Proposed parking lot on Oxbow on Lake Koshkonong

Potential new fishing access on Lake Koshkonong - Let your voice be heard

August 26, 2011
Dear Property Owner:

The Jefferson County Parks Department has received a request for use at one of our flood mitigation properties located at N327 Oxbow Bend.

The proposal asks to install a parking lot for ice/fishing access on Lake Koshkongong on this parcel.

The parking surface will be crushed limestone. Drive on access will be 75 feet from the lake to parking lot. Drive on access will be natural stone.

The Parks Committee has asked our department to research the potential project.

We would like to compile information from adjacent land owners about the project.

Please read, consider and return the enclosed survey in the postage-paid envelope.

If you have additional questions or concerns, please feel free to contact our office at 920-674-7260.

You may also send your information or comments to Kim Buchholz by
email at kimb@jeffersoncountywi.gov

Please return the information promptly.

The Parks Committee will be addressing the request at their next Parks Committee meeting on Tuesday, September 6 at 1 p.m. in Room 202 of the Jefferson County Courthouse located in Jefferson, WI.

Thank you for your input!
Sincerely,
Kim Buchholz
Program Assistant
Enclosure

A vision to walk on: Former parks director honored for work

From the Janesville Gazette

...In July, the Rock County Parks Division christened the Thomas G. Kautz Boardwalk and Nature trail at Beckman Mill Park. Kautz, who has been retired for seven years, was head of the parks division for almost three decades.

DNR: Warm water believed to be to blame for catfish kill on Rock River

From the Janesville Gazette

...DNR fisheries officials could not verify that estimate. However, DNR emails indicate that around that time fish and game wardens found 50 or 60 dead catfish on the river above the dam in Beloit, and that others were found further north near Jefferson. Most were young fish, according to the emails.

Slow No Wake Debate

The photos below are from June 7th, 2009 and capture the subjective and inconsistent process used to impose and remove SLOW NO WAKE orders on the Rock River.

When someone complains to the the Town of Fulton about waves splashing against their pier (set too low) the town demands of the Rock County Sheriff's Department to impose SNW orders.

The issue is not when SNW is imposed - water levels rise quickly and are obvious to all of us who are riparian property owners. The problem is when levels are receding, the town/county are slow to remove SNW orders - limiting and punishing the boating public and misusing the SNW order's legal intent.

The official NOAA gauge level on this day below was 777.74. Yet, without cause or justification, SNW orders were not removed until June 12, 2009, when levels were at 777.42 - a difference of 3.84 inches..

USGS Historical Datum

This also reflects how slow the levels on the lake and river recede.  During the period above, the river was dropping less than an inch per day.  And as these photos illustrate - not one shoreline was "flooded" at 777.74.

Even at 778.4 - Shorelines are safe

The second photo below is at 779.9 - 2.4 inches below NOAA FLOOD STAGE - Do you see sand bags on that shoreline?

That photo is 10.8 inches ABOVE NOAA ACTION STAGE.

Fulton says at 779.00 the sandbags are coming out. When none of the 5 town supervisors live near Newville, near the water, ON the shoreline, perhaps we should expect such uniformed opinions.

Thanks to Fulton Town Supervisor Dave Brown for collecting these photos - although he has not proven effective as their appointee to the RKLD Board, educating his Fulton colleagues on how wrong they are.

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Comments on SNW

Chairman Sayre is absolutely correct. Christianson should realize that flooding also impacts businesses, property, farmland & people on the lake & river. He may be the face of the Lake Distict Organization, but he clearly does not represent all of the property owners that are forced by their tax bill to fund and be a part of that group. Christianson is an arrogant, power hungry, egotistical fool.
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Right - power hungry for a volunteer job that demands a lot of time to overcome opinions that spread like invasive species unless countered by expensive research from experts with PhDs.

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Sounds like the lake district isn't happy about anything they don't control completely...too bad, so sad...

This appears to be another attempt to bypass the court ruling of not raising the lake levels.
The article says there is a court case against the DNR and is headed for the Supreme Court. The appeals court judge has already ruled on this and the lake district lost. So is there another case we don't know about?

