Green Lake County Land & Water Resource Management Plan April 2011 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS PREFACE PLAN SUMMARY i CHAPTER 1 COUNTY SETTING, NATURAL RESOURCES AND TRENDS General characteristics 1 History 1 NATURAL RESOURCES 4 Geology & Topography 4 Surface Water Resources 4 Wetland Resources 5 Woodland Resources 5 Wildlife Resources 5 Fishery Resources 6 Soils 6 Mineral Resources 10 Ground Water Resources 10 TRENDS 10 Land Use 10 Agricultural 11 CHAPTER 2 PLAN DEVELOPMENT PROCESS 13 Citizen Participation 13 Related Resource Management Plan 13 Public Opinion 14 Citizen Advisory Committee 14 Basin Team Coordination 14 County Coordination 15 Cooperating Agencies and Organizations 15 CHAPTER 3 LAND & WATER RESOURCE CONDITIONS 19 Basin Geography 19 Exceptional Resource & 303(d) Waters 20 Fox River-Berlin Watershed 24 Green Lake Watershed 27 Upper Grand Watershed 32 Lower Grand Watershed 35 Buffalo and Puckaway Watershed 37 Fox River-Rush Lake Watershed 39 White River Watershed 41 Mecan River Watershed 41 Swan Lake Watershed 43 Beaver Dam River Watershed 43 Upper Rock River Watershed 44 CHAPTER 4 ESTIMATED RURAL NONPOINT SOURCE POLLUTANT LOADING 45 POLLUTANT LOADING 45 Sediment Loading 45 Phosphorus Loading 46 URBAN POLLUTANT LOADING 47 Sediment Loading Construction Sites 48 Road Salt 48 Pollutants from Lawn and Garden Care 48 Pollutants from Poor Auto Maintenance 48 Municipal and Industrial Discharge 48 GROUND WATER ISSUES 49 Nitrates 49 Atrazine 49 CHAPTER 5 REDUCTION GOALS 51 NONPOINT SOURCE POLLUTION GOALS 51 Sediment Reduction Goals 51 Phosphorus Reduction Goals 51 CHAPTER 6 PLAN IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY 53 NON-POINT POLLUTION PERFORMANCE STANDARDS 53 Agricultural Standards and Prohibitions 53 Nutrient Management Plans 54 AGRICULTURAL SHORELAND MANAGEMENT 54 Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program 54 OTHER PROGRAMS 55 Manure Storage Ordinance 55 Shoreland Protection Ordinance 55 Farmland Preservation Program/Working Lands Initiative 55 Construction Site Erosion Control and Stormwater Management 56 County-Wide Installation of Best Management Practices 56 NEW PROGRAM INITIATIVES 57 IDENTIFYING PRIORITY SITES 59 Priority Farm/Area Strategy 59 IMPLEMENTATION BUDGET 66 Financial Assistance Administration 66 Cost Containment Procedures 66 PROGRAM INTEGRATION 67 WORK PLAN - 2015 GOALS 70 BUDGET 73 CHAPTER 7 INFORMATION AND EDUCATION STRATEGY 75 BACKGROUND 75 INFORMATION AND EDUCATION STRATEGY 75 GOAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS 77 CHAPTER 8 PROGRESS MEASUREMENT AND EVALUATION 79 POLLUTANT LOAD REDUCTION 79 MONITORING OF PLANNED ACTIVITY PROGRESS 79 ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTING 82 WATER RESOURCE MONITORING 82 MAPS Original (Pre-Settlement) Vegetation cover 2 Land Use 3 Soils and Surface Water 7 Soil Capability Classes 8 All Watersheds 21 303D Watersheds & Exceptional Resource Waters 22 Fox River-Berlin Watershed 23 Green Lake Watershed 26 Upper Grand Watershed 31 Lower Grand Watershed 34 Buffalo and Puckaway Watershed 36 Fox River-Rush Lake Watershed 38 White River Watershed 40 Mecan River Watershed 40 Swan Lake Watershed 42 Beaver Dam River Watershed 42 Upper Rock River Watershed 42 Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program Areas 61 Agricultural Shoreland Management Areas 62 Highly Erodible Land 63 Shaded Relief/Slope Percentage 64 Shaded Relief/Land Elevation 65 APPENDIX One Ranking Sheet Two Stream System Habitat Rating Three Soil Erosion Control Plan Data Four Transect Survey Data Five Best Management Practices Six Rare Species and Natural Communities Seven USGS Data Eight Landowner Notification Nine Agricultural Shoreland Corridors Ten Land and Water Funds Appropriated Eleven Public Hearing Notification Twelve Lake Puckaway Lake Management Plan Goals BIBLIOGRAPHY A-C April 2011 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS LAND & WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE Thomas Eddy, Green Lake Area Izaak Walton League Paul Gettelman, Lake Puckaway Protection and Rehabilitation District Jen Kaiser, Green Lake Association Charlie Marks, Green Lake Sanitary District Jerry Specht, Green Lake Sanitary District David Wilke, Green Lake County Farm Bureau President GREEN LAKE COUNTY LAND CONSERVATION COMMITTEE Michael Stoddard, Chairman Thomas Traxler Jr. Susan McConnell Maureen Schweder Margaret Whirry Arnold Dahlke, Jr. STAFF ADVISORS James A. Hebbe, County Conservationist Brenda Sondalle, Administrative Assistant Paul Gunderson, Soil Conservationist II Thomas Jonker, Conservation Planner Todd Morris, Soil Conservationist I Derek Kavanaugh, Soil Conservationist I COOPERATING AGENCY ADVISORS United States Department of Agriculture Caleb Zahn – Natural Resources Conservation Service Randy Kunsman – Farm Service Agency University of Wisconsin Extension Nav