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| Message Subject: The Big Eau Pleine is ruined! | |||
Justin Gaiche |
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Posts: 355 Location: Wausau, Wisconsin | This is one of the worst ecological disasters I've ever seen. There are many reasons for this and not only does the north central Wisconsin community need to get together on this, but the industry as a whole. The Big Eau Pleine is a 6,830 acre fish factory that flows into the Wisconsin River. At maximum capacity, it has a max depth of 46'. It produces monster fish. One of the more impressive was a 47", 28 pound pike a friend of mine caught a few years ago...Wisconsin people. The walleye fishery has become outstanding, loaded with mid 20's fish. The crappie fishery was one of the best with year classes that grew to a 13" average with a 17" + maximum. The BEP has had a nitrate issue for years from agricultural run off which created low oxygen and high algae levels. The Parks Dept. purchased and installed an aerator 40 years ago to keep the fishery alive in the winter. Over the past years, the productivity of the aerator was down to about 25%. Funds from the Parks Dept. were low and they made a written statement saying they could not afford the energy costs of its operation nor its expensive repairs. They laid the responsibility on the DNR who said they didn't have funding. In addition, the BEP was at a historical low water level, down 20' or so which is operated by Wisconsin Valley Improvement Company. Under the Federal rules of FERC, they have that "right" to run it as low as desired. They claim the water is not managed as a fishery, its an industry. The problem with all of this is that there is not a single organization to blame. FERC is to blame because of their allowing of a total drain down, WVIC is to blame for following these "rights" and ignoring the enviroment, the Parks Department is at fault for not bringing this to attention, the DNR is at fault for not stepping in, our state is at fault for how our DNR is set up and some of us as anglers are responsible for knowing this was a possibility and doing nothing. If we do nothing now, we are even more guilty and we are all guilty for not creating an umbrella organization to fight for us like the NRA has fought for our gun rights. I am in the process of bringing attention to this issue through my website, calling press and media outlets and our local representatives. Dave Obey, Russ Decker, Jim Doyle the DNR, they should hear from all of us. People in this state knew this was going to happen and did little. Help me and others by making a voice. This must be addressed with a mass like fishermen have never created. Laws can be passed, agreements can be made. I propose a federal rule mandating that the BEP, Willow, Rainbow, Spirit and Nokomis are not allowed to be lowered more than 50% from maximum capacity, that the DNR funds two new aerators and that the fishing clubs of Wisconsin band together to help restock this fishery pending these agreements from state organizations. Waters connected like Lake Wausau, Lake DuBay, Lake Mohawskin are never tampered with. This may take a generation to fix if we are lucky enough to get cooperation, but it is the right thing to do. Wisconsin fishing is a billion dollar industry, has one of the highest number of fishing license holders in the country, WHERE DOES THIS MONEY GO????? Only a small percentage back to our resources. Most to things like roads and highways. It is flat out wrong and we should all be nothing short of furious. I will not let the fishery that my grandfather's bait shop was founded on not be their for my children. Edited by 8inchcrank 3/29/2009 8:46 AM | ||
| Pointerpride102 |
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Posts: 16632 Location: The desert | Was always a good fishery. Sad to see, for sure. However does the lack luster managing by the WDNR really surprise you? Don't get me wrong there are a lot of great individuals in the WDNR (Dave N., Jordan W. and others), but they 1. aren't directly related to this and 2. If they were, would have had their hands tied through politics. I'm completely with Justin on the waste of money on the CWD issue. Where are all the massive die offs from CWD? How about from VHS? I'm still up in the air on VHS, but I have a feeling it's going to go the way of CWD and be a big issue over nothing. The WDNR needs an overhaul in the higher up positions, starting with the highest person Jim Doyle. In my opinion he hasn't done a lick of good for the state of Wisconsin. I'd love to some day work for the WDNR, but if it is run as it is today, I don't think I want much to to with the agency then. Justin, feel free to send me a PM so we can talk about ideas for letters and who to send them to. | ||
| muskie! nut |
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Posts: 2894 Location: Yahara River Chain | Funny the don't have money to operator the aerator(s), but where are they going to get th3e money to clean up all these dead fish? Or are they? | ||
