By Roger Bannerman Rain gardens help improve the quality of our lakes by capturing pollutants and infiltrating runoff. One additional benefit for Lake Wingra is that increased infiltration can help restore spring flows, which is the main source of year-round flows into Lake Wingra. Out of the 600 rain gardens that have been installed around […]
How Rain Gardens Help Lake Wingra Read More »
by Casey Hanson A lot of activity is happening in our watershed this year! We have Monroe Street construction, Vilas bridges reconstruction, Wingra shoreline restoration, and more. While many of these activities are physical in nature, some aren’t visible to the naked eye. They are behind the scenes and crucial to continue our work to
Friends of Lake Wingra Launches Strategic Planning Effort Read More »
By Casey Hanson Beach and boat season are almost in full swing! These activities are relaxing, playful, adventurous, and downright unpredictable. To borrow from Forest Gump’s mama, having an experience with aquatic vegetation (aka macrophytes) “is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.” When you paddle, luck might allow you to observe a beautiful blooming white water lily or you
What’s Going on with Lake Wingra’s Aquatic Plants? Read More »
by Phil Gaebler, City of Madison Engineering The Monroe Street reconstruction project is underway and the City would like to provide an overview of the erosion control and post construction storm water management. During the actual construction process, the Monroe Street project is taking efforts to expose the least amount of disturbed soil by leaving the majority of existing road surface in place
How Monroe Street Storm water Management Is Changing Read More »
May 29,2018 By Roger Bannerman Recent warm weather has produced water temperatures in Lake Wingra that are the same as a swimming pool! At all depths the temperature of the water is around 80 degrees Fahrenheit. A temperature that can refresh on a hot day. Only 3 weeks ago it was a more stimulating 67
High Temperatures and Clarity Make Wingra Waters Inviting Read More »
An urban watershed, like Lake Wingra’s, means that water is not able to naturally infiltrate into the ground as much due to development. Parking lots, roads, and other impervious surfaces often redirect runoff to storm sewers and the sewers bring the runoff to water bodies. Skipping the natural infiltration process doesn’t allow the ground to
How Property Owners Can Help Our Watershed Read More »
By Roger Bannerman Our city is renovating the Wingra Park shoreline to reduce erosion and provide easier access for paddlers and log rollers. The new canoe and kayak launching ramp is complete – check it out in the image above! We started our paddle from the new ramp today. Out on the water you can
What is Happening with the Wingra Park Shoreline? Read More »
By Sophia Dramm When snow falls in Wisconsin, children may think about the snowmen they’re going to build, students may think of the school cancellations they’re going to enjoy and drivers may think about their safety on the road. So when they hear the rumble of snow plows that clear the streets and scatter salt
I embarked out on Wingra on Saturday, January 20th. The sun was shining bright and the temperature was 48 degrees. If we didn’t have 12” of ice I’d be pretty timid to test the waters so to speak (being so warm). Which brings me to a couple ice safety guidelines when ice fishing. First things first,
January Fishing at Lake Wingra Read More »
By Casey Hanson Lake Wingra’s natural setting and calm waters may lead you to believe that erosion is not a large concern there, but it is at Wingra Park. Erosion, a natural process that results in part from wave energy, can occur at slow rates, but human activities can accelerate the process. Wingra
Shoreline Erosion Control Coming to Wingra Park Read More »
By Phil Gabler, City of Madison Engineering An innovative underground screen structure in design for Wingra Park will offer the public a peek at what debris can be kept out of the lake, while providing treatment to an area of the Wingra watershed that is currently receiving almost no treatment. The underground
New Structure Planned to Catch Lake Wingra Runoff Debris Read More »
By David Thompson As the monarchs make their migration to Mexico, we reflect on another exciting year of Monarchs for Kids and eagerly look ahead to the next year. This year we served roughly 124 classes in 36 schools, preschools, day care centers, and nature centers. This is an amazing feat considering we
Monarchs for Kids in 2017 Read More »
