By Patrick Hasburgh
Wild Warner
It has happened before; it has happened again; and it will continue to happen until something changes.
If you spent any time in Warner Park this January, you may have seen small pockets of open water around the lagoon. While the rest of the lagoon was covered in several inches of ice, these stubborn holes refused to freeze. One such spot kept the ice rink at the Rainbow Shelter from opening for a while.
Holes or thin spots in the ice can be caused by run-off, underwater currents, springs and sometimes animals like muskrats, but the cause this year was heartbreaking. The water was kept open by thousands of fish sipping air off the surface in an attempt to survive. While the fish made a valiant effort to make it through the winter, the cold snap in early February literally sealed their fate.
Fish need oxygen to survive. Oxygen can get into water many ways, but the best source comes from photosynthesis in underwater plants. Currently, turbid water from storm events and the feeding and breeding activities of carp keeps underwater plants from establishing. In the winter months, snow cover prevents the few plants in the lagoon from producing the oxygen fish need to survive. If there’s not enough oxygen in the water, fish will resort to sipping air off the surface as a last resort.
This winter panfish like crappie and bluegills were the first to die. Next were smaller baitfish species like shiners. Sometimes, species like bullhead and common carp can survive low dissolved oxygen levels but even they couldn’t make it this year. Unless several interventions occur, this cycle will repeat itself year after year.
“For over 15 years Northsiders have been pushing for the renovation of the Warner Lagoon and considerable taxpayer money and city resources have gone to developing the final plan.
Our leaders need to find the political will to come together and make this important project happen sooner, rather than later. Please, contact your local representatives and let them know that restoring and protecting our lakes should be a priority, starting with the Warner Park Lagoon.”
Can we fix the problem?
In 2014 the City of Madison conducted a series of surveys looking at water quality in the Warner Lagoon. The results showed low levels of dissolved oxygen, high levels of phosphorus, low diversity of fish species, frequent fish kills and contaminated sediment. The City of Madison Engineering Division hosted several public input meetings to discuss solutions and began developing a plan. Much credit goes to lead engineer, Sally Swenson, and the Engineering Division for thoughtfully considering the information provided by hired consultants, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Wild Warner, The Yahara Fishing Club and many concