerns with complete transparency.

USACE Monitoring Requirements of Dredge Area

Just as a reminder, I am attaching RGL 08-03.  This lays out the preferred format of monitoring
reports (see pages 5 and 6) that will be submitted to the Corps of Engineers for this project. This will allow for greater consistency, making Corps reviews more efficient.  Although this project is seen as self-mitigating by the Corps, the guidelines on pages 5 and 6 of the RGL should still be followed.

Please be sure reference the Corps permit number in any correspondence you send to the Corps regarding this project.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Keep me posted when you plan to meet.

Best regards,
Stacy Marshall

_________________________

The form will be posted on the PAS page on the website at the CURRENT ISSUES tab
HERE

Addressing more misconceptions about the Experimental Dredge Project

This is why RKLD pays consultants - experts - to perform planning duties...because what we do, and what we want to do, and what our electors/property owners want us to do, requires MOUNTAINS of paperwork and follow-up to insure we are in complete compliance with DNR and USACE codes, ordinances and statutes.

Travis and all:

Yes we would like to meet. It might be best to meet on-site, but I suspect we will need to wait until June sometime for the water levels to be low enough that we can walk in. However, that would good timing, because we could also discuss startup of the wetland vegetation seeding.

I suggest the following:

We will send you the description of the carp gate attachment details and the net and floats that we have on order

We will also send you the wetland restoration seeding and monitoring spec (consistent with the spec that the Corps of Engineers and DNR approved in their permits)

We can correspond with the group about carp gate management, the carp harvesting contractor, and how we can work with the Bark River Hatchery

Then we can all meet on-site to confirm our action plans.

Responding to Ryan's comment about passage of motorboats, the design we now have will accommodate passage of water craft over the barrier but care will need to be taken regarding lifting the motor. We are anticipating posting signage at the carp gate describing the reasons for the gate and asking for cooperation from boaters – as some of you know, there have been issues in the past regarding dismantling of the previously installed carp barriers.

Update on the Experimental Dredge Project - Next Steps

As you know, the dredging and wetlands restoration fill is complete. We are moving along with the wetlands vegetation seeding, which we hope to complete in June if water levels cooperate. 

We will communicate with DNR with copy to the Corps of Engineers and Jefferson County on this process. 

The monitoring and maintenance of the wetland vegetation will extend for three growing seasons, based on the wetland restoration and monitoring plan included in the permit application and referenced in the permit approval by the Corps of Engineers.

We also have been working on the "carp gate" to separate Mud Lake from Lake Koshkonong. 

We sent photographs out in February of the metal anchorages that we installed on the precast concrete blocks to allow installation of a floating barrier that will have weights on the bottom and floats on the top to allow boat passage over the barrier. 

Steve Hjort, the ecologist on the team working for RKLD, has ordered a net assembly to use as the barrier. 

Considering Lake Koshkonong and Mud Lake are still connected by floodwater, we will plan on the barrier being operative in the spring of 2014.

Steve Hjort has also been in contact with Laura Stremick-Thompson about the carp harvesting contractor on Lake Koshkonong and on approaches to collaborating on stocking of Mud Lake using the Bark River Fish Hatchery. 

We plan to meet with Laura sometime in the near future. 

We want to make sure we have a communication loop with you for all of the things that we are trying to complete in 2014, which are:

1.      Completion of the seeding of the wetlands restoration fill

2.      Planning for operation of the carp gate barrier for 2013 – 2014

3.      Planning for coordination between RKLD, the wetland owners adjacent to Mud Lake, and the Bark River Hatchery on stocking of Mud Lake as well as Lake Koshkonong, to the extent that you want to be involved.

Safety Chain at Indiandford

The safety chain was lowered off the bridge and into the river yesterday.

RKLD Website Costs

So, 30 seconds on those pages with spending reports, showed that we spent $2,895.00 in 2011 on the website.

For 2012, we budgeted $5,000.00.

Looking at prior annual disclosure reports, the website spending was so insignificant, that the category was lumped-in with something called "Public Information."

Public information is the cost of publishing public meeting notices, etc - and it was/is still FAR below the (alleged) claim that the website cost $40,000.

