Lake Monitoring - Citizen Lake Monitoring Network
Water clarity - Water chemistry - Aquatic plants - Invasive species - Clean Boats, Clean Waters

Volunteer lake monitors have been an integral part of Wisconsin lakes since 1986 and are the core of Wisconsin's Lakes Partnership. Click here to learn more general information about the Citizen Lake Monitoring Network (CLMN).

Monitoring lakes for aquatic invasive species became an aspect of the CLMN in 2006 with monitoring refinements introduced in 2007. A training manual for how to monitor for different species is now available. Each chapter of the manual can be seen and printed by clicking on the following links:

AIS Lakes Monitoring Training Manual Contents

• Contents & contacts
• Overview
• Quick review
• Eurasian watermilfoil
• Curly-leaf pondweed
• Purple loosestrife
• Jellyfish (so far, not problematic)
• Mystery snail (seldom problematic)
• Rusty crayfish
• Spiny water flea
• Zebra mussel
• Aquascope - how to build
• 

AIS Lakes Monitoring Reporting Forms

WDNR lake monitoring reporting forms became available in March, 2008. The forms are intended to capture AIS monitoring efforts which are then uploaded to the SWIMS data base. Use of these forms is especially important for monitoring activities associated with grant funded projects. Volunteer hours claimed as in-kind for a grant must correspond with the hours uploaded to the SWIMS system. Click on the following form titles to download and print PDF versions:

• AIS Presence/Absence Report (This is the form most volunteers will use to report their monitoring efforts on a single lake)
• AIS Presence/Absence Report (For use when monitoring several water bodies on a single day)
• AIS Animal Incident Report (For use when reporting the finding of an invasive animal species not previously reported)
• AIS Plant Incident Report (For use when reporting the finding of an invasive plant species not previously reported)
• AIS Plant Bed Density Report (For use in reporting the status of ongoing EWM and CLP infestations)
• AIS Crayfish Monitoring Report
• AIS Waterflea Zooplankton Net Towing Report
• AIS Zebra Mussel Quantitative Report (For use when reporting sampling plate zebra mussle density findings)

Data upload to WDNR web site - SWIMS

The WNDR introduced in the spring of 2007 a new data base system for the collection of lake data by volunteers. Its name is Surface Waters Integrated Monitoring System (SWIMS). The following links provide additional information and user instructions:

• SWIMS general information
• SWIMS user instructions

Additional Lakes Monitoring Information

• What is that gelatinous mass is my lake?
• EWM monitoring & reporting procedures as developed by Onterra, LCC. for the Eagle River Chain

Lake Monitoring Results - GLIFWC 2007

The Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) monitors lakes throughout the ceded territory for the presence of aquatic invasive species. Northern Wisconsin lakes surveyed in 2007 included sampling for Zebra mussels and Spiny & Fishhook waterfleas on the following Vilas County lakes:

Big Portage (Land 'O Lakes)
Lac Vieux Desert (Phelps / Watersmeet, MI)
Long (Phelps)
North & South Twin (Phelps / Conover)
Plum (Plum Lake)
Smokey (Phelps / Iron River, MI)

No presence of either species was found in any of the sampled lakes. A spreadsheet with the survey results of all northern Wisconsin lakes monitored by GLIFWC during 2007 can be seen by clicking here.

GLIFWC has also collected survey results from multiple sources (WDNR, GLIFWC, UW-Madison, etc.) and has pooled the results on a map which can be viewed on the GLIFWC website at www.glifwc-maps.org.

Return to Vilas County Land & Water