Two Combined Sessions

Climate Adaptation Case Study and Restoration at Spur Lake State Natural Area

Speaker: Carly Lapin

Spur Lake, designated a State Natural Area in 2007, is a 113-acre muck-bottomed soft-water drainage lake in Oneida County that supports dense beds of emergent, submergent, and floating-leaved aquatic plants. Historically, manoomin (wild rice) was the dominant emergent species, but water levels on Spur Lake have increased since the 1990’s to the point where the lake can no longer support wild rice. In 2019, the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science facilitated an adaptation workshop for experts and vested partners to evaluate climate change impacts on the lake and potential adaptation measures to consider implementing. We will discuss the outcome of this adaptation workshop and how the newly formed Spur Lake Working Group is moving forward to attempt to restore wild rice on this historically important site.

Flood Resilience in the Coon Creek Watershed
Speaker: Jackson Parr

In August 2018, the Coon Creek watershed suffered severe rainfall resulting in the breach of three dam structures that devastated the downstream region. A federally-funded study will review the future of the watershed and the role that new dams will or will not play in watershed management. However, flood resilience can take many forms, which led a group of six students in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Water Resources Management M.S. program to work with stakeholders in Vernon, Monroe, and La Crosse counties to research the watershed and develop goals to build resiliency against future flood events. Flood management and recovery requires an interdisciplinary approach. This presentation will review best practices in land use, historical changes on the landscape, public opinion research and perspectives, the role of culture and individual behavior, and the institutional framework that it all must operate within to achieve flood resilience in the Coon Creek watershed.