Anyone who knows anything about websites - and the town of Albion does not have a website - but for those of us who rely on websites, knows $40,000 is a LOT to spend.

But to provide full disclosure to our electors, we have included a stand-alone category called website.

If only EVERY elector had email and were willing to share their email address with the RKLD - we could forego the cost of printing 4,000+ newsletters every year - and the cost of mailing them to 4,000+ addresses every year.

Comments on Bob Venske

We are hearing so many comments attributed to this guy, Bob Venske.  He is (allegedly) making some wild accusations about the finances of the Lake District.

To be clear, everyone who pays property taxes in the boundaries of the lake district receives our annual newsletter, mailed to the very same address that the property tax bill is mailed to.

Within the annual newsletter, as mandated by state statute, is a complete explanation/spreadsheet of all revenues received, and all expenditures by category -- including monies received from Rock and Jefferson counties for accepting ownership of the Dam, and all grant monies received from the WDNR.

Everyone who attends the annual meetings - something our records indicate this Venske guy has never attended - everyone receives a detailed verbal explanation from our attorneys and consultants on how much and where our public tax dollars are being spent - such as the experimental dredging project that was conducted jointly between RKLD, WDNR and the US Army Corp. of Engineers.

Electors are then asked to vote on taxing themselves - setting the annual special charge - that then funds the projects and spending we have presented as a board.

Sound familiar Mr. Venske?  Sounds like the annual town hall meeting, doesn't it?  Electors at the annual RKLD meeting - just like at the annual town hall meeting - can make motions to amend the budget, or amend the mil rate.

Does Mr. Venske abide by state statutes?  I suggest he does, just as the RKLD does.

So then why would this Bob Venske guy (allegedly) claim the RKLD has a government credit card?  We don't.

So then why would this Bob Venske guy (allegedly) claim the RKLD spends $40,000 on a website?  We don't.

Bob Venske may ask RKLD, why don't we just give him what he is asking for?  We already have.

Sample 1 on our "expensive" website

Sample 2 that Bob Venske (allegedly) failed to look for

Heck - Look at any year, any monthly meeting minutes here...

And you will see a complete disclosure of where monies are being spent.

Always have - always will.
_____________________

I am told that this Bob Venske is a member of the Thibeau Hunting Club....hmmmm, probably don't need CSI Koshkonong detectives to find motive.....

Just because Bob Venske may oppose the efforts of the Lake District, just because Bob Venske may hunt Thibeau, just because Bob Venske may like ducks more than boaters, skiiers, fisherman, or the RKLD - that is no reason to be an (allegedly) rude neighbor.

New Page on Website Menu

Go to Dam Info Tab

Then Look for Hydro Power page

Another Week, Another Foot Down

May 1 = 781.39
May 8 = 780.32

So, we lost another foot of water level during the past week.

Depending on rain, we should lose another 1ft during the next week, then begin gaining speed.

But likely, Memorial Day weekend will be a SLOW NO WAKE boating holiday weekend.

Common Question on Lake Koshkonong Flood Storage

We get this one every time there is high water or a flood stage - if we increase the operating orders for the summer by 7 inches, would the flood of 2013 be that much worse - 7 inches higher than what is was at crest?

Hydrology simplified; 

7 inches = 6,000
Flooding = 1,000,000

Flooding brings 167x more water than what our modest request for 7 inches would bring.

This is taken from the FAQ page.

_________________

...The reason for this is the contrast between the volume of water occupied by the proposed water level increase and the very much larger volume of water contained in a large flood on the Rock River, combined with the hydraulic characteristics of Indianford dam. 

Specifically, if the Lake water elevation was at the proposed target -- 7" higher than the current operating order target, the increased volume of water of water in the lake would be approximately 6,000 acre-feet -- 7 inches over approximately 10,000 acres. 

In comparison, the 2008 flood volume that flowed through the Rock River was over 1,000,000 acre feet. Because the flood volume is so much larger than the storage "lost" in the lake due to the proposed operating order change, the water level in the lake at the beginning of a flood has little effect on the peak discharge that moves out of the Lake. 

