Lake Winnebago regulation meeting notes October 24, 2007
I attended the ACOE (Army corps of engineers) Lake Winnebago regulation meeting today, October 24, 2007. Below are my personal notes from this meeting.
The ACOE will post their own notes to their website. I have provided a link to the relevant site at the bottom. Also, a copy of their presentation is available at the website. I provided a link to this as well.
I Welcome – from the ACOE
Introductions (I am guessing at name spelling. Please do not count on the spelling of names below. Please assume the spelling of all names is suspect. I did my best. )
Mike O’Brien – ACOE chief of Detroit office, includes Fox River system
Dave Hause – primary contact with public, also 24/7 dam operator, maintenance of gauges.
Bob Stanic – chief of office
Jim Benettis – chief of operations Kewaunee
Dave Fosters – Lake Michigan operations
Rich DeFauldie – Engineer
John Allis – chief of water shed
Missed - sorry
Lee Strum – deputy
General attendance: Property owners, Fox River navigation authority (Bob Stark), Various fishing clubs and groups, Utilities, multiple, Petri office representative, Steve Kagen office representative, Wolf River ???? could not hear her, Tri-Co power boat alliance, Thilmany Paper, Radtke construction, Oshkosh boat club, Friends of the Fox, General boaters, others, DNR. Sorry I messed some groups.
II Overview
The pool covers 6430 sq miles. It takes 7 days for rainwater to get from runoff from the pool north of Shawano to make its way to Lake Winnebago.
The ACOE is responsible for managing the level of water in the Winnebago Pool. They can adjust various gates on damns along the Fox River between Lake Winnebago and the bay of Green Bay.
Once the gates are completely closed they have no ability to raise the level of the water level. Water will continue to evaporate and will continue to flow over the spillway at the damn. The water will continue to flow over the spillway with the gates closed until the water reached a level of 1.75’ over Oshkosh datum.
The ACOE must balance the needs of the various stakeholders. For example, the Kaukauna utility uses the river to make electricity. To them, a constant flow of 4,500 is optimal for power production. Higher and the water is spilled over the top and wasted. Less and they are not able to product as much electricity.
III General 2008 projects & flow needs
PCB clean up – this will require tight regulation of the flow on the Fox River due to the need to keep various equipment buoyant.
Sewer work in Kaukauna, level must be dropped at specific times due to this project.
Spawning of fish – this is an annual need
Ski show called the water board warriors require a specific minimum levels. ACOE does its best to accommodate this.
Utilities and paper mills prefer a constant flow of 4,500.
Property owners require flood control.
Bridge construction in 2009 the College Ave Bridge will be replaced. Not likely to start in 2008 but possible.
Recreational boating – as more locks open there will be increased need to manager the level at each pool – 17 total pools including Lake Winnebago.
IV ACOE 2008 projectsAppleton Weir – needle damn 4x4 timbers are worn out. Some completed.
Kaukauna dike – sink holes – needs repair. Some repairs completed.
Clearing / grubbing – due to vegetation
DePere Trunnion repairs (Pins that hold the gates in place)
Appleton upper buoy ball cable – this is a safety cable, grab wire incase a boater is going over the damn. This is installed now. The goal is for this grab cable to be 3’ above the water. If a boater is going to go over the dam this gives the boater one last shot to grab this cable to prevent from going over the damn. The cable is to be present year round.
Down river gage upgrades – this will be new and will be similar to the Lake Winnebago data that is available now.
Menasha spillway – flow will exist as long as Winnebago is at 1.7” above datum or more. ACOE has no control over this spillway. Neenah was rebuilt. It was leaking. Now it is not leaking. Wood was replaced with cement.
There are 4 gauges in Lake Winnebago and 4 other data collection sites upriver to determine water level. Data is current on the ACOE website and is no more the 15 minutes delayed.
V 2007 season Weather review
May, June & July was dry in this area. By August, most of the area was in drought conditions. Late August rain relieved the drought conditions. Also, snowfall was light. 2007 was the 3rd summer in a row with below average precipitation. 2004 it was very wet and we had flooding.
May 22nd 2007 all gates (Neenah / Menasha) were closes and have remained closed since this time. Please note how Lake Winnebago dropped after this. This is the second earliest gate closing in the entire history. Evaporation is equivalent to an equal amount of water flow as the Fox River. Algae were strong. ACOE had requests to open gates to flush algae. They did for 4 hours in Menasha just before a ceremony. This was to relieve smell for the dedication. This was 1 time. The ACOE said this 4 hour opening has a insignificant effect on the overall level of the Winnebago pool. The algae smell returned quickly once the gates closed. There was a constant call to increase water flow for the PCB buildup. The ACOE was not able to accommodate this due to the low rainfall.
VI Plan for 2008The fill plan is identical to 2007.
Early January the pool will be drawn down.
From Ice out (date varies – but normally mid to late March) the pool will be raised.
There will be a .3 foot operating band. Goal is to raise the level to 3.0 to 3.3 by June 1 to July 1. This is equal to 2007. 2004 is an example of flooding. It got too high to fast. The issue is May and June can have such a variation in rainfall.