| Justin Gaiche |
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Posts: 355 Location: Wausau, Wisconsin | All of the dead fish will rot and many are pouring into Lake DuBay, there is a stench miles down from the dam. "The solution to pollution is dillution!" Flushing them down the Wisconsin River toilet. Too bad it flows into the Mississippi rather downtown Madison, then maybed they'd get a sniff of this disaster. | ||
| Muskydr |
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Posts: 686 Location: Tomahawk, Wisconsin | Hey, I heard about this last weekend, what a waste!! Had many a fun time tip up fishing out there and YES there were a low population of MUSKIES in the system as well. Extremely BOGUS!! | ||
| sworrall |
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Posts: 32945 Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Gentlemen, I don't yet know enough about this issue to form an opinion. There's many possible ways to address the issue, and so far this thread is headed down a road that will not be one of them...at least not here. Game management and disease control isn't fisheries. Neither was any funding that was allocated to wolf or turkey re-introduction. Investigate how budgets are allocated and spent before painting all with one brush. Be a bit more conscious of the possible future consequences of your comments, and think before you type, please. | ||
| Pointerpride102 |
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Posts: 16632 Location: The desert | Alright, I probably was a harsh on my initial assessment. The WDNR does do some things very very well. Take the sturgeon situation on the Wolf and Winnebago. Awesome stuff there. I think a lot of the biologists do a tremendous job with a lack of funding, personnel, or time. However, I do think there are some major issues that need to be addressed in WDNR. There is politics in every state natural resource departments, some just deal with them better than others. | ||
| Whoolligan |
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Posts: 457 | sworrall - 3/28/2009 11:14 PM Gentlemen, I don't yet know enough about this issue to form an opinion. There's many possible ways to address the issue, and so far this thread is headed down a road that will not be one of them...at least not here. Game management and disease control isn't fisheries. Neither was any funding that was allocated to wolf or turkey re-introduction. Investigate how budgets are allocated and spent before painting all with one brush. Be a bit more conscious of the possible future consequences of your comments, and think before you type, please. One of the things I've respected you for in the past, and would imagine that will continue. You do your research on the subject at hand, if you're not already knowledgeable. On another note, I've heard some information on this (and I live in NE). It would seem that it isn't so much a mis-management issue as a question of priority in water allocation. On the whole there's a problem across the Great Plains and Great Lakes with water management in regards to fisheries. We (fisheries) tend to take a back seat to the other players that deal with water allocation. I'm not as familiar with WI rights and appropriations as I am NE, but am somewhat versed in the management legalities. There are few things that are going to change that, aside from legislative action. It seems (again early stages) that this falls under the category of water management more than any other. I too look forward to more information to come, as there surely will be more. There is a lot to be said across the nation for water rights, and whether we are utilizing it to the best of what we have. In many situations there are definitive answers that we are not. This appears to be another case of that very thing. Fisheries managers from coast to coast have greater reason to be going through any legislation that concerns water use with a fine tooth comb than ever before. In NE there are two bills in legislation that would allow legal precedence to be established in regards to water rights and the use of the resource, with effect pushing all other uses but the primary concern out. Like I said, I look forward to learning more about the situation on BEP, and just what occurred. | ||
| Justin Gaiche |
