By Casey Hanson Have you heard the superstition that spilling salt is bad luck and that if you did, throwing a pinch over your left shoulder should help avert any evil omens you’ve just incurred? Maybe they were talking about road salt application the whole time! Let us explain. For years, a […]
Worth One’s Salt: Reducing Salt Application to Protect Our Lakes Read More »
By Roger Bannerman The Friends of Lake Wingra (FoLW) have been cooperating with the city of Madison for over four years to determine how selected leaf control efforts in the fall can reduce the amounts of phosphorus reaching Lake Wingra. Results from the fall of 2016 are especially exciting. By increasing the leaf
Fall Leaf Control Study Continues in the Lake Wingra Watershed Read More »
Summer Season Fishing Reflections It was a difficult summer to fish from shore on Wingra because of: High water levels: It caused erosion and sediment from shore, darkening the water. An early hot spell: This caused high weed growth throughout the lake. Overall, it would have been a good year to paddle and fish
Lake Wingra’s End of Summer Fishing Report Read More »
Have you ever explored the UW-Arboretum foot paths on the southwest side of Wingra Boats? If so, you may notice sections of it are dominated by oriental bittersweet, an invasive woody, climbing vine that can choke and kill native trees. A group of forty eleventh graders from Capital High came to the
How Capital High Students Helped Lake Wingra’s Watershed Read More »
Water temperatures continue to drop in the lake. Surface temperatures are now 66 degrees F compared to 72 degrees F three weeks ago. Water transparency remains murky. We had Secchi Disk readings of only 2 feet. Our lake is still very green. But the lake is still relatively clear of plants near
News from Volunteers Monitoring Water Quality in Lake Wingra – Sept. 12 Read More »
Expect a bit of a chill if you go swimming in Lake Wingra today. Surface water temperatures have dropped from about 79 degrees four weeks ago to about 72 degrees today. Children at the Wingra summer camp spent less time in the water today because of the diminished temperatures. How do we measure the water
News from Volunteers Monitoring Water Quality in Lake Wingra – Aug 25 Read More »
Good news! How far you can see into the water of Lake Wingra has improved this week. Our volunteers use a Secchi Disk (see featured image) to measure water transparency, or turbidity, on a weekly basis. Water Clarity: Based on this week’s measurements, the transparency of the water is at least 6 inches greater
Lake Wingra Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring Update – Aug 9 Read More »
In the library, a monarch butterfly rested on a small boy’s hand. Suddenly it fluttered upward—zig-zagging over bookshelves toward a window. Four squealing children ran to where it landed on a windowsill. Catalina approached, coaxing it onto her fingertip. Her eyes flashed with uncertainty, bravery, and wonder. A big smile appeared. “Look what I caught!
Monarchs for Kids in 2017—Connecting with Mexico Read More »
Friends of Lake Wingra is happy to introduce our new program manager, Casey Hanson. She is a UW-Madison alumna where she obtained her bachelor of civil and environmental engineering. Casey is a long-time Madison resident, aside from the last few years where she pursued her master of community and regional planning at the University of
Meet Our New Program Manager Read More »
The zoo has a new exhibit! While it may not be as breathtaking as a polar bear, we are still pretty excited about it! The new attraction is an interactive watershed model that lets children (and children at heart!) explore and create their own landscapes and water flows. In a sandbox, you can design your
New Watershed Exhibit at Henry Vilas Zoo Read More »
Compost is like chili–everyone has their own recipe. You throw in what you find in the fridge, it takes a while to cook–and it always smells good when it’s done. Compost is much better for your garden than chemical fertilizer. It adds structure to soil and releases nutrients slowly. In many ways, it’s one of the
Tips & Tricks for Composting Read More »
Friends of Lake Wingra has begun a new program to help understand and protect the amphibians that call our lake home. We are working with a group of volunteers to listen for frogs and toads near the Vilas Lagoon throughout the spring and early summer to learn when each species is most active in the
