Reporting Requirements of RKLD on the Dredge Project

The Corps authorized the carp gate as part of the permit issued to Mr. Brian Christianson on September 20, 2012. Please continue to work with the WDNR to their satisfaction.

In addition, please provide the required maintenance and monitoring reports for this site as indicated in the Corps permit and the Eco-Resource Consulting, LLC report dated January 20, 2012.  Monitoring reports are to be submitted to the Corps for a total of 3 years - 2013, 2014, and 2015.  Failure to submit the reports in a timely manner will result in non-compliance of the Corps permit.  Please submit the 2013 monitoring report (due 12/31/13) no later than May 15, 2014.  The 2014 report should be submitted by 12/31/14 and the 2015 report should be submitted by 12/31/2015.  As stated in my May 15, 2013 email to you, Mr. Montgomery, Mr. Sigmarsson, and Mr. Christianson, if the performance standards have been met in 2015, no additional reports will need to be provided to the Corps.  If the standards are not met, additional maintenance and monitoring may be required.

Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
Stacy Marshall

Stacy L. Marshall
Biologist/Project Manager
United States Army Corps of Engineers

Damaged Carp Gate at Mud Lake

Part of the Experimental Dredge project from earlier this year included repairing and replacing the Carp Gate at Mud Lake.  Mud Lake is a prolific walleye and northern fish habitat.  So in addition to working well with the WI DNR, and the US Army Corp. of Engineers, RKLD proved once again that not EVERY wetland/duck hunting club wants to fight and invent reasons to attack the RKLD.

RKLD is a champion for ALL user groups on Lake Koshkonong and the Rock River.

DNR Grant Process for Experimental Dredge Project

Hi Brian and Siggi,

 

I’m just looking over the payment request for the Lake Koshkonong/Mud Lake Restoration Project.  Once Sue Graham approves the progress report, I can make a partial payment up to $90,000.  The final 10% must be withheld until the final report is submitted and approved.  It won’t be necessary for you to submit another reimbursement request because you’ve already shown here that you’ve earned the entire grant.  Let me know if you have any questions.  Thanks.

 

P Sandy Chancellor Environmental Grants Specialist Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources 

The Good Folks at Tallgrass Restoration

The folks at Tallgrass Restoration not only donate their time to revegitate the shoreline where we deposited our dredge spoils, but they donate the meeting space to sign the contracts between us.

But I suppose this enables the taxpayers and property owners of the Lake District to afford a full-blown, 5-figure forensic audit that Bob Venske and his cronies are demanding.

How do we audit volunteerism and donations?

The present law is indeed badly flawed....

Local control within the parameters of the Public Trust Doctrine should be the reality, not empowering a bureaucratic state agency with even more authority...

Yes. Mrs. Close, it was RKLD who saved the Indianford Dam.  And we saved it, and banked more than $500,000 in a segregated fund along with it.  

A simple, Thank You, would suffice.

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YOUR VIEWS

   Legislature should rethink power of lake district boards

   While it is probably a truism that you may not care to know what goes into making sausage, likewise you may be astounded at what gives substance to a legislatively formed board district.

   The DNR vs. Koshkonong Lake District lawsuit has been in the hands of the state Supreme Court for many months, yet no published decision has come. That long delay may be due to the wisdom of the court to direct the Legislature to “clean up” the enabling statute, thus making the law and accompanying administrative rules more judicious and less frequently violated. The present law is badly flawed!

   Every organized group that is formed with a governing board may cling to its stated highly emotional goals for two or three years, after which time the board will abandon the stated goals and concentrate on the biases of the encumbered board, such as the Brian Christiansen Board! (And more recently experienced by the Mallwood District.)

   Returning to the sausage: How can a district get from saving a dam and 8 inches of water to dredging a lake and forming islands? The dam was saved years ago, and the trickle of that small amount of water is really a nonworkable entity, yet the lake residents are being taxed to dredge? The court needs to give legislative remedial advice to the state Legislature. 

LOREN J. CLOSE II Edgerton

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!

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.

Hey Brian, What is a coffer dam?

