Entire fish population in lake dies in Stanley

From the Janesville Gazette

The fish population in a man-made lake died in one day earlier this month when they lacked oxygen as temperatures soared past 100 degrees.

The lack of rain helped essentially suffocate thousands of bluegills, largemouth bass, northern pike and other fish at Chapman Lake the first week of August, said Joe Kurz, fisheries biologist for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

"It seems to have occurred over a one-day period," he said, adding in his more than 20 years with the DNR he had never seen such a large fish kill.

Volunteers and inmates from the Chippewa Valley Correctional Institution in Chippewa Falls helped to clean up the dead fish.

Kurz said the kill might in time prove beneficial to the lake, which is man-made thanks to a dam of the Wolf River.

The city is considering rebuilding the dam next year. Kurz said with the fish gone, the city could dredge the lake bottom, something not done since the 1980s. Dredging can improve fish habitat, he said.

Kurz said the earliest he foresees the lake being restocked is 2008.