1. Upper Couderay River Wateshed : Including Billy Boy, Durphee, Couderay River, Grindstone, Grindstone Creek and Springs, Gurno, Lac Courte Oreilles, Little Courte Oreilles, Little Round, Osprey, Round, Sand, Sissabagama, Stone, Whitefish, and Windigo Lakes. Frank Pratt (WDNR Fisheries, Retired) Prepared for COLA; 5-23-2014

2. Special Emphasis This Report Watershed Concept-Run-off vs. Groundwater Climate Change- AIC Impairment Phosphorus Two-Story Fisheries Local Level Community Action/Cooperation

3. Frank 3:16 “Habitat is everything” “There is no such thing as enhancement- only attempted restoration” “WATERSHED, WATERSHED, WATERSHED.. “Every Raindrop Counts!!”

4. What is a Watershed Definition- Area of land surrounding the water to which that land drains. Includes all land mass, wetlands, lakes, human development, everything. Includes soil surface and those soils and substrates underneath through which water drains. Geographic scale of one water on up to Oceans Water cycle- Dynamic precipitation- run-off- groundwater-evaporation-flow Sum total of countless raindrops Linked other chemical cycles- nutrients and sediment Human Watershed

6. Some Basic Watershed Terms Surface Water Run-Off Ground-water Evaporation Riparian Upland Intra-Lake Inter-Lake Watershed

7. Our Human Watershed Landowners on- Landowners off- Outside users Agencies Lake and Land Groups Future Generations- “To Our Children’s, Children’s, Children” Watershed!

8. Regional Watershed Map Insert Map here

9. Our Big Three Local Watersheds Upper Namekagon- 200 square miles- some major lakes and 20 miles Wild River, many miles smaller, cold-water tributaries Upper Couderay- 125 square miles- many large lakes and lake chains.* Lake Chippewa- 185 square miles-many large lakes and lake chains.* (* Linkage via groundwater inflow to Round Lake from Tiger Cat Chain.)

10. Local Watershed Map-Couderay 1 2 3 4 6 7 5 8 9 1.Sissabagama 2.Sand 3.Whitefish 4.LCO 5.Musky Bay 6.Grindstone 7.Round 8.Stone 9.Windigo Numerous smaller not shown

11. Sub-Watersheds and Lake Chains Sand/Whitefish Creek System- Sissabagama, Sand Lake, Whitefish Lake, Whitefish Creek (outlet to LCO) Grindstone Creek System- Grindstone Springs, Grindstone Creek, Grindstone Lake, Little Grindstone (0utlet to LCO) Osprey Creek System- Round, Little Round, Osprey, Osprey Creek Couderay R. Headwaters System- LCO,Little LCO, Billy Boy, Couderay River Perched Seepage- Gurno, Durphee, Stone, Windigo

12. Major Lakes-Upper Couderay LakeAreaTypeStreamPOAImpaired LCO*50392 StoryCouderayYes Round*32942 StoryOspreyYes? Grindstone*31112 StoryGrindstoneYes? Sand*928DeepWhitefishYes? Whitefish*7862 StoryWhitefishYesLikely Sissabagama719DeepWhitefishYes Windigo503DeepSeepageYes Plus- Many other smaller, but still important waters. *-Indicates ORW or “nondegradation, State, category.

13. Couderay Watershed-Land/Water

14. Couderay Watershed Upland Use

15. Couderay Watershed Land Use 13%

16. Near vs. Far Watershed WatershedWater acresShoreline%Riparian%S Buffer U Namekagon399085 miles4%<1% Lake Chippewa 18500272 miles6%1% U Couderay15600108 miles3%<1% Combined39,000 (16%)465 miles5%<1% Shoreline ~ 3-5% only Water, including other lakes~16-20% Upland ~ 80% !!

17. Rain 31” per year x watershed area Pattern is changing to summer episodes X quadrillion raindrops per year! Each resident owns hundreds of trillions In sum total, each one counts!