This is an example of a coffer dam - what needs to be built in front of the powerhouse in Indianford to completely and effectively clean the trash racks and the organic material submerged.

If you know someone who can build these structures - later this fall when the lake level is low - have them call me.

608-884-9444

Traffic Controls on Ice are being Removed from High Water

I received a phone call regarding items still in the lake from the dredging project.  According to the caller there are still posts and fence in the lake.  I have not been to the site lately.  Does anyone know if there are still materials at the site or if anything has been removed in the last couple of days?

Thanks,

                Ryan

Ryan Ellifson Conservation Warden - Jefferson South Central Region Bureau of Law Enforcement Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources 

_______________________________________________

Hi Ryan,

Thanks for getting in touch. The traffic controls are still in place around the dredge area for Lake Koshkonong. As part of the safety plan, the snow fence was left in place to warn snowmobilers on the lake of the dredge area. Now that the ice has opened up and the lake levels are rising, we have given permission to Badgerland to remove the traffic controls.

Dredging Update 3-11-13

Construction is nearly complete with only punch list items outstanding.

·         The silt logs have been pinned to the berm for temporary stabilization and the silt curtain has been removed.

·         Remaining work includes completing the carp gate anchorage work (being performed while on site), setting the final placement of the rock at the back of the dredge placement area (being performed later that day), finishing the boat launch grading (being performed later that day), applying the polymer, removing the tubing used for artesian well control, cleaning up the staging area and removing the snow fence, and removing the traffic controls when snowmobile traffic is no longer a concern.

·         With only wrap up items remaining, the site will be inspected on a three-week basis until permanent stabilization has occurred.

Email Explaining How riprap works on Dredge Project

Rick

I'm sending you this email response to your concern regarding the visibility of the heavy riprap on the lakeward face of the stone berm that contains the dredge spoil. We looked this issue over, and we think that the riprap that was specified is in place, but much of it is currently partially obscured by smaller breaker run material placed on top of it, and is also obscured by snow and ice. There is what we considered:

1.      Tonnage of riprap placed: the design called for approximately 500 tons of heavy riprap to be placed, and the total from the truck weight tickets is approximately 650 tons. Granted, some of that material was placed on the original lakeshore protection, but the tonnage of stone placed on the lakeward face of the stone berm is greater than quantity specified in the construction plans.

2.      Photo log of berm construction: we've assembled photographs from February 11 through March 4, which show the placement and presence of the heavy riprap along the shoreline, and also the evident covering of that riprap with breaker run material to widen the path that was available for transit of the quad axle trucks that were delivering stone and dredge spoil. All I have with me tonight is a paper copy, but Danielle will forward you the photo log tomorrow morning.

3.      Photo log taken last Thursday, March 7: I had Badgerland Excavating expose the lakeward face of the berm at three locations with their backhoe. Photographs are attached. The photos showed that the heavy riprap is present, along with breaker run material placed over it.

I think that when the ice breaks up and after the first storm or two, the breaker run stone will settle into crevices within the heavy riprap, and the lakeward face of the berm will be well protected. We'll keep an eye on this, and I suggest we walk the berm sometime later this spring to confirm the stone placement.

We will place the supports for the carp gate tomorrow. When you get back from your trip, we can discuss the details of the carp gate placement and operation.

Phase 1 Dredging Ending this week - Lake Koshkonong and Mud Lake

Dredging Update 3-4-13

Construction is 95% complete.

·         Remaining work includes minor grading in the dredge area, completing the work on the carp gate and setting the final placement of the gravel at the back of the dredge placement area, finishing the installation of the  temporary stabilization measures, installing the settling plates, finishing the boat launch, removing the silt curtain, removing the tubing used for artesian well control, and removing the traffic controls when snowmobile traffic is no longer a concern.

·         When I was on site, the silt logs for temporary stabilization were due to be installed that day.

·         MARS will work with Badgerland to develop a modified carp gate anchorage design to provide a more secure base by using steel construction. This modified design will be clarified the week of March 4th for installation the week of March 11th.