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Posts: 355 Location: Wausau, Wisconsin | Steve, In my many youthful flaws, my original post is me calmed down and thinking before I type. Its a vast improvement over previous years, but it appears in your opinion, there is more work to be done. I'm mad, this community is mad. This is beyond wrong and its not an accident. You've got multiple more times experience than I do on issues and the DNR and due process and I respect that. I would prefer, if you are willing, to publically describe my/our/everyone's best way in handling this matter. It seems for years the status quo on these issues has led to many dead ends. I want to see a change for the better and I want to do what I can as an individual to make that difference. For too many years, we as sportsmen have sat around the bar complaining about issues like this. For me, it seems as though we have the emotion but a lack of a leading direction in how to handle ourselves and be a voice. Who is the NRA of the fishermen? I believe that our DNR and its employees care about what has happened but how could we let it? If there isn't funding for an emergency like this, that what happens if something worse comes along? Earlier I said I was mad, depressed is more like it. To think we live in one of the greatest natural resource states in the U.S. and a part of it which was such a piece of my growing up is gone. What am I suppose to do? What are we all suppose to do? I just want the BEP back. | ||
| Justin Gaiche |
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Posts: 355 Location: Wausau, Wisconsin | Pulling the plug County will end operation of Big Eau Pleine aerator The Marathon County Park, Recration and Forestry Department has decided to no longer operate the 27-year-old aerator at the Big Eau Pleine Reservoir, putting at risk one of the major recreational fisheries in Wisconsin. Bill Duncanson, department head, said the county is no longer willing to spend the $6,500 in annual staff time devoted to maintaining the aerator, as well as putting up and repairing a reflector tape fence meant to keep snowmobilers and others outside the bubbling aeration area. “We are basically walking away from it,” he said. Duncanson said operation of the aerator strays from his department’s core mission of managing county forests and parks. “We are not fish managers,” said Duncanson. The department head said his county budget is able to grow by two or three percent under state levy limits, but costs to run the department, including wage and benefit increases for employees, rise at an 8 to 10 percent pace. “What I’ve had to do is perform a thoughtful deconstruction of our department,” he said. Duncanson reported that the aerator was installed in 1981 for $50,000 as a collaborative effort between Wisconsin Valley Improvement Corporation (WVIC), which controls Big Eau Pleine water levels for hydropower, Marathon County, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and various private donors and sportsmen’s clubs. The aerator, said the department head, was meant to be a five year, temporary fix to improve water quality following a devastating fish kill in 1977. The long-term solution was supposed to be cleaning up pollution, mostly farm run-off, across the 360 square mile Big Eau Pleine Reservoir watershed. Duncanson said the aerator is woefully out of repair and that its one and one-half inch PVC pipes are largely plugged with debris from years of use. He said that even if the county wanted to operate the aerator, it would only work at a fraction of its original effectiveness. Duncanson said the county no longer will keep applying “this small Band-Aid” to major water pollution problems at the Big Eau Pleine. “I have a sense that other people have responsibility here and have to step up,” he said. No budget David Coon, WVIC director of environmental affairs, said his organization has been faithfully paying the $4,000 to $7,000 annual electric bill to run the compressors at the Big Eau Pleine aerator, but does not have the budget nor the manpower to operate the aerator after the county bows out. Coon said WVIC’s job is to generate power under a license granted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). “Are we in charge of water quality or fish?” he said. “No.” Coon said his agency, nevertheless, is studying whether it makes sense to replace the existing, 20 percent efficient aerator with another one or, perhaps, to use a different technology, such as bottled liquified oxygen, to combat reservoir pollution. “In mid-October, we hope to raise the existing aerator, see what’s there, and make a decision about what system we need to take care of the issue,” he said. Coon said the Big Eau Pleine, measuring 6,600 acres, contains an estimated 40,000 adult walleyes, as well as trophy muskies, yellow perch, bass, pumpkinseed, carp and other fish species. “It’s a diverse fishery,” he said. No resources Scott Watson, DNR watershed supervisor out of the Rib Mountain office, said his agency recognizes the potential for fish kills at the Big Eau Pleine without a working aerator, but his budget-starved office has no resources to take over operation of the aerator, if only for the next winter. “I don’t know that we have any immediate option,” he said. Watson said he could possibly scrounge up a few hundred dollars to operate the aerator, but not the thousands that will be needed. “We just don’t have the money,” he said. ”Our discretional dollars are almost nil.” Watson said he hopes to enlist citizen volunteers to, possibly, help with the aerator and