Ghmire Jason Kauffeld Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection Dennis Presser Land Use Planning and Zoning Al Shute Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Scott Sullivan – Forester Ted Johnson – Water Resources Management Specialist Rob McLennan – Upper Fox River Team Jim Holzwart – Wildlife Biologist April 2011 PREFACE The Green Lake County Land and Water Resource Management Plan concept evolved from a long-stated need to establish a locally driven process that ensured local decision making and increased program delivery mechanisms. It also ensures the utilization of local, state and federal funds for greater effectiveness toward the protection of land and water resources. The first Land and Water Resource Management Plan was developed in 1999. The Land and Water Resource Management Plan is empowered by Chapter 92.10 of the Wisconsin Statutes. The basic concepts of this statute is meant to: Drive a locally led process for plan development and implementation, Provide flexibility in granting programs, Drive a comprehensive watershed based conservation effort without excessive planning, Reward innovation and cost effectiveness, Seamlessly integrate programs and funding sources, making use of a wide variety of implementation tools, and Be evaluated in a meaningful manner. Chapter 92 is the enabling legislation that provides counties, through the Land Conservation Committee, the formal authority to develop a plan that provides structured means that will integrate and leverage available programs, funds, and other resources to: Guide the process for resource management planning and decision making, Compile information for evaluating land and water resource conditions, Develop a multi-year work plan to address land and water resource problems by watershed, Strengthen partnerships with landowners, other agencies, municipalities, and organizations, Integrate efforts with other county and basin level Natural Resource Management Plans, Assist with Township and County comprehensive land use planning efforts, Develop effective information and education strategies that will strengthen and maintain community support for the planned Land and Water Resource Management Plan goals and objectives, and Track progress toward the achievement of the plan‘s goals and objectives. The driving force behind the development of the Green Lake County Land and Water Resource Management Plan is the opportunity to establish a true locally driven process. That means individual citizens, units of government, and local, state, and federal agency representatives must work together to develop a framework which positively integrates natural resource management programs and funding sources, and provides the necessary flexibility to allocate staff and financial resources where they will do the most toward accomplishing resource management objectives. April 2011 PLAN SUMMARY INTRODUCTION Over the past 15 years, the focus of conservation has changed from a county approach to an ecosystem approach. Basin boundaries have become the level of concern because they have relatively natural boundaries, encompassing many ecosystem components. Still, political boundaries have not disappeared from resource management. Natural resources within the relatively natural boundary of the basin are still protected and managed by many programs implemented at the county level. Therefore, part of the purpose for the Green Lake County Land and Water Resource Management Plan (LWRMP) is to try to coordinate county activities with basin-wide management. A comprehensive analysis of land and water resource issues and needs within a basin stem from the involvement of many different actors focused on many different scales--from backyards to basins. Therefore, the LWRMP incorporates the concerns and activities of local organizations, basins, watersheds and various levels of government. In cooperation with the above groups and organizations, the Green Lake County Land and Water Resource Management Plan is focused on restoring, improving, and protecting ecological diversity and quality, and promoting beneficial land, water, and related resource uses. The initial stated goal in 1999 was to achieve a 35% reduction in phosphorus and sediment delivery to waterways over the next 10 years. Cropland soil erosion had been reduced by 10% in 2005 according to the county transect survey. Since that time erosion reduction has remained stagnant. To meet further goals, the updated LWRMP has defined a set of objectives and action steps, and defined priority areas within the county. It has also identified local, county, state, and federal programs available to landowners and land users for implementing conservation practices. In addition, the LWRMP tries to calculate the costs for meeting the set goals. Green Lake County considers this LWRMP to be a process that further focuses on more