ABOUT LONG LAKE

STATE OF THE WATERSHED

Long Lake is located in Washburn County, Wisconsin, at the southern end of it's 38,000 acre watershed. The watershed represents the landscape where rainfall and snowmelt run off the land to flow through streams, wetlands and other lakes before passing through the Long Lake dam. From there this water forms the headwaters of the Brill River, eventually flowing into the Red Cedar and Chippewa Rivers, and finally the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico.

As a headwaters area, the Long Lake watershed is characterized by an abundance of high quality ground and surface waters. Originally formed by glaciers, the lakes and streams in the area are replenished annually by precipitation. Rain and snowmelt moving across the landscape carry along sediments and chemicals that are eventually transported to Long Lake. The accelerating volume of nutrients and sediments coming into the surface waters pose a major threat to the water quality of the area's lakes. Already there is evidence that the lake's water quality is not meeting the goals set in the 1997 Long Lake Management Plan.

Our recent 2003-2004 Watershed Study found that uncontrolled development in the watershed could prematurely transform Long Lake from it's present mesotrophic state into a eutrophic lake with high levels of phosphorus and poor water clarity. Higher phosphorus leads to more plant growth, with adverse effects on ecology, appearance, and recreation qualities of the lake. With growth and change radiating at an increasing pace from nearby urban areas, widespread, unplanned development will have impacts beyond the lake, eventually replacing the rural character of the Long Lake watershed with a more suburban landscape. What is lost in the process will be impossible to recover.

Today's challenge is to ensure that the changes taking place in the watershed, driven by the high quality of the environmental and natural resources found there, do not seriously degrade the value of the community's natural assets. While change is inevitable, specific impacts are not. Local decisions and actions will play a major role in shaping the watershed's future. The major roll of the LLPA will continue to be to educate lake owners, lake users and everyone who cares for our lakes, so we have this wonderful asset tomorrow and beyond.

This information is provided in greater detail, outlining a proactive approach to preserving and protecting these assets, in the 2004 State of the Long Lake Watershed report.

Why Watersheds?

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