also to get the message out to farmers to be more careful than ever this coming winter and spring when it comes to spreading manure. “We want farmers to have a heightened awareness,” he said. Watson said a long-term fix for problems at the Big Eau Pleine would be tougher water pollution regulations. Watson said the federal Clean Water Act would allow the DNR to declare a Total Managed Daily Limit (TMDL) on pollutants, especially phosphorus, entering the Big Eau Pleine Reservoir. Under the TMDL plan, the DNR and Marathon County Conservation, Planning and Zoning Department could order polluters, including area dairy farmers, to reduce their discharges to meet overall strict watershed caps for pollution. “In essence, you would be putting the entire watershed under a wastewater treatment discharge permit,” he said. Watson explained it would be hard to say at this point what increased regulations area dairy farmers would need to meet under TMDL. He said the entire situation is distressing. “I wish things were different, but it’s not,” he said. “We can’t inherit the system and operate it. We don’t do that. I wish we had the funds if only to operate it this winter. But we don’t. I wish we didn’t have the budget parameters that we do.” Not safe Andy Johnson, Marathon County Conservation, Planning and Zoning, said his department coordinated barnyard and run-off projects meant to keep manure from flowing into the Big Eau Pleine watershed over the past several years. His department, he added, also has toughened its pollution enforcement regulation on dairy farmers, all who now, according to state law, must file Nutrient Management Plans. Still, he said, the Big Eau Pleine Reservoir is not safe from a major fish kill. “The reality is no,” he said. Johnson said the aerator was installed when run-off delivered 160,000 pounds of phosphorus yearly to the Big Eau Pleine Reservoir. There is surely less phosphorus now coming to the Eau Pleine, he said, but not the 87 percent reduction needed to significantly boost water quality. The upshot, he said, is that the Eau Pleine is still vulnerable to fish kills. “Back in January of 2005, you had a rain event on top of snow pack that delivered a large plume of water with zero dissolved oxygen to the Big Eau Pleine Reservoir,” he said. “You had to turn on the aerator. This is the type of thing everyone is nervous about.” Johnson said simply enforcing existing manure spreading regulations would not remove the threat facing the Eau Pleine Reservoir. “By and large, we have good compliance with regulations,” he said. “Generally, the farmers are living up to state performance standards.” Johnson said stricter manure spreading regulations, such as under TMDL, may be necessary to better protect the fishery. But Willie Schult, Marathon County Farm Bureau president, said local farmers would be “concerned” if they faced tougher regulations than other Wisconsin dairy farm operators. “We’d be singled out,” he said. “We might have to obey California rules here in central Wisconsin and nobody else would have to abide by them.” He added, “To farm in this area you have to be competitive somehow.” The professor Dr. Byron Shaw, Amherst, is the retired UW-Stevens Point professor who, with the aid of six graduate students, studied pollution in the Big Eau Pleine Reservoir from 1973 to 1980. Shaw said the first recommendation coming out of his study was for WVIC to increase the volume of the Big Eau Pleine Reservoir by 40 percent, but this was opposed by WVIC. A second recommendation was to install the aerator, said Shaw, but he agreed that this step was meant to be only a temporary remedy. Shaw said 40 years after he started his study nobody has effectively dealt with the problem of agricultural run-off. The retired water resources professor said the DNR has primary responsibility for water quality at the Big Eau Pleine but, under state law, “has very little power to deal with the problems linked to ag run off.” Shaw said he supports a TMDL designation for the Big Eau Pleine Reservoir. “It is a long-term solution that is needed,” he said. Shaw acknowledged water quality at the Big Eau Pleine Reservoir is less of an issue now than 27 years ago when the aerator was installed, but that could quickly change. “It could become a hot issue again if there is a fish kill,” he said Here's the link for verification: http://www.centralwinews.com/recordr...llingplug.html | ||
| Justin Gaiche |