18. Raindrops as Critical Mass < 1-5% watershed land area =“riparian” Other 95+% “back-watershed” drives the system, including other waters. Land up to 5 miles distant from its surface water Land use/habitat determine fate of raindrop Sum raindrops = water quantity and water quality “downstream” The entire land mass is the “Buffer Zone” Nutrient transport-Especially Phosphorus Climate Change is a Game Changer

19. Surface Water Comes From RAIN…then Typical (Couderay/Chippewa)- 35% groundwater and 65% run-off. Namekagon is likely more groundwater Watershed management functions in two ways- greater infiltration to ground-water, and slowing down run-off. Determines both water quality (Temp, nutrients, clarity) and quantity (floods, drought, flows, level)

20. Agriculture Forest Impervious Run-Off Erosion

21. Raindrops Journey-Upper Couderay 4 yrs. Ground 3 yrs. flow 2 yrs. flow Sissabagama Sand Whitefish 11 yrs. flowLCO 10 yrs. flow Evaporation 25%

22. Different Approaches Stewarship Individual Water Watershed Level Exclusive- “Me/Mine” A surface water Limited Resources Narrow Buffer Expediency-Here/now Shoreline-Water linkage End of Water Cycle Intra-Lake Social Inclusive-Our All water Pooled Resources Wide Buffer Visionary-Long-term Land-Water linkage All of Water Cycle Inter-Lake Political

23. Watershed Fish-UC20 Lake Whitefish Cisco Muskellunge

24. Big Money +1 ppb TP = - 1 ft. = $25,ooo up in flames

25. TP- Total Phosphorus-UC20 LakeTypeTPStatus SissabagamaDeep30 ppbImpaired SandDeep, ORW30 ppbNot* WhitefishTwo-Story, ORW15 ppbLikely Musky BayDeep, ORW30 ppbImpaired LCOTwo-Story,ORW15 ppbLikely Site-Specific10 ppbClose LakeClassTP standardImpairment? SissabagamaDeep, ORW30 ppbImpaired Already impaired, threatened, impact others, or insufficient data-WATERSHED LakeTypeTP standardImpairment SissabagamaDeep20 ppbImpaired

26. Lakes Class-TP Standards LCO- Site Specific- 10 ppb (Impaired) Sissabagama- Headwater, Drainage, Stratified- 20 ppb (Impaired) Sand- Drainage, Stratified- 30 ppb Stone, Windigo- Seepage, 20 ppb Whitefish, Grindstone, Round- Two Story- 15 ppb Durphee, Gurno, others- Shallow, Seepage?? 40 ppb (No data) Site Specific ORW- Core samples some historic baseline. Problems: Insufficient data, standards are too high, methodology is too liberal, many lakes already exceed anyway, solutions will be aggressive and costly…only way is…… WATERSHED, WATERSHED, WATERSHED

27. Mean= 24 90%CI=21-27 Range= 17- 37 Sand Lake- Meets its TP but ………………..

28. Mean= 14.2 90%CI= 13-16 Range= 8-24 TSL 15 ppb Whitefish Lake is struggling to meet 2-Story standard…..and furthermore……

29. Climate Change as Game Changer Growing season 1-2 months longer. Magnifies oxygen depletion in deep lakes, and increases water temp. in cold-water streams. Run-off of sediment and Phosphorus increase Flooding, Droughts, warmer water/longer Especially at risk- Cold-water fish communities Lake problems compounded

30. Let’s not be like Nero AIS IS very important…..but We cant ignore watershed and Climate Change d Fiddling while Rome Burns Literally!.................

31. Current State Lake Grants (~$9M) Other ~ 2 M AIS ~ 7 M

32. Pratt Rx for Lakes and Rivers Watershed- Organize and cooperate to pool resources for concerted effort to advance shared objectives. Watershed Conference Sept. 6!! LCO TMDL- Reduce P ~ 25% via emphasis on shoreline buffers!!!! Recognize watershed, climate change, nutrients, and responsibility to future generations. Armor the landscape to anticipate increased run-off. The entire watershed is a wide Buffer Zone. Keep Wild land Wild- Conservation Easements Encourage land use that maximizes ground-water and minimizes run- off. Actively manage run-off and impervious surfaces Active management and enforcement of nutrients where needed under Impaired Waters, Clean Water Act, ORW, BMPs, TMDLs, etc…. Make every raindrop, including the human raindrop count! YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!