Crooked Lake, located on the Bark River in the Town of Summit, Waukesha County, Wisconsin, is a valuable natural resource offering a unique setting and variety of recreational and related-use opportunities to the small residential community and visitors using the Lake and the Bark River. However, there is a perception that inappropriate recreational uses of the Lake adversely affect the recreational and visual values of the resource, contributing to excessive aquatic plant growth within the Lake. During 1997, the Crooked Lake Property Owners' Association voiced these concerns to the Town of Summit, which subsequently requested the assistance of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission in compiling an aquatic plant management plan for Crooked Lake. The planning program, conducted in association with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and Crooked Lake Property Owners' Association, was designed to provide inventory information on the aquatic plant communities, water quality, and recreational usage of Crooked Lake as the initial step in formulating a lake protection and rehabilitation program for the Lake.

SEWRPC Aquatic Plant Management Plan

The Town of Summit, Waukesha County, proposes to conduct the following lake management planning activities for Crooked Lake: identification of citizen perceptions and concerns about lake use and water quality, quantification of water quality conditions and pollution loading analysis, assessment of current and projected land uses around the lake, an assessment of existing recreational opportunity and demand for recreational opportunity on the lake, an aquatic plant survey and plant management demonstration project, and determination of future lake planning needs. The project will result in a report documenting the findins and recommendations of the inventories and analyses conducted. The Department of Natural Resources will be provided with both a paper copy and an electronic copy of the final report. Information about the project results will be disseminated to the public by newsletter mailing, public meeting, summary report mailing, and local newspaper article.

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