Soil expert: Banning phosphorous may not help Geneva Lake

From the Janesville Gazette

LAKE GENEVA-Not everyone is convinced a ban on urban phosphorus fertilizer will help keep lakes clear of excessive algae and lake weeds.

..."These are political decisions," Kussow said.

...A synopsis of the testimony showed disagreement over how much phosphorus gets into the lakes from urban lawns. Kussow said no more than 6 percent of phosphorus runoff countywide is from urban lawns, while another expert, Steve Carpenter, a UW-Madison limnologist, said the figure is more like 19 percent.

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Dredging Requires Future Cooperation

From the WDNR

In 1986 the Environmental Management Program was an experiment. Never before had such a large undertaking of environmental monitoring or restoration been attempted in the world.

Today, the EMP is a model for this type of work. Tangible benefits of the program include the wealth of knowledge we have gained about the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, but perhaps the greatest benefit is the hardest to quantify: The EMP has fostered a previously unknown level of cooperation among the state and federal agencies responsible for the river's management.


The first Wisconsin-sponsored project, Lake Onalaska Islands and Dredge Cuts, began construction in 1989. Since then, 17 EMP habitat projects have been built along Wisconsin's portion of the Mississippi River, with 12 more planned for construction before the scheduled end of the program in 2002.

In all, more than 50 projects affecting more than 97,000 acres will have been built to restore fish and wildlife habitat along a thousand miles of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers.

Newsletter Comments

Brian,
Terrific Newsletter !!!
Links Too !!!
Thanks to all for the effort to produce this for everyone.
Best regards,Len

Thx you Brian, Looks like good news !!!!! I will start to gather as many e-mails addresses in the Fort Atkinson area & send them to you. I have just included my wife & another friend for starters. rbh

Brian,
I think it will only help people to become more motivated to get involved. So many people that I talk to think it's a losing battle with the DNR. When they see this web site, I believe it inspirers people, allows them to be informed quickly & shows how many people really are trying to make a difference & improve Lake Koshkonong. I lot of people I speak with are discouraged & I think this site can turn that around.
Roger

Charles Mill Lake Dredge Project

Charles Mill Lake is one of ten lakes owned and operated by MWCD. The lake has been filling up with silt, reducing the navigability of the lake. Because of the siltation problem, it was decided dredging the lake was the answer. The dredge project is being funded by a $815,006 grant by the State of Ohio NatureWorks Program through the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

The depth of Charles Mill Lake in the area to be dredged is about three feet on average; the dredge project will increase the depth to five feet in the channels.

The dredging project will create navigable channels in the lake where access is becoming a problem. The channels will be from 60 to 75 feet wide. The project is being started where the sedimentation is the worst.

The goal is to create access to and from the Black Fork of the Mohican River, residential areas and the campground. The area immediately north of State Route 430 and west of the bridge is being prepared to serve as a staging area. The dredge will be launched from this area. The dredging will start at the launch site and move north to the US Route 30 bridge.

The dredge material will be disposed of in the lake adjacent to Pine Island and the "Haunted Island," creating a wetland environment that will enhance waterfowl breeding and fish habitat.

A floating barrier will contain the dredge material until it is stable. Dredge material will be disposed of by transport through a 10" pressure pipe which will lay between the dredge and the disposal area. The pipe will be marked with orange buoys. The pipe will float and may be crossed with care. Outboard motors should not be locked in the down position when it is idle crossing the pipe.

Recreational users will be able to use the lake during the dredging. Fishing and boating is permissible in the dredge area as long as a reasonable distance is maintained between the boat and the dredge. The public is asked never to board the dredge when idle.

Think Spring...

From the website Chicago Kite Surfing.com

Scroll half-way down to read their take on Lake Koshkonong (below)...

Dredge Results in IA

BEFORE DREDGING --

AFTER DREDGING --

Link to Five Island Lake

Restoration Accomplishments

"Five Island Lake is an excellent example for a dredging project for three reasons: 1) an extremely low sedimentation rate; 2) public participation; and 3) low cost" according to Roger Bachmann, a world renowned limnologist at Iowa State University.

Five Island Lake restoration project has unique features that separates it from all other lake restoration endeavors.

First is the community support in donation of time and money. The initial bond issue of $400,000 passed by 90% in a community of 4,500 inhabitants. The total contribution of the community to date exceeds $1,200,000.