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Posts: 355 Location: Wausau, Wisconsin | Eau Pleine fish kill Run-off events depleted oxygen A Department of Natural Resources fish biologist on Friday said that possibly 70 to 80 percent of the fish in the Big Eau Pleine Reservoir have died over the last two months as a result of low levels of dissolved oxygen in the water. “That would be a worse case, but it’s real bad,” said Tom Meronek, headquartered in the DNR’s Rib Mountain office, “I am just hoping that 20 or 30 percent of the fish, including adults and game fish, were able to move upstream in the reservoir where there was more oxygen.” Meronek said the DNR, in cooperation with the Halder Sportsman’s Club and Wisconsin Valley Improvement Corporation, activated an aerator in the Big Eau Pleine Reservoir on Jan. 14 after recording falling levels of oxygen in the water. A second aeration pump was started up in early February after the situation worsened. Meronek said a February thaw provided fish with some relief by adding highly oxygenated water to the reservoir, but this runoff, including nutrient-rich manure from farm fields and other organic materials, soon decayed and used up much of the reservoir’s remaining oxygen. “We say that a fish can survive at something between three and five milligrams of oxygen per liter,” he said. “We were getting readings down to one or two parts per milligram.” Meronek said the current Big Eau Pleine Reservoir’s aerator is out of repair but he said he didn’t think a fully operating aerator would have prevented this year’s fish kill. “No, I don’t think it would have,” he said. “We are seeing such a high Biological Oxygen Demand.” The fish biologist said the aerator was designed to pump bubbles of air over acres of reservoir water and “break up” sags of oxygen-starved water as they move downstream. Meronek said this winter’s water pollution in the 6,000 acre reservoir is worse than he has seen. “It’s not like we had a slug of low oxygen going through,” he said. “It’s more like the whole reservoir went anaerobic. I’ve never seen a lake this big go so bad so quickly.” Meronek said the fish kill is the combined result of continued drought and high levels of pollution, including run-off from western Marathon County dairy farms. He said the Eau Pleine Reservoir is 16 feet below full, when seven to eight feet below full would be normal. “That’s a huge difference,” he said. Meronek said it is practically impossible to tabulate just how many fish have died in the Big Eau Pleine this winter, but, come spring, he will electro-shock the reservoir and perform a fish count. He said comparing this year’s fish numbers with past shocking studies should reveal just what percent of fish died over winter. Tim Garrigan, town of Cleveland, president of the Big Eau Pleine Citizens Organization (BEPCO), said Friday his members are concerned about this year’s fish kill and hope to work a compromise with Wisconsin Valley Improvement Corporation to keep more water in the Big Eau Pleine Reservoir. Garrigan said he knows there is a drought and that WVIC has to keep some level of water running through the reservoir—if only to wash accumulated pollutants downstream—but he thinks the agency doesn’t have to open up the dam gate up to 16 and 20 inches in July. “I think there is room for a compromise,” he said. “The solution to pollution is dilution.” Garrigan said his organization does not want to “shut down farms” but that he is astounded at DNR reports that document high levels of agriculturally generated phosphorus and e-coli bacteria in the Big Eau Pleine Reservoir. “It’s unbelievable,” he said. “Luckily, I am not a good fisherman.” Garrigan said his group believes that WVIC should retain more water in the Big Eau Pleine than in other impoundments, including the Rainbow, Willow, Spirit and Nokomis, because it is uniquely subject to agricultural run-off. David Coon, spokesman for WVIC, said the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted WVIC a 30-year license to operate its system of reservoirs and hydro-electric dams in 1996, at which time rules over maximum and minimum flows were set. These operational rules will be reviewed in 2011. Coon said the WVIC system of reservoirs was set up in the early 1900’s to halt flooding and create power, especially for Wisconsin’s paper mills. He said continued drought has stressed operation of all reservoirs in Wisconsin, especially in the southern part of the state. | ||
| Gander Mt Guide |
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Posts: 2515 Location: Waukesha & Land O Lakes, WI | One of my best friends lives across the street from a launch on the BEF. He sent me pics of some of the kill. I'll post pics tomorrow. a true trajedy. | ||
| Gander Mt Guide |
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Posts: 2515 Location: Waukesha & Land O Lakes, WI | Here's some pics. Edited by Gander Mt Guide 3/30/2009 10:21 AM Attachments ----------------  BEP Fishkill-2009 sm.jpg (273KB - 252 downloads) | ||
| Gander Mt Guide |
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Posts: 2515 Location: Waukesha & Land O Lakes, WI | a few more Attachments ---------------- 3.5 x 5 in_Page_2.jpg (102KB - 224 downloads) 3.5 x 5 in_Page_3.jpg (103KB - 196 downloads) BEP Fishkill-2009_Page_4.jpg (191KB - 262 downloads) | ||
| Cowboyhannah |