VII Comments from the group
Comment / suggestion from a Lake Winnebago land owner.
Drop the water level sooner, like now, not January. Do it in October and draw the water level up more aggressively in spring. Get the gates closed sooner. This will reduce ice flows and increasing pleasure boating, reduced algae blooms.
Response from Art, from the DNR – re: winter draw down – for the lake ecosystem – he would not be apposed to this earlier draw down. He felt it would not have a positive nor gegative effect on the lake ecosystem.
Question: How fast can you draw the pool down?
Answer: The rate they can draw the pool down varies based on a lot of factors. If they were to pick a number, it’s theoretically possible to draw down the pool as much as ½ foot in 1 weeks time, assuming zero precipitation and no ground water runoff. In real world conditions, the process is slower then ½ foot / week. In 2004, they had a period of 6 weeks with all gates fully open with zero drop in level.
Question: How long does it take for rain in Northern portion of the basin to get to Lake Winnebago?
Answer: It takes about 1 week.
Question: Do you do pre-emptive gate opening? Say if there is a forecast of heavy rain. Answer: Yes, they can. They have not needed to in the last 3 years but they can.
Question: How much of a flood was 2004?
Answer - Per Art Decko with the DNR- this was a 25 year flood. This is average and can not predict with certainty when a flood of this level will return.
Question: When does ice go out in Lake Winnebago?
Answer: Mid March is typical lately. It’s been as late as April 10th. They have this data on the ACOE website. See link below.
Question: With gates closed, only spillway flow, will the Fox River navigational authority be able to use the lock system?
Answer: Yes. With water up to the spillway a boat can continue to navigate over the lock door threshold.
Question: When did the summer water level goal become 3.0 Oshkosh datum?
Answer: Per Art Decko from the DNR – 1982.
Question: What was the goal before 1982?
Answer: There was no goal. It was random. It was below 3.0. 3.0 is the highest goat that has ever existed before 2007 when the .3’ range was added making a goal range of 3.0 to 3.3’ over Oshkosh datum.
Question: What does 3.0 Oshkosh datum mean?
Answer: Its nothing more then a spot on a gauge. It’s meant for comparison purpose. There are presently 4 gauges on Lake Winnebago and 4 more on the upper portion of the system. More are being added to the lower Fox River. Data is electronically transmitted and uploaded to the ACOE website. Data is real time with not more then a 15 minute delay.
Question: Why not increase the level above 3.0?
Answer: The target range is 3.0 to 3.3 now. Flooding stage begins at 3.5. It would be irresponsible to have a target at flood stage.
Question: Why not move the target of 3.0 to a point earlier in the year?
Answer: In May 22, 2007, before the July 1 target date, we completely closed the gates. This was the second earliest we had ever done this. Our rainy season is May and June. We need to balance the needs of boaters with the other stakeholders of the Winnebago Pool including flood control.
Question: When did the ACOE stop dredging within this pool?
Answer: More then 25 years ago.
Question: When did the locks go into caretaker status?
Answer: 1983.
Question: What role does the ACOE serve for the Winnebago pool?
Answer: Dam maintenance and control of the water level for the Lake Winnebago pool and sub pools to Lake Michigan.
Question: Does the DNR control the water level? I heard a rumor that the water level is being held down for aquatic growth by the DNR.
Answer from Art Decko with the DNR: - Absolutely not. The DNR does not have the power to control the water level. We provide input, as does the other stakeholders as mentioned in the opening of the meeting. If the DNR had control over the water level it would be managed different. (Lots of chuckles in the room followed. Its understood Art Decko would like the water level much lower.)
Question: Doesn’t lower water levels mean greater aquatic growth?
Answer: Sometimes. Lower water level can cause more light to get further down and can result in more aquatic growth however this is only one factor. Another factor is water clarity.
Question for Art: Do you feel we have sufficient aquatic growth? I tool my dock out and it took 2 hours to remove all the growth. Last year too. I never had to do that and I’ve been on Winnebago for 67 years.
Answer from Art: We certainly have plenty of aquatic growth in Lake Winnebago. We are also having growth of invasive aquatic vegitation. The upper portion of the pool including Lake Poygon is suffering from low aquatic growth. The upper lakes are low on habitat.
Question: This spring we had a major fish die off. Why did this happen?
Answer from Art: The fish was mostly gizzard shad. We had a cold snap. They died by the millions. If we had a normal winter of ice cover the fish would have decayed. The issue was the lake opened up, the fish flowed into shore and marinas and you saw it and smelt it. The fish die off was caused by a cold snap. That is not the unusual part. The opening of the ice on the lake allowing the fish to float in to shore and gather in specific locations is what was unusual
Conclusion: Several people thanked the ACOE for this opportunity to meeting with the ACOE and hear their plan and answer questions.
Army Corps of Engineers Lake Winnebago Home Page:
http://www.lre.usace.army.mil/greatlakes/hh/lakewinnebago/Copy of the presentation.
http://www.lre.usace.army.mil/hh/winnebago/regulation/regulation_meeting_presentation.pdf
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Captain Doug taking a break 
2008 navigational season operating dates and hours for bridges on the Fox River System