Second, the dredging aspect of our program is the largest ever of a natural lake in the United States. In the lower 600 acres of this lake, the water level will be deepened from its former 4 to 6 feet to 14 to 16 feet with several areas dredged to over 20 feet. When finished, at least 4,500,000 cubic yards of silt will have been removed. Size was not the original objective, but because of the extensive dredging, this project will serve as a laboratory to determine what can be accomplished by the large scale removal of silt. Our water monitoring data to date demonstrates in Area 5 where 85% of the silt has been removed compared to Area 1 which has not been dredged, a lessening of suspended solids, total phosphorus, and chlorophyll "a" and an increased measurement in the Secchi disk depth--all indications of improved water quality.

Third, our costs are much lower than similar endeavors by the government. We believe our costs will be approximately 50 cents a cubic yard of silt removed. Most government dredging operations are at least $2.00 a cubic yard. We are able to do this because we own our own dredge and hire our own employees. Although we have an experienced project manager, many of the tasks that government would pay for are donated by Lake Board members and other citizens. For example, legal work is extensive because of numerous contracts for silt deposit sites, but legal fees have been minimal.

Fourth, we have the oldest volunteer lake monitoring program in Iowa. Our main goal is improved water quality. To check our progress we have been collecting water samples as stated above since 1991. The chemical analysis is performed at the Civil Engineering Laboratory at Iowa State University using EPA approved methods. We expect to continue this program for at least three years after dredging ceases.

Lastly, the duration of benefits will last for hundreds of years. In 1993, Iowa State University studied Five Island Lake and our project. The year 1993 was noted for the large amount of rainfall, but even during that year Iowa State's measurement of silt running back into the lake was 0.2 inches per year, one of the lowest siltation rates of any lake in Iowa. Since we are lowering the silt bed by 10 1/2 feet or 126 inches, calculations indicate our efforts will last for at least 600 years.

Results

Below are two diagrams that succinctly illustrate the extent of the siltation problem in Five Island Lake when this project began. Below it is a second diagram which illustrates what we have accomplished to date. These are not cross-sectional diagrams of the lake but are water levels and silt levels from south to north the five-mile length of the lake.

Five Island Lake Before Restoration. This map demonstrates the predominance of silt volume over water volume in the Five Island Lake bed. This drawing was made in 1935 but the same conditions were present in 1989 when the present project began. Water this shallow is useless for recreational purposes.

Five Island Lake As It Exists Now. The removal of silt by hydraulic dredging, accompanied by shoreline stabilization and watershed management has removed 5,000,000 cubic yards of silt and replaced this with water. Water clarity has markedly improved.

How Dredging Works

Hydraulic dredging is the spectacular feature of a restoration project. To be effective, dredging requires a lake loaded with silt, adequate machinery to remove it (the dredge), plastic pipe to deliver the slurry of silt, and a deposit site to receive the slurry. The pictures demonstrate these procedures--how earth moving machinery constructs a dike around a farm field where the silt that is pumped by the dredge will be received.

A dredge is a large, heavy, flat bottom boat. A cutter head extends on an arm from the front of the boat while a discharge pipe protrudes from the rear. The function of the large diesel motor on the boat is to lower the arm and place the cutter head under the water and into the silt bed. There it bites into the silt bed, acting much like an egg beater. The motor also is the power for activating a pump, which sucks up the slurry of silt and water in front of the boat. It then propels it through the discharge pipe at the rear. Plastic pipe, strong but flexible and 14 inches in diameter, is attached to the discharge pipe and carries the slurry of silt to a silt deposit site.

The silt deposit site is usually farm land which has been prepared in advance by creating a dike or wall around the site. This is constructed by pushing the soil from the center of the deposit area to its periphery. The result is a bowl shaped basin into which the slurry of silt is pumped from the lake by the dredge. The site itself usually covers from 40 to 80 acres.

Small lakes can be emptied if water pumped into the deposit site is not returned to the lake through an outlet pipe. The slurry of silt, which is usually 18% mud, is allowed to settle for several days and then the supernatant returns to the lake through its own discharge pipe.

Watershed management, both urban and rural, requires continuous long term education and management. It is less spectacular than dredging but a necessary ingredient for permanent improvement.

Water quality monitoring is a scientific gauge of how we are doing and this will continue for several years after dredging ceases.

The Equipment
Our dredge was manufactured in Louisiana, then broken down into three parts, and transported here on three large low-boys. Two cranes unloaded the sections and assembled them on shore before the craft was launched into Five Island lake.