In summary, the proposed summer target water level increase is an infinitesimal fraction of the typical flood flow, meaning that peak discharge in the Rock River would be unaffected, and the Lake levels at flood time would be controlled by the inoperable crest of the Indianford dam and the Rock River downstream, and not the gate settings associated with the revised operating order.

From Town of Sumner's Annual Town Mtg

It was very amusing reading this coverage of a town meeting - to the best of my knowledge, the RKLD has NEVER explored the feasibility of wind turbines on Lake Koshkonong.  But the flying geese issue given as the reason for deciding against them?  That might be near the bottom of 100 reasons why it can't be done.

One week ago today...

Lake Koshkonong crested at 782.39

Today 781.39

Down 1 ft, or 1.7 inches per day.

When we get closer to 2.25 to 2.5 inches per day, we will be off the bank and dropping from the channel.

Still 5 feet OVER summer Max of 776.3

DNR Mandated Winter Draw Down Ends TODAY

Like it makes a difference.

Gates were last closed on OCTOBER 22, 2012

Weekend Weather

Great, Juuuuust GREAT.

Anchor Inn, Newville, USA

Anchor Inn, Then, 2008

Anchor Inn, Now, 2013

Yes, It was a COLD Spring...

Second Coldest Spring in US History

1960s Flooding??

Does anyone have photos of Lake Koshkonong flooding from the 1960s?

We have newspaper articles from the flood of 1959 - and the 2008 flood was higher - but I cannot find what this person is referring to.

________________

YOUR VIEWS

   

   Record flooding in 2008? What about back in ’60s?

   Officials say the flooding on the Rock River this spring got close to the highest ever, which they say occurred June 21, 2008. They had better check their records. 

Back in the 1960s, the Rock River was up just a few inches below the Newville Bridge. The Anchor Inn in Newville was flooded, and water was 2 or 3 feet deep in the building of another bar called Snug Harbor, now Harbor Recreation. 

The water was almost up to Highway 59 between Milton and Newville. I have been told that, at the time, Otter Creek north of Milton backed up into Bowers Lake and Storrs Lake. 

At the time, walleyes went up Otter Creek and got into Storrs Lake. That summer people caught walleyes in Storrs Lake, and they had never caught them in there before. 

You can ask most any older person who lived around Newville in the ’50s and ’60s, and they can tell you about this. 

JOHN R. BERGMAN 
Milton

Drought to Deluge - AP story

Drought to deluge

Dry spell eases in Midwest, but fields turn into mud

Associated Press

   DES MOINES, IOWA

   As spring rains soaked the central United States and helped conquer the historic drought, a new problem has sprouted: The fields have turned to mud.

   The weekly drought monitor report, released Thursday by National Drought Mitigation Center in Lincoln, Neb., showed the heavy rains that also caused some flooding in the last week brought drought relief to the upper Midwest, western Corn Belt and central portions of the Plains.

   Farmers may be thankful the land is no longer parched, but it’s too wet to plant in corn country, and freezing temperatures and lingering snow have ruined the winter wheat crop.

   “Right now, we’re wishing it would dry up so we can get in the field,” said 74-year-old Iowa farmer Jerry Main, who plants corn and soybeans on about 500 acres in the southeast part of the state. He’s measured more than 9 inches of rain since April 18—and farmers in his area prefer to plant corn by May 10—at the latest.

   Aside from being too wet to plant, it’s been too cold for seed to germinate. Main said temperatures dipped to 27 on Tuesday and to 32 on Wednesday, a chill that’s been widespread across the Midwest.

   “We need some heat. It’s been down in the upper 30s at night,” said Darren Walter, 41, who farms near Grand Ridge, Ill. And farmers in southwest Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas have lost a significant portion of their wheat crop because of unusually late freezes, and have begun knocking it down to feed it to livestock.

   But just as better crop technology helped U.S. farmers harvest one of their biggest corn crops ever amid the worst drought in decades, it’s likely to save them from a late, wet planting season. There are corn varieties that mature faster, nearly 30 days in some cases, but the shorter the time to maturity, the lower the yield.

