This strategy and plan is designed to provide guidance on the county and its partner’s roles in maintaining healthy waterbodies throughout the county. Deliberate management and protection of the lake and rivers is necessary to maintain them in a healthy and desirable state. Impacts to the waterbodies may originate in their watershed or on the shorelands. Cumulatively, a number of activities on the landscape can contribute to objectionable impacts to these waterways; however, there are ways to reduce or even eliminate many of these impacts.

The Oconto County Land Conservation Department is sponsoring a multi-phased project to develop a County Wide Lake Study and Planning Project for all lakes in Oconto County with public access. The project final deliverables of Oconto County Lake Study and Planning, Phase 1, Grant 6 include mini-reports for each lake and a summary report that compares the individual lake results for these six lakes. The mini-reports will include key maps and graphs with brief interpretations written for a citizen audience with sections on water quality, the aquatic plant community, AIS, shorelands, fisheries, lake settings, and watersheds with associated land uses. This project also proposes to assess the capacity of groups and lake front property owners through Meet Your Scientist/Capacity Building Meetings.