A dredge is a very large floating vessel containing a large motor and pump. The dredge purchased for the Five Island Lake project is 80 feet long, 16 feet wide, and weighs 125,000 pounds. The 750 horse power V-12 diesel motor pumps out 250 to 325 cubic yards of actual silt per hour (This is at least 12 transport truck loads each hour.). It functions much like a huge vacuum cleaner. The motor operates a cutter head suspended on a large arm in the front of the boat stirring up a slurry of silt and water. The pump sucks up the slurry and discharges it into a pipe at the rear of the boat. Additional pipe is attached to carry the slurry to a deposit site which may be a mile or several miles away.

The top photo shows a bulldozer constructing a wall of dirt around a deposit site. The second photo shows a front-end loader which is pushing rocks against the shoreline to reinforce it and prevent shoreline caving. These rocks had been gathered previously from farm fields.

Plastic pipe is the conduit that carries the slurry of silt, created by the dredge, to its destination at a deposit site some distance away. This pipe has a 14-inch inner diameter and is strong but pliable. When the pipe is full of the silt slurry, it lies on the bottom of the water; when full only of lake water, it floats to the top where it can be easily repaired. The pipe for our project--over 5000 feet--was obtained in Hibbing, Minnesota.

Lake Onalaska Islands

From ACOE

The Lake Onalaska Habitat Project was planned under the authority of the Upper Mississippi River System - Environmental Management Program and constructed in accordance with a definite project report dated August 1988. The Environmental management Program was authorized by Section 1103 of the Water Resources Development Act of 1986 and reauthorized by the Water Resources Development Act of 1999.

The project was planned and designed as part of a cooperative effort of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and local interests.

Habitat project design and construction costs were 100 percent Federal because the project is on lands managed as a national wildlife refuge. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation was reimbursed for the habitat portion of the project. Operation and maintenance costs are 100 percent Federal (a responsibility of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).

Federal cost $2,064,000
Non-federal cost $0
Total cost $2,064,000

ROSEBUD ISLAND PROTECTION PROJECT

FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT
April 2003

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)

Building Artificial Islands

Best Management Practices for Soft Engineering of Shorelines
Source HERE

...On the Upper Mississippi River, managers, agencies, and industry have worked together to restore habitat diversity by building islands, often from dredge spoils.

Construction of an artificial island begins by building a sand base . Sand is supplied by dredging nearby main-channel or backwater sites.

This technique often provides a useful method for disposing of dredge material.

Hydraulic dredging is typically used because it is generally cheaper than mechanical dredging for large amounts of sand.

Final shaping and contouring of the sand is accomplished with the use of bulldozers. For safe operation of heavy equipment, the top of the sand base should be at least one foot above water level.

The desired shoreline slope of 20:1 is very difficult to build. Thus, a sacrificial berm, designed to erode naturally to a 20:1 slope, is placed along the shoreline.

On shorelines that may be subject to severe erosion, protective features are often added. This can be limestone rip-rap applied around the upstream head and tips of islands, but where possible, limestone groins (about 30 feet long) are used instead. Building groins are cheaper than armoring the entire shoreline with rip-rap and the beach areas between groins provide better access to the island for shorebirds, reptiles, and other animals.

After the sand base is complete, a cap of 1-4 feet of fine soil is applied. The height of the island is typically the elevation of a 10-year flood event at that site. Higher mounds can be added to support plants that require dryer habitats.

Finally, the island is planted with willows along the sandy shoreline and a mix of grasses, trees, and legumes in the fine soil. Using legumes in the mixture helps to maintain adequate nitrogen in the soil.

Funding for Island Projects

Funding for habitat rehabilitation projects on the Upper Mississippi River typically comes from a variety of sources.

Funding for construction costs come mostly from the Environmental Management Program and occasionally from operation and maintenance funds of the US Army, Corps of Engineers, Fish and Wildlife Service, or state agencies.

Costs for project planning and evaluation are typically shared among agencies with funds coming from the Environmental Management Program (including the Long-term Resource Monitoring Program) and from in-kind contributions of labor, equipment, and supplies from partner agencies.

The islands constructed in the projects described above have a life expectancy of 50 years. For all three projects the costs of island construction were similar.

Costs averaged about $75,000 per acre (1995 US dollars). This does not include costs for planning or evaluation of the projects.

The McCartney Lake Project

McCartney Lake, on the Mississippi River near Cassville, Wisconsin, showing dredge cuts made to provide more deep-water habitat. The photo also shows a 22-acre island constructed from the dredged sediments. The dark area inside the island is a 10-acre wetland.


