Bayfield
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No
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Fish and Aquatic Life
Overview
Bony Lake, in the Upper St. Croix and Eau Claire Rivers Watershed, is a 190.21 acre lake that falls in Bayfield County. This lake is managed for fishing and swimming and is currently not considered impaired.
Date 2011
Author Aquatic Biologist
Historical Description
The tremendous outpouring of groundwater in this region is probably the most important factor
in maintaining the high quality of the waters of this important chain of lakes. Birch, Bony,
Robinson, Shunenberg, Smith and Swett Lakes are the main basins of this unique ground water
discharge system.
These lakes should be accorded the highest degree of protection possible. The recruitment of
self-help monitoring volunteers would be a good first step and the encouragement of more indepth
water quality monitoring and lake management planning should be long range goals.
Date 1992
Author Surface Water Inventory Of Wisconsin
General Condition
Bony Lake (2742500) was assessed during the 2016 listing cycle; total phosphorus and chlorophyll sample data were clearly below 2016 WisCALM listing thresholds for the Recreation use and Fish and Aquatic Life use. This water is meeting these designated uses and is not considered impaired.
Date 2015
Author Ashley Beranek
Condition
Wisconsin has over 84,000 miles of streams, 15,000 lakes and milllions of acres of wetlands. Assessing the condition of this vast amount of water is challenging. The state's water monitoring program uses a media-based, cross-program approach to analyze water condition. An updated monitoring strategy (2015-2020) is now available. Compliance with Clean Water Act fishable, swimmable standards are located in the Executive Summary of Water Condition in 2018. See also the 'monitoring and projects' tab.
Reports
Recommendations
Partnership Project
Bayfield County in partnership with ABDI Land & Water Conservation, Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute, and Bony Lake property owners will implement a lake restoration project. More than 50% of the property owners (resulting in over a mile of linear shoreline) expressed a commitment to shoreline restoration, and additional lake protection activities, such as storm water best management practices (e.g. rain gardens), littoral habitat restoration (e.g. tree drops), and shoreline restorations exceeding minimum county and state standards will be strongly encouraged.
Management Goals
Wisconsin's Water Quality Standards provide qualitative and quantitative goals for waters that are protective of Fishable, Swimmable conditions [Learn more]. Waters that do not meet water quality standards are considered impaired and restoration actions are planned and carried out until the water is once again fishable and swimmable
Management goals can include creation or implementation of a Total Maximum Daily Load analysis, a Nine Key Element Plan, or other restoration work, education and outreach and more. If specific recommendations exist for this water, they will be displayed below online.
Monitoring
Monitoring the condition of a river, stream, or lake includes gathering physical, chemical, biological, and habitat data. Comprehensive studies often gather all these parameters in great detail, while lighter assessment events will involve sampling physical, chemical and biological data such as macroinvertebrates. Aquatic macroinvertebrates and fish communities integrate watershed or catchment condition, providing great insight into overall ecosystem health. Chemical and habitat parameters tell researchers more about human induced problems including contaminated runoff, point source dischargers, or habitat issues that foster or limit the potential of aquatic communities to thrive in a given area. Wisconsin's Water Monitoring Strategy was recenty updated.
Grants and Management Projects
Monitoring Projects
| WBIC | Official Waterbody Name | Station ID | Station Name | Earliest Fieldwork Date | Latest Fieldwork Date | View Station | View Data |
|---|
| 2742500 | Bony Lake | 043128 | Mud Lake - Outlet - From Mud Lake | 1/30/1974 | 10/23/1974 | Map | Data |
| 2742500 | Bony Lake | 10038220 | Bony Lake spring discharge | 8/20/2012 | 8/20/2012 | Map | Data |
| 2742500 | Bony Lake | 10001539 | Bony Lake | 9/5/2000 | 9/12/2017 | Map | Data |
| 2742500 | Bony Lake | 043154 | Bony Lake - Near Deep Hole | 8/13/2000 | 6/29/2024 | Map | Data |
|
Watershed Characteristics
Bony Lake is located in the Upper St. Croix and Eau Claire Rivers watershed which is 277.89 mi². Land use in the watershed is primarily forest (83.90%), wetland (9.50%) and a mix of open (4.30%) and other uses (2.40%). This watershed has 153.93 stream miles, 7,654.41 lake acres and 13,694.48 wetland acres.
Nonpoint Source Characteristics
This watershed is ranked Not Ranked for runoff impacts on streams, Not Ranked for runoff impacts on lakes and Low for runoff impacts on groundwater and therefore has an overall rank of Low. This value can be used in ranking the watershed or individual waterbodies for grant funding under state and county programs.However, all waters are affected by diffuse pollutant sources regardless of initial water quality. Applications for specific runoff projects under state or county grant programs may be pursued. For more information, go to surface water program grants.