   Kevin Malchine, who farms 2,100 acres in southeastern Wisconsin, said he did better than expected last year thanks to drought-resistant corn—harvesting 80 percent more than in 1988, the last time there was a comparable drought.

   “We took a hit, but it was much better than I would have thought, and that’s just due to the genetics of today,” Malchine, 51, said.

   Sandy Ludeman’s 2,500-acre farm in Tracy, Minn., about 50 miles east of the South Dakota border, is covered with snow. A year ago, he had finished planting corn. This year, he’ll be lucky if he can start in two weeks.

   Ludeman says he’ll consider switching from his typical 105-day corn to 95-day corn if planting runs late.

   “I guess I’m not abnormally concerned about it,” he said. “I’ve farmed close to 40 years, and we’ve had wet springs before, but if it gets too late, it affects our yield.”

   Declaring an end to drought requires looking at how much moisture an area has received, how much soaked into the ground and the impact on agriculture, said Richard Heim, a climate scientist at the National Climatic Data Center who helps draft the drought monitor.

   “It takes a while for that moisture to percolate down, especially if it’s been dry for a long time,” he said. “When the soil is moist enough it can sustain crops, it can sustain other activities you aren’t really in a drought.”

   In Illinois, where corn production plunged 34 percent last year, soggy conditions meant only 1 percent of it has been sown this year.

   Rob Asbell farms 5,000 acres of corn and soybeans with his dad and uncle in Peoria County in central Illinois. The last week brought more than 6 inches of rain, saturating the fields and putting him woefully behind.

   “Everybody’s behind,” the 42-year-old said. “We’re getting to the point now where it’s time to go, tired of sitting around.”

   The dry spell hasn’t snapped everywhere, though. It remains solidly in place in parts of California, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, according to the drought monitor.

   It intensified across western Texas, southeastern New Mexico and the Oklahoma panhandle.

   It likely won’t keep farmers out of the fields, though. Agriculture giant Monsanto tested a drought-resistant variety of corn last year, and DuPont Pioneer and Syngenta are also marketing similar varieties.

   Southwest Kansas farmer Clay Scott said he was one of 250 to test Monsanto’s during last year’s drought and said it yielded more bushels per gallon of water than his fully irrigated corn.

   He plans to plant about 10 percent of the drought-resistant corn this year, noting that things are again looking extremely dry.

   “The countryside’s hurting every time the wind blows,” he said. “It’s really starting to be an issue with blowing dirt,” he said.

Lake Koshkonong Crested Early Thursday AM

Yesterday =782.24 --- inflow = 8,960 cfs
Today = 782.13 ---- inflow = 8,310 cfs

1 1/10 of an inch drop.

Weather Maps for Midwest

Too Wet to Plant in the Midwest

While the situation is not serious, frequent rainfall, chilly conditions and muddy soil over much of the Midwest this spring has put the skids on planting for the time being.

During the last several years, it has been one extreme or the other for agriculture in portions of the Central states.

Wet weather and flooding was the theme in many areas during 2011. Last year, spring warmth turned to blistering heat and drought during the summer. This season so far from the Mississippi Valley into the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley region, it is flooding as well as a lingering chill.

The good news is that the weather pattern that brought frequent waves of cold throughout the region and ongoing snowstorms to the Plains and Great Lakes is easing. Most farmers are willing to deal with wet conditions and planting delays, rather than drought.

A spell of warmth with only spotty rainfall may present a window of opportunity for planting in part of the Midwest later this weekend into early next week.

However, later next week, additional rounds of rain will occur, and there can be one more invasion of cold air that can add to planting delays.

One particular system AccuWeather.com meteorologists are watching is what could be a large and slow-moving storm set to develop during the middle of next week.

The worst case scenario would be for several days of rainy and cool conditions that leads to new flooding problems in some areas and ongoing soggy ground for agricultural interests. A freeze could again drive southward over wheat areas of the Plains with a narrow zone of snow for the Upper Midwest.

According to Expert Senior Meteorologist Henry Margusity, "The storm next week appears as though it will tap a significant amount of Gulf of Moisture, while a puddle of cool air settles over the Midwest."

