Approval letter for the Big Blake Lake management plan.

Part one of LMP Appendices from Big Blake Lake.

Part two of the LMP Appendices from Big Blake Lake.

The third and final installment of the LMP appendices from Big Blake Lake.

The LMP for Big Blake Lake in Polk County Wisconsin.

With any lake management plan it is important to have a basic understanding of natural fluctuations within the system. Long-term water quality data sets on the order of 30 to 50 years are generally not available for most of the country and Big Blake Lake is no exception. Incomplete water quality data have been collected intermittently from Big Blake Lake since 2000. Most of the data sets do not include chlorophyll a or total phosphorus TSI averages and there are large stretches of time where no data have been collected. The most recent data suggest that Big Blake Lake is eutrophic; however, the large lag times between sampling events make these data inconclusive. The most recent water quality study on Big Blake Lake was completed in 2004 by Aquatic Engineering, Inc. to determine management recommendations to protect and improve water quality on Big Blake Lake. Northern Lake Service, Inc. also completed a study in 1979 and the DNR Office of Inland Lake Renewal completed a study in 1981. The Wisconsin state phosphorus standard of 30 μg/L was exceeded in both of these reports. The highest readings of total phosphorus in the reports were 69 μg/L and 95 μg/L. The highest reading for chlorophyll a concentrations was 55 μg/L (Williamson, unpublished data). The 1981 DNR Office of Inland Lake Renewal study further concluded that sediment was a major source of the total phosphorus load to Big Blake Lake.

The Blake Lake P&R District is sponsoring a project to develop a comprehensive lake management plan including public participation / meetings. The final deliverables include agendas and minutes for planning meetings, and a lake management plan that includes methodologies, results, and management alternatives discussion with an implementation plan. Specific project tasks include: 1) Historic watershed land use assessment & loadings; 2) Identify runoff patterns & delineate environmentally sensitive areas in the watershed; 3) Sediment core collection & analysis; 4) Planning committee meetings; 5) Lake Management Plan development.