McCartney Lake...to reduce sediment inflow to the system and dredging 8,200 feet of connected channels, about 10 feet deep, within the lake.

The resulting 400,000 cubic yards of dredge material were used to construct a single 22-acre island at the downstream end of the lake to reduce wind-generated waves on McCartney Lake,

...Rather than a barrier island, this was a large island designed to provide a variety of aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Thus, a 10-acre wetland was built on one end of the island and upland habitat at the other end. In addition, because of the large size of the island no shoreline protection was used.

The McCartney Lake project was completed in 1991 and since then, the island has remained stable. Immediately upon completion, dissolved oxygen levels and water depth improved within the dredged areas.

The island was used almost immediately by waterfowl, shorebirds, turtles, amphibians, and small mammals. However, increases in adult fish populations were not evident until six years after project completion due to time lags in fish reproduction and growth.

Hydro Modeling for Artificial Islands

HYDRODYNAMIC MODELING FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF ARTIFICIAL ISLANDSWITHIN THE PEORIA LAKE ALONG THE ILLINOIS RIVER.
Nani G. Bhowmik, M. Demissie, and Pami Parmar. Illinois State Water Survey, Champaign, IL 61820.

The Peoria Lake is the largest bottomland lake along the Illinois River. Over the years, the lakehas lost more than 80% of its capacity. The lake is now essentially flanked by shallow waterbodies with the navigation channel containing the deep water.

Presently, various alternatives are under consideration to revitalize a portion of the lake as deep water and terrestrial habitats.

One of the alternatives is to dredge the deposited sediment and use the dredged materials to build artificial islands.

Before such artificial islands are built, hydrodynamic modeling work must be completed to determine the hydraulic stability of those islands.

The Illinois State Water Survey has tested about two dozen alternatives within the Upper and Lower Peoria Lake where the artificial island or islands could be built. The two dimensional SMS was used for this purpose.

After a considerable amount of testing, review, and evaluation, about 5 potential island sites were identified within the Lower Peoria Lake where these islands could be built.

Dredging the Chesapeake

From the Bay Journal

Sometime in the next quarter century, a giant new island will rise someplace in the upper Bay to hold millions of cubic yards of silt and sand dredged from shipping channels in Maryland's portion of the Bay.

The giant, new, artificial island is a key element of a new, long-term dredging plan to maintain shipping routes to the Port of Baltimore.

To meet those dredging needs, the plan includes six placement options:

--Build an artificial island in the Bay north of the Bay Bridge, which would hold 50 million -100 million cubic yards over the next quarter century. Cost to the state would be $1.50 per cubic yard.

The project - half of which would be uplands and half wetlands - is intended to provide new habitat for a variety of birds, fish, shellfish and other species. The federal government is paying about 75 percent of the restoration costs.

The project is widely supported by environmentalists, watermen and resource agencies.

Still, the creation of the new island is seen by many as a preferable alternative to continued open water placement.

Because material could be stacked high above water level, the island would affect a much smaller portion of the Bay than spreading the same amount of material directly into the water.

ACOE Dredging 101

Arny Corp. of Engineers' Brochure

Feds Dredge Mississippi

From a previous post

Hydraulic Dredging Photo

Donors raise funds for new dive boat

From the Janesville Gazette

...The boat cost about $125,000, Porstner said.
_____________________

Put into perspective, at $25 per parcel, the RKLD generates $100,000 for annual operations. Then again, as the Janesville Gazette likes to remind us, Lake Koshkonong is no Geneva Lake.

Iowa Lake Dredging

From a lake restoration company HERE

An erosion control project at Lake Panorama, near Panora, Iowa, required the removal of 446,250 cubic yards of silt and sediment from the bottom of this privately owned 1400-acre lake.

...In the meantime, the lake region, located 40 miles from a major metropolitan area in wet central Iowa, has become a thriving site for development. Approximately 40 new homes are being built on the lake annually.

...This property generates additional revenues for the community. The continuing growth in the lake region affirms the cooperative’s decision to make long term investments such as a dredging operation.

Dredge Operation (10/90 - 7/92 inclusive)

A) Two-man crew plus supervisor
B) Three shifts per day, 5 days per week, 7 months per year
C) Total hours on Caterpillar 3406 diesel engine rated 309 HP continuous: 3,000
D) Fuel used: 35,295 U.S. Gallons
E) Cubic yards of material pumped: 446,250
F) Fuel consumption: 11 U.S. gallons per hour
G) Operating cost - (fuel, maintenance, labor, insurance, spare parts and pipeline depreciation) - $190,102
H) Unit dredging costs: $0.426 per cubic yard
I) Average dredge production: 150 cubic yards per hour
J) Average cutting depth: 7-12 feet

Dredging Contractors

Dredge America


Check out the FAQs

Dredging by Cubic Yard

From Rutgers (NJ) University HERE

Here follow some of the basic considerations in comparing actual costs of dredging projects.