Setups like this have the potential to unleash rounds of heavy rainfall: some of it from thunderstorms, some by other means.

The area at greatest risk for additional flooding or continuing soggy conditions would be from Iowa and Missouri to Illinois, Michigan and Indiana. Much of this area has already received from 150 to 200 percent of their normal precipitation since Jan. 1, 2013. Note the extremes below for April.

One way the storm next week could bring less rainfall is if a second storm forms in the Deep South. Such a storm would prevent Gulf of Mexico moisture from flowing northward over the Midwest. However, such a storm could lead to flooding problems in parts of the South.

April Wettest on Record

www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-snow-showers-a-week-before-may-20130424,0,6223531.story

chicagotribune.com

Snow showers, a week before May

By Adam Sege
Tribune reporter
7:38 AM CDT, April 24, 2013

Next week will be May and temperatures will be in the 70s. But first we'll have to get through this April, and that means yet another chance of snow.

Tonight's temperatures are expected to dip into the low 30s, bringing the possibility of snow showers after midnight, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Jim Allsopp.

"You might be getting a dusting in grassy areas," Allsopp said.

But any accumulation is not expected to last. By Friday, highs will be in the 60s and temperatures are expected to steadily rise through the weekend and reach the 70s by Monday, Allsopp said.

April has been cloudier and colder than normal. And it is now officially the wettest. As of midnight, 8.54 inches had already fallen this month. That beats the previous record of 8.33 inches in April of 1947.
After tonight, the rest of April looks fairly, dry, Allsopp said. But forecasters know that could well change. "This time of year, things can change pretty rapidly," he said. "So well have to keep an eye out.”

Many areas got close to an inch of rain Tuesday, aggravating flooding from last week's deluge. 

Lake Koshkonong to Crest tonite

yesterday = 782.36
today = 782.39

INFLOW from Jefferson (as measured at Fort Atkinson gauges)
yesterday = 10,500 cfs
today = 10,000 cfs

Sandbagging Lake Koshkonong Photos in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Edgerton HS Sandbagging Lake Koshkonong

Low rain/snow totals could make for worse drought in 2013

Headlines from 100+ days ago are laughable today - Mother Nature does what she does....

___________________________________________________________

Low rain/snow totals could make for worse drought in 2013

DECEMBER 09, 2012 5:00 AM  •  ROB SCHULTZ | WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL | RSCHULTZ@MADISON.COM | 608-252-6487

Without a moderate amount of precipitation this winter and early next spring to replenish the drought-parched ground, parts of Wisconsin could face the same conditions that fueled the worst drought to hit the state in the past 50 years.

“You look back into 1988, and that was a worse drought than this year because, in part, we started out the season with depleted subsoil. If we don’t get our subsoils recharged, we’ll see 1988 again next year,” said Bill Bland, a UW-Madison soil science professor and groundwater expert.

Bland said a snowless winter followed by a dry spring would create conditions at the start of next year’s growing season similar to the driest points of last summer’s drought. Then, he noted, powerful backhoes struggled to dig foundations or graves through rock-hard subsoil — the less fertile layer of earth anywhere from inches to feet under the topsoil.

“Imagine a seed trying to grow in that,” Bland said.

Water savings account 

Bland likened the subsoil to a water savings account that salvaged the 2012 growing season. Crops subsisted by tapping that moisture, giving most farmers at least something to harvest this fall. They also were helped by crops that are engineered to have deeper roots that can reach the subsoil.

But one of the driest summers since 1988 depleted that reserve.

“We went into the growing season this year with very favorable conditions, and we had that bank account to draw on. That subsoil moisture bank is what saved many, many fields across southern Wisconsin,” Bland said.

As it stands today, the drought is rated anywhere from abnormally dry to severe in the southern third of Wisconsin. “Multi-year droughts do happen,” said Bland.

Most recently, northern Wisconsin was gripped by drought from 2003 through 2010. The statewide drought in 1988 actually started in 1987 and lasted into 1989 for many parts of the state.