·         With the project nearing completion, one more weekly inspection will be performed the week of March 11th, and then the site will be inspected on a three-week basis until permanent stabilization has occurred.

Dredging Update 2-26-13

 Active construction of the berm began on 02/11/2013, and is now nearly complete with some finish up work remaining. Dredging operations are also nearly complete. Grading work of the dredge placement area will be completed this week.

·         Badgerland will be building the berm to elevation 778.5' to account for the settling/sinking of the stone. When permanent stabilization measures are implemented in the spring, the berm will be set to the final grade of 778'.

·         All erosion control measures in place and appear to be functioning appropriately, including the tracking pad and the silt curtain.

·         Silt sock has not been placed in the dredge area and it is no longer practical to do so. As water levels have risen, Badgerland instead built ice roads to connect to the existing silt curtain to provide continuous containment. Silt socks are no longer necessary in the dredge placement area as the berm is now providing containment.

·         Temporary stabilization will be completed after the dredge placement area has been graded. A 12" silt sock filled with ground, untreated wood will be pinned along the top of the berm with rebar in order to provide temporary stabilization of the dredge fill area. The specific product will be a Silt Sock manufactured by Silt Sock Erosion Control Products. The silt sock will be removed when the permanent stabilization of the site occurs later in the spring after planting. Soilnet Polymer Solution's TRIPAM will be applied at an application rate of 54 lbs/acres. As discussed with the DNR, TRIPAM is a Type B polymer that meets the criteria listed in the WisDOT PAL, meets the requirements of WDNR Code 1050 (Land Application of Anionic Polyacrylamide), and the meets requirements regarding acute toxicity.

More Updates (VI)

Hi all,

Please find attached the post precipitation erosion control inspection for the Lake Koshkonong Dredging and Shoreline Restoration Project conducted on 02/19/2013. Below are the items of note:

·         Active construction of the berm began on 02/11/2013, and is now 95% complete with some final tie-in work remaining. Dredging operations are currently on hold as Badgerland works to repair the ice road.

·         All erosion control measures in place and appear to be functioning appropriately, including the tracking pad and the silt curtain.

·         Silt sock has not yet been placed in the dredge area and it is no longer practical to do so. As water levels have risen, Badgerland instead built ice roads to connect to the existing silt curtain to provide continuous containment. Silt socks are no longer necessary in the dredge placement area as the berm is now providing containment.

Lake Koshkonong Dredging Update V

 I was on site yesterday around midday and have talked with Kevin at Badgerland this morning. The dredging is somewhere between one quarter and one third accomplished. Badgerland will work Saturday, Monday and probably Tuesday to finish the dredging. They will then shape the dredge fill area and make final adjustments to the stone berm as they finish up the fill area. As we discussed, we are slightly over dredging the area, but we need to be careful not to have so much fill that it extends above the berm crest. We anticipate that the fill – and probably the berm also – will settle over the next several months. I anticipate that Badgerland will be nearly complete with their work by March 4 or 5. We have a tentative date for topographic survey of the dredge area and the fill area of March 7.

Travis Schroeder of the DNR has stopped out to the site regularly, and has no problems with the project as it is proceeding. We've not heard from either the Corps of Engineers or Jefferson County regarding erosion control or other permit compliance issues, although we have been copying them with our erosion control reports. We will check with the archaeological consultant to determine whether or not a final on-site visit from them is necessary.

Kevin from Badgerland told us that one of the haul truck drivers got a ticket from Jefferson County for overweight truck, I told Kevin and he agreed that somebody at the quarry just wasn't paying attention and paying the ticket is neither Badgerland's nor RKLD’s responsibility. We have not seen the Town of Sumner monitoring the project since we stopped hauling stone in.

Many people have stopped by to just observe what's going on, and we have handed out many copies of the double-sided project information sheet. The two main comments are "were really glad to see something happening on the Lake", to which we make sure that folks know that this is RKLKD’s effort, and "aren't you afraid that this dredge area will fill in?", to which our reply is "that's why we’re calling this an experimental project – we will be monitoring the dredge area for sediment movement to help us plan how we can proceed with additional projects".

Dredging on Lake Koshkonong