Comprehensive Management Plan
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White Potato Lake Oconto County, Wisconsin Comprehensive Management Plan January 2014 Sponsored by: White Potato Lake Sportsman’s Club White Potato Lake Advancement Association WDNR Grant Program LPL-1387-11 & LPL-1396-11 Onterra, LLC 815 Prosper Road De Pere, WI 54115 920.338.8860 www.onterra-eco.com White Potato Lake Oconto County, Wisconsin Comprehensive Management Plan January 2014 Created by: Eddie Heath, Tim Hoyman, Dan Cibulka, & Brenton Butterfield Onterra, LLC De Pere, WI Funded by: White Potato Lake Sportsman’s Club. White Potato Lake Advancement Association. Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources (LPL-1387-11 & LPL-1396-11) Acknowledgements This management planning effort was truly a team-based project and could not have been completed without the input of the following individuals: White Potato Lake Advisory Committee James Rock Jim Perreault Milt Alsteen Mike Wassenberg Richard Turtenwald Howard Schwartz Bruce Kilmer Oconto County Amanda Strick Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources Brenda Nordin White Potato Lake Comprehensive Management Plan 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 3 2.0 Stakeholder Participation ....................................................................................................................... 5 3.0 Results & Discussion ............................................................................................................................. 9 3.1 Lake Water Quality ........................................................................................................................... 9 3.2 Watershed Assessment .................................................................................................................... 21 3.3 Shoreland Condition Assessment .................................................................................................... 25 3.4 Aquatic Plants .................................................................................................................................. 36 3.5 Fisheries Data Integration ................................................................................................................ 61 4.0 Summary and Conclusions .................................................................................................................. 65 5.0 Implementation Plan ............................................................................................................................ 67 6.0 Methods................................................................................................................................................ 80 7.0 Literature Cited .................................................................................................................................... 82 FIGURES 2.0-1 Select survey responses from the White Potato Lake Stakeholder Survey ........................................ 7 2.0-2 Select survey responses from the White Potato Lake Stakeholder Survey, continued ....................... 8 3.1-1 Wisconsin Lake Classifications ........................................................................................................ 13 3.1-2 Location of White Potato Lake within the ecoregions of Wisconsin ............................................... 13 3.1-3 White Potato Lake, state-wide class 5 lakes, and regional total phosphorus concentrations ………15 3.1-4 White Potato Lake, state-wide class 5 lakes, and regional chlorophyll-a concentrations ................ 15 3.1-5 White Potato Lake, state-wide class 5 lakes, and regional Secchi disk clarity values ...................... 16 3.1-6 White Potato Lake, state-wide class 5 lakes, and regional Trophic State Index values ................... 17 3.1-7 White Potato Lake dissolved oxygen and temperature profiles ........................................................ 18 3.2-1 White Potato Lake watershed land cover types in acres ................................................................... 23 3.2-2 White Potato Lake watershed phosphorus loading in pounds .......................................................... 24 3.3-1 Shoreline assessment category descriptions ..................................................................................... 32 3.3-2 White Potato Lake shoreland categories and total lengths ............................................................... 33 3.3-3 Swimmer’s itch life cycle ................................................................................................................. 34 3.4-1 Spread of Eurasian water milfoil within WI counties ....................................................................... 49 3.4-2 White Potato Lake proportion of substrate types within littoral areas .............................................. 50 3.4-3 Frequency of occurrence at littoral depths for four White Potato Lake plant species and all aquatic vegetation .................................................................................................................................................... 52 3.4-4 White Potato Lake aquatic plant littoral frequency of occurrence ................................................... 53 3.4-5 White Potato Lake Floristic Quality Assessment ............................................................................. 54 3.4-6 White Potato Lake species diversity index ....................................................................................... 55 3.4-7 White Potato Lake relative plant littoral frequency of occurrence ................................................... 56 3.4-8 White Potato Lake’s average growing season water levels from 2004-2012 ................................... 58 3.5-1 Aquatic food chain ............................................................................................................................ 61 Document Information White Potato Lake Sportsman’s Club 2 White Potato Lake Advancement Association TABLES 3.4-1 Aquatic plant species located in White Potato Lake during July 2011 surveys ............................... 51 3.4-2 White Potato Lake acres of floating-leaf and emergent plant communities ..................................... 56 3.5-1 Gamefish present in White Potato Lake with corresponding biological information ....................... 62 PHOTOS 1.0-1 White Potato Lake, Oconto County .................................................................................................... 3 3.4-1 Dense colony of northern water milfoil (Myriophyllum sibiricum) left, and flower of small purple bladderwort (Utricularia resupinata) right ....................................................................................... 54 MAPS 1. White Potato Lake Project Location and Water Quality Sampling Site ...... Inserted Before Appendices 2. White Potato Lake Watershed and Land Cover Types ................................ Inserted Before Appendices 3. White Potato Lake Shoreland Condition .................................................... Inserted Before Appendices 4. White Potato Lake 2011 PI Survey: Substrate Types ................................. Inserted Before Appendices 5. White Potato Lake 2011 PI Survey: Aquatic Vegetation Distribution ........ Inserted Before Appendices 6. White Potato Lake Aquatic Plant Communities .......................................... Inserted Before Appendices APPENDICES A. Public Participation Materials B. Stakeholder Survey Response Charts and Comments C. Water Quality Data D. Watershed Analysis WiLMS Results E. Aquatic Plant Survey Data F. WDNR 2008 Comprehensive Survey Summary Document Information White Potato Lake Comprehensive Management Plan 3 1.0 INTRODUCTION White Potato Lake is a shallow 978-acre seepage lake located in Oconto County, Wisconsin with a maximum depth of 11 feet and a mean depth of five feet (Map 1). This WTSI status lake has a relatively small watershed when compared to the size of the lake. White Potato Lake contains 45 native plant species, of which slender naiad is the most common plant. No submergent exotic plant species are known to exist in White Potato Lake but two exotic wetland plants were found. Field Survey Notes Observed an abundance of native aquatic plants during summer surveys. Photograph 1.0-1 White Potato Lake, Oconto County Lake at a Glance - White Potato Lake Morphology Acreage 978 Maximum Depth (ft) 11 Mean Depth (ft) 5 Shoreline Complexity 2.1 Vegetation Curly-leaf Survey Date June 14, 2011 Comprehensive Survey Date July 11-12, 2011 and October 12, 2011 Number of Native Species 45 Threatened/Special Concern Species Small purple bladderwort Exotic Plant Species Purple loosestrife and giant reed Simpson's Diversity 0.9 Average Conservatism 6.9 Water Quality Trophic State Mesotrophic to eutrophic Limiting Nutrient Phosphorus Water Acidity (pH) 8.4 Sensitivity to Acid Rain Not sensitive Watershed to Lake Area Ratio 2:1 Introduction White Potato Lake Sportsman’s Club 4 White Potato Lake Advancement Association The White Potato Lake Sportsmen’s Club (WPLSC) was formed in 1989 and with its partner organization, the White Potato Lake Advancement Association (WPLAA), has supported the protection, improvement, and recreational development of White Potato Lake for the benefit of the general public. In 1999, the WPLSC received a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) Lake Management Planning Grant to develop a lake management plan for White Potato Lake. The plan was completed in 2000.