The good news is that Bland believes just an average amount of precipitation — depending on the location, 5 to 7 inches of rain or its equivalent in snow — is needed from now through next April in the southern third of the state to recharge the subsoil and ensure good growing conditions next spring.

The bad news is that climatologists aren’t confident that will happen because a weak El Nino system over the Pacific Ocean is making forecasting more difficult.

While most long-range forecasts are predicting a warmer-than-average winter, only half are predicting at least average precipitation or snowfall, according to professor Jonathan Martin, chairman of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at UW-Madison.

Snow is needed to add moisture as well as prevent it from evaporating from the ground, Martin said.

“If we have a winter like last year, when we had almost no snow cover in the southern part of the state, you can begin to lose more water somewhat invisibly,” he said. “Nobody really notices until the spring that the ground has really lost a lot of moisture over the winter. We need snow to prevent that from happening.”

Worse than 2012?

It’s hard for some to imagine drought conditions worse than what the southern third of the state experienced this year.

Crops began to suffer when some parts of the state got only about a half-inch of rain in June, which is on average the rainiest month of the year with over 4 inches in most places. The U.S. Drought Monitor labeled conditions “extreme,” the second-most-severe designation, in southern Wisconsin after below-average rainfall levels continued in July, August and September.

The drought’s effects were felt far and wide.

Corn plants produced little or no grain in places where there wasn’t enough rain to complete pollination. Some farmers cut their losses by chopping their corn early and using the stalks for feed. As grain prices rose, the drought also slowed hay production, putting added pressure on dairy and hog farmers to feed their animals.

There were reports that cows and hogs were being slaughtered across the country at the fastest rate in 25 years. Some large dairy farms, particularly those in California that are more dependent on buying feed, declared bankruptcy. And some ethanol plants slowed or shut down because they couldn’t afford corn — if they could find it.

Some grain farmers benefitted from those higher prices, offsetting corn yields that were nowhere close to the record levels of 2010 and 2011.

The bottom line for consumers was a higher price for dairy and meat products at the grocery store.

Drought continues

The drought is continuing in south central Wisconsin because moisture levels in the subsoil and aquifers are lagging behind despite good amounts of rainfall this fall. “We don’t have crops and landscapes growing, so it’s less terrifying to us right now,” said Bland.

But he didn’t mince words on what would happen if a dry spring and early summer follows a dry winter. “All of the crops will just crash and burn,” he said.

Based on current conditions and Wisconsin’s weather history, Bland believes south-central Wisconsin will get the needed precipitation to recharge the subsoil and groundwater reservoirs. “What would be best is lots of snow followed by a good, slow melt and no subsequent deep freeze,” he said.

Bland was also optimistic that sufficient surface moisture could get the growing season started next May even if the subsoil isn’t completely replenished. “And if rain keeps on track after that, we can have a respectable year,” he said.

Besides pleasing the farmers, that would also make workers at Roselawn Memorial Park in Monona very happy.

Dustin Kohn deals in subsoil every day as he digs graves at Roselawn. He said the ground became so hard last summer that the cemetery’s powerful backhoe needed an extra 15 minutes to dig out a standard grave.

“It got real hard-packed down there when the drought was at its worst. It got hard to chunk it all out of there,” Kohn said, noting that the subsoil is harder to handle than topsoil even when it’s moist.

Kohn said the whole process of laying out a grave, digging it to its standard depth of five feet (there’s no rule that graves must be six feet deep) and then trucking out the soil usually takes about 90 minutes.

“So if it takes 15 minutes longer to dig a grave,” Kohn said, “that adds up at the end of the day.”

Indianford Dam Safety Checked by DNR today

Update – Rob was on site and noted the dam was submerged and has freeboard available to accommodate the additional 0.5FT increase predicted for the lake without overtopping the abutment.  There is currently 18 inches of freeboard available.

He has told Paul France(Regional WEM) and representatives of Rock County that he recommends not doing anything at this time and re-evaluate should the water levels rise above the predicted levels.

Thanks.

Bill

P William D. Sturtevant, P.E.

State Dam Safety Engineer

Dam Safety Floodplain Section

Bureau of Watershed Management

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

(() phone:     (608) 266-8033