Survey Cubic Yard

· The main unit of measure as laid out in contracts by the Army Corps and Port Authority is the Survey Cubic Yard.
(For all practical purposes, one yard of wet mud is about one ton in weight).

· In short, it is a cubic yard of mud, sand etc. lying on the channel bottom.

Aztecs Made Artificial Islands

Since Lake Texcoco was a shallow lake, it was more or less easy for the Aztecs to build up the land to make artificial islands.

The Aztecs called this process chinampas and it was basically just piling up mud from the lake bottom to make marshy islands.

--From the History Channel

Let's Talk Islands

OK, so much chatter has been going on that if RKLD loses in Rock County Circuit Court to raise the lake levels 7.2 inches, then we should dredge - If we can't raise the ceiling, then lower the floor, is how one riparian owner put it to me.

So we will post info pertaining to building artificial islands in Lake Koshkonong with the spoils from a dredging operation.

If anyone has links, articles, cost analysis of dredging/island construction, then please forward them to us.

Once the water level battle has been decided, regardless of the outcome, there is loud public support for this concept. And we intend to exhaust every resource to proceed with "islands in the stream..."

First off, from Answerbag.com --

How much would it cost, per square mile, to build an artificial island?

This is not a question that can be answered with any degree of reliability, since you have provided no information as to the construction requirements. At the very least, the cost will reflect the cost of the fill required to create the island. Fill includes large rock, crushed aggregate, sand, and soil. It also includes the fill required beneath the waterline, to the maximum depth of the water in the area. The slope of the ground under the waterline, will generally be no more than 45 degrees and, possibly, less depending on conditions such as surface stability, currents, and tide.

Phosporus fertilizer scrutinized

From the Janesville Gazette click HERE

Fertilizers are a key ingredient in growing green lakeside lawns. But runoff carrying phosphorus fertilizer also can turn the lake green with algae and weeds.

...Peters said limiting phosphorus fertilizers probably would have little effect on lawns and fairways. Most soils in the Midwest have enough naturally occurring phosphorus for healthy lawn and plant growth.

More On White Crow

Interesting nuggets from the Jefferson County Union piece of 1916;

-- Halvor Skavlem was considered the "sage of Koshkonong" during his lifetime and 70 years old when he donated the rock to memorialize Chief White Crow. He died still living on Carcajou in 1938.

-- The rock marking White Crow's camp remains on the original site; what is now former RKLD Chairman Jim Folk's former home, "there juts out into the lake a promontory which terminates in a limestone cliff about thirty feet high, overhanging the rocky shore below."

-- Jim Folk is among the "Founding Fathers" of the Rock-Koshkonong Lake District, established 61 years after the "sage of Koshkonong" passed.

-- "...while (Halvor) Skavlem and himself (Dr. R.B. Anderson) were Norwegians by descent, they were not hyphenated."

-- Koshkonong translates into, "The Lake On Which We Dwell..."

-- (Skavlem) is of Norse parentage...became an authority of the early Koshkonong Norwegian settlements.

-- Samuelsen Drive (downstream) still bears witness to the Norwegian settlers.

-- Future WI state legislator Satterlee Clark, at 12 years old (1828), floated a skiff from Green Bay up the Fox River into Lake Winnebago, across the lake south to Fond du Lac (70 miles), then hiked 20 miles to the Rock River near Waupun, then boated down the Rock through Horicon Marsh, continuing down river past the Crawfish and the Bark Rivers, and entering Lake Koshkonong 80-some miles later.

-- Nearly a 200-mile journey to reach Jim Folk's beer fridge, errrr, White Crow's village.

-- White Crow's village was abondoned during the Sauk War of 1832

-- Jim Folk sold his house in 2004

-- White Crow died in 1836 and is buried somewhere between Cross Plains and Arena, WI

-- Jim Folk lives in an RV roaming somewhere in Florida

The White Crow Memorial Pilgrimage

From the WI Historical Society Click HERE

Jefferson County Union
Friday, October 20, 1916

If you love history, and particularly, the history of Lake Koshkonong, you will enjoy this newspaper article from nearly 91 years ago.

10 pages long, but worth the read.