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No, the appeals judge did not rule on "this," the SNW order.  They are completely separate issues and your posting is a result of the content of the reporter's failed reporting.

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Sayre is the irresponsible one in this dispute. NOAA has the experience and knowhow when it comes to water levels throughout the state and the nation. They monitor all rivers closely. They have set the "take action" level on this waterway responsibly at 9 feet. That means slow no wake should be set in accordance with their reccomendation not some farmer's ideas that have no scientific basis.


The waterway is much higher than it used to be due to development from Watertown on down over the past 3 decades. If people have old piers and seawalls they should be replaced not protected by Sayre and his cronies. Hopefully rock County will see the light and go by engineers and professionals recomndations. Evan Sayre is the ego power monger in this dispute and should be disregarded.

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Thanks Mom, for defending me :-)

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If the property owners along the river from Newville to Indianford were polled I suspect over 95% woulld be in favor of the higher level. It is only a very few that ever complain and they are always the same ones. None of the Fulton Town board live on the river and I have seen none of them use it. Leave the waterway matters to the Lake District where it belongs. We own the dam and are working hard to improve the lake and the river. It is very difficult to understand why the township is fighting us. (unless maybe Sayres is jealous)

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Where does Fulton think this issue began - it started with riparian property owners emailing and calling that the town was imposing SNW orders and punishing boaters when the water levels receded by keeping SNW imposed for a week longer if not more.....

Rock-Koshkonong wants to make slow/no-wake level consistent across county

From the Janesville Gazette

...The 7 1/2-foot recommendation for Lake Koshkonong came from the town of Fulton. The township overlaps the lake district and has authority to make slow/no-wake recommendations on parts of the Rock River between the Newville Bridge and Stone Farm Road.

Christianson said the lake district believes the town's recommendation is too low, especially given studies that show the river tends to recede more slowly than it rises.
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I was reluctant to even post this article due to the reporter's lack of understanding - even after attending the Annual Meeting and listening to our hydrologist explain our objective, and then listening to our legal counsel outline why the existing county ordinance is not compliant with state statutes.

RKLD has worked collaboratively with the county since last fall (October 2010) in helping them draft an enforceable ordinance.

Did you know the current county ordinance does not even identify where the SNW areas in Newville, the RR trestle, or at the dam begin and end?

Clearly, the reporter's only purpose was to find controversy - not to educate the community about the legal reasons SNW orders are imposed.

The reporter found his "hook" once the town chair in Fulton gave his quote that at 779 level, people need to begin filling sandbags.

Not only is that an incorrect statement by an elected local official who should know better, but it conjures images of 2008, when this area endured what is called the "500 year" flood -- when hundreds of homeowners were indeed rushing to find sandbags, and the rest of us were filling those sandbags on behalf of our waterfront community.

It is always hard to educate reporters to tell an accurate story when the issues are complex, the regulations are cumbersome, and their column inches are finite. And so much easier just to seek out someone's opinion, regardless of accuracy, that gives equal weight to facts and science -- not one chart was published to accompany this piece.

In this case, the facts were presented and ignored.

Linking SNW orders to DNR operating orders yet again demostrates how little time reporters and tovn governments spend understanding complex issues.

Perhaps because none of them live on our shorelines.

Lake Koshkonong Congratulates the Aqua Jays' first national title since 2005

From the Janesville Gazette

...Flooding of the Rock River during the last four years has forced the Aqua Jays to relinquish hosting nationals twice, once in 2008 and again in 2010. The floods also limited the club’s ability to practice and led to scrubbed performances.

This weekend was the first time since 2006 that the national tournament was held in Janesville.

Could Hyrdopower at Indianford Pay for Dredging?

Article from Wisconsin Rivers

..."Wisconsin has been a leader in bringing stakeholders to the table, keeping the issue out of the courts, and balancing needs – economic, ecological and recreational,” says Helen Sarakinos, dam program manager for the River Alliance of Wisconsin.

“These agreements are not as sexy as dam removals – after all, how much can you celebrate an agreement?” she asks. “But cumulatively, these operating agreements can have an enormous impact -- and their sexy moments will come.”

