Watershed - Middle Inlet and Lake Noquebay (GB09)
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Middle Inlet and Lake Noquebay Watershed

Details

The Middle Inlet and Lake Noquebay Watershed encompasses approximately 156 square miles within the Upper Green Bay Basin in central Marinette County. This watershed contains many water resources including streams, lakes, and wetlands. Spe-cifically, there are 146 stream miles, 3,254 lake acres, and about 30,000 (over 49 square miles) of wetlands acres. The major contributors of nutrients to Lake Noquebay are the Smith Creek and Lower Middle Inlet subwatersheds. There are about 60 farms in the Lower Middle Inlet subwatershed.

Date  2010

Population, Land Use

Thirty-six percent (36%) of this watershed is comprised of lakes and wetland habitat. Lake Noquebay is the largest inland lake in the watershed as well as the entire Upper Green Bay Basin. Lake Noquebay’s Watershed also encompasses about 87% of the entire Middle Inlet and Lake Noquebay Watershed area. There are no large population centers in this watershed other than development surrounding Lake Noquebay. The watershed has some agricul-tural activity along with wetlands and forest areas. Forests are the dominant land cover in this water-shed (46%), followed by wetlands (29%). According to the 2009 Lake Noquebay Comprehensive Lake Plan, the number of active farms in the Lake Noquebay Watershed has declined from 40 to 25 in the last 15 years composing 14% of the watershed’s land use. The cultivated cropland has also declined in the watershed. Grasslands (10%) make up majority of the remaining land uses. Urban, suburban, open and barren spaces collectively make up 5% of the landscape. Changes in urbanization since the last planning process have been minimal with only slight increases. The soils in the western half of the watershed are primarily organic, poorly drained adjacent to the major streams and well-drained, sandy and loamy in the remainder of the western half. Soils in the eastern half of the watershed are primarily poorly drained, mucky soils including the land areas immediately around Lake Noquebay.

Date  2010