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Posts: 1460 Location: Kronenwetter, WI | Took the family on a 'Sunday Drive' yesterday...coincidentally wound up at Eau Pleine Co. Park....Pretty sad...hundreds and hundreds of dead fish...here's a pic of one of four muskies washed ashore... Attachments ---------------- dead musky eau pleine.jpg (173KB - 525 downloads) | ||
| Reef Hawg |
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Posts: 3518 Location: north central wisconsin | I am saddened to see this. Have had our permanent shack out there during winter, and ply it depths during open water. Further, it has been the target of several k$ in stocking asistance from our club/s over the past few years. This really sucks. With that said, the BEP resevoir was built as a sacrificial resevoir back when that was common practice. During years/decades of 'normal' rainfall/runoff, we see them as recreational lakes with wide varying opportunities. On dry years, these resevoirs suffer as a result of the agreement. Being sacraficial, their sole purpose is to provide flow to the 'main' entity which is the WI River and its flowages and power houses when they are in need for various reasons, mostly during the dry summer WLA months(Waste Load Allocation). To satisfy power needs, as well as flow requirements for local industry/municipalities, the power companies and operators of the various dams throughout, attempt to maintain a certain minimum flow through the system, measured at various points on the river. I'd love to see a future preventative, with renewed commitment to aeration and funding to running them, seeming the most obvious. More control of Phosphorous loadings(phos., not nitrates, are biggest culprit in algae blooms and subsequent D.O. reductions) wouldn't hurt either, with all shorefront property owners playing a role. Less phos. loadings = more available D.O. Fact is, at the end of a dry day, the water is going to be low somewhere. Large resevoirs recharge a bit quicker than lakes due to runnoff, but many are maintained at the price of others. Again, this really blows. I do wonder though, with no/highly reduced flow from above due to drought, if the BEP at full level might not have survived without aeration. Wonder about alternative aeration(ie wind turbines etc..?..).. Good to see some progress being made, but too bad it has to come to this first... Edited by Reef Hawg 4/3/2009 12:52 PM | ||
| Yount |
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| That pretty much sums it up. Just emailed all the guys you mentioned. Hope it helps. Yes I am furious. | |||
| Justin Gaiche |
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Posts: 355 Location: Wausau, Wisconsin | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I had a very good conversation with Tom Meronik today over the phone. Tom informed me about many things I had an idea of, but was glad to confirm. Tom is hopeful and confident that there is not a 100% death rate of the BEP and that what has survived may be a great start at the rebuilding of the fishery. They are working very hard with many agencies to help prevent this from happening again. While we can't control what has happened, it looks like work is being made to help the situation which is more political than any of us care to hear. Boom shocking results in the spring will help validate this hope. In addition, it was nice to hear about other local considerations for regulations that would help combat the new increase in angling pressure on other waters like DuBay. There are talks of pike regulations, musky size increase, some new bass regulations and the extention of the walleye slot in 2014 that will help. One thing I like to hear is how all of these decisions are made on studies and solid biological data rather than because of public pressure or individual agendas. I offered my assistance in posting new information as he provides it to better educate the public on issues as well as offering to be part of commities regarding the area's fisheries. There is nothing concrete or solid at this point in time, but it sounds like the right things are being done to ensure that North Central Wisconsin is a great place to fish. | ||
| mrpgolf |
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Posts: 1 Location: Mosinee, WI | Everyone concerned about the Big Eau Pleine, I am the VP of BEPCO, the Big Eau Pleine Citizens Org. We are a lake assn., just reactivated, after last falls fish kill. We now have had 3 documented fish kills in the past year. Our "young" group formed to address the problems on the BEP, our website is www.bigeaupleine.org We continue to document the ongoing fish kill and have links to the recent news stories. Please visit us, help spread the word and we welcome all to join us. Our "goal" is to start addressing the fish kills through a petition to FERC to adjust the operating license that WVIC has. The BEP needs more water, and then we can move to clean it up with the WDNR. We are just getting started and appreciate all the help and support we can gather. Contact us or me thru the website. Thanks, Mike | ||
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