...Starting before statehood, wave after wave of dam building altered Wisconsin’s waters. “It transitioned from lumber to wheat to industry to electricity,” says Meg Galloway, DNR’s chief dam safety engineer.

Wisconsin’s hydro plants use different strategies to harness a river’s energy:

· Storage projects impound water behind a dam, forming a reservoir, and then release the water through turbine-generators to produce electricity.

· Run-of-river projects typically use relatively low dams where the amount of water running through the powerhouse is determined by natural river flow.

· Pumped-storage projects pump water from a lower reservoir to an upper reservoir at off-peak times when electrical costs are cheaper. During periods of high electrical demand, the water is released back to the lower reservoir to generate electricity.

...New technology may eventually allow more electricity to be generated without nearly as many environmental consequences...

Gate Ops

Lake Koshkonong Level = 776.17

4 of 6 slide gates were closed today

both wicket gates are closed.

Lake district wise to stay the course on Koshkonong

From the Janesville Gazette
Editorial
8.2.11

OUR VIEWS
Lake district wise to stay the course on Koshkonong

The Rock-Koshkonong Lake District has been in the news in recent days for issues that deserve comment.
First, district residents earn applause for approving a small dredging project at Saturday’s annual meeting. The experimental project would clear silt from a canal and improve boater access to two bays. It could be a precursor to a larger project that, if approved by residents and state and federal agencies, could dredge more shoreline areas and create islands to help control erosion and silting.

The approved project still needs an environmental review. The district would spend about $200,000 and pay in part with a $50 per-parcel fee that residents approved Saturday.

Residents also made another wise move in agreeing to use money from a maintenance fund so the Indianford Dam might again generate electricity. The district owns the dam, and if it can upgrade it without modifying stream flow, the district could use profits from electrical generation to fund lake projects.

Finally, on July 21, an appeals court ruled against the district’s demands for increasing the lake’s water level. The district wants to raise the state’s sixthlargest lake during summer and eliminate winter drawdowns to improve recreational value of properties and buoy area business.

District Chairman Brian Christianson vows to take the case to the state Supreme Court. At this point, that would be a sensible idea.

In 2006, after an administrative law judge sided with the state Department of Natural Resources and against the district’s desires, we urged both sides to put this longstanding dispute behind them, move on and work together. But in 2008, after Rock County Judge Daniel Dillon again sided with the DNR, we reversed course and urged the district to appeal.

Why?

First, at the district’s 2008 annual meeting, residents favored taking this legal battle all the way to the high court, if need be.

Second, the district has already sunk hundreds of thousands of dollars in this fight. Why abandon that investment now?

Third, Dillon’s interpretation seemed to suggest that the DNR perhaps is being unreasonable and opened a window to further appeals.

Finally, if the district doesn’t appeal, advocates of higher water will never put their frustrations to rest. They always will wonder what might have been.

This battle has raged more than two decades and pits neighbor against neighbor. Duck hunters support the DNR and fear damage to wetlands and other waterfowl habitat. The Indianford Dam creates this shallow lake by backing up the Rock River. Some residents look out at docks on dry land and wish they could use their boats. They wonder why they must pay high property taxes for waterfront land on a lake they can seldom enjoy. Businesses bemoan the loss of revenue when summer residents stay away because of low water.

We hope that when court proceedings are exhausted, the two sides haven’t become so bitter that they can’t set sail together on other projects to improve the lake.

Rock-Koshkonong Lake District holds meeting

From Jefferson Daily Union

...The Lake Improvement Fund... We started the year at $25,882... actual revenues were $136,004," said Lunder. "That was high this year due to the $100,000 grant that we received in May of 2010 and then the non-used operations budget from the year was rolled into that as well for a total of $161,886 at the end of 2010."

Lake District OKs small dredge project

From the Janesville Gazette

...The lake district, along with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, could start dredging a small swath of residential shoreline in Stinker’s Bay, on Lake Koshkonong’s north end, as early as October.

Lake District OKs small dredge project on Lake Koshkonong

GazetteXtra

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“We made the ecological decision that we want to protect that fish habitat,” lake district Chairman Brian Christianson said in an interview Saturday. “We want to continue to make Koshkonong a world-class fish hatchery. This is a way to do that that’s affordable.”