Wisconsin Water News

Greg Kleinheinz is in the middle of a Wisconsin Sea Grant project to assess effectiveness of beach redesigns along Lake Michigan. He’s finding that fixing beaches benefits both the environment and economy.

Throughout the process of writing the book, “People of the Sturgeon,” about the culture surrounding surgeon spearing on Lake Winnebago, the authors interviewed 69 community members and researchers. Hear excerpts from two interviews from a new audio collection made possible by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries and the Oshkosh Public Museum.

Conditions from a July 4, 2003, storm that caused seven drownings on Lake Michigan came under scrutiny by Wisconsin Sea Grant scientists who are studying a storm-induced wave called a meteotsunami -- a contraction of the term meteorological tsunami, which means a wave caused by weather. Chin Wu, Eric Anderson, Robert Duksherer and Megan Dodson are interviewed.

Gene Clark, our coastal engineer, helps state and local agencies with coastal erosion issues. This is the story of one case of erosion on Madeline Island in Lake Superior that went all the way to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Chris Kucharik and Matthew Ruark have new funding from the Water Resources Institute for a project that will help farmers in the Central Sands Region better manage their nitrogen fertilizer use and improve water quality and quantity in a changing climate.

Students from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point received a personal look at current and future impacts of climate change through a new field class the college offered and Wisconsin Sea Grant sponsored. They met with Matt Dahlman of The Nature Conservancy at Caroline Lake Preserve near Mellen, Wisconsin. Then they tromped through the woods for a climate change game with Steven Handler of the U.S. Forest Service. Afterward, they traveled to Odanah to meet with Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission staff. Find out what they learned during their adventures!

In the first swim held in the Milwaukee River in potentially 100 years, 68 people entered the water for a mile-and-a-half race. All but one finished, and nobody got sick. Hear the details from Kirsten Shead with the Milwaukee Water Commons and Deidre Peroff with Wisconsin Sea Grant.

A three-year grant of $200,000 will help Wisconsin’s Clean Marina Program last into the future and will encourage more boat marinas to reduce any negative impacts from their operations in Lake Michigan. In this episode, Wisconsin Sea Grant’s Julia Noordyk and the Wisconsin Marine Association’s Michelle Shrider describe what the grant means to the program. Vicki Elkin with the Fund for Lake Michigan explains why her program was willing to provide funds for this important work.

Two Wisconsin teachers joined a dozen others from around the Great Lakes on a week-long research cruise this summer on Lake Ontario with scientists. We spoke with them before their trip aboard the R/V Lake Guardian from Buffalo, New York, to Youngstown, New York, and asked them about their plans for bringing their new watery knowledge back to their classrooms.

Sea Grant Programs in Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota will receive federal funds to create a Manoomin (wild rice) toolkit. Leading the effort in Wisconsin will be Deidre Peroff, Wisconsin Sea Grant’s social scientist. Hear what Native American elders have to say about what wild rice means to them.

The city of Superior is beginning a process, led by Wisconsin Sea Grant’s Julia Noordyk, to review and update city codes and ordinances to reduce stormwater pollution. Hear what Superior Mayor Jim Paine thinks about this effort to make his community more sustainable.

A professor’s concern about the condition of the ocean’s coral reefs translated into a unique melding of freshwater art and science once he found himself in the Great Lakes after living in Japan. Learn about how University of Minnesota Duluth’s Ryuta Nakajima curated an art exhibit about sturgeon that’s available to show across the state. Also interviewed is Anne Moser, Wisconsin Water Librarian, who is coordinating venues.

If you plan to start an aquaculture business in Wisconsin, you’re in luck. Wisconsin is one of the only U.S. states that is mapped out with the aquaculture industry in mind. The mapping tool is available on the Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility's web site. Chris Hatleb, professor of fisheries biology at the UW-Stevens Point, describes what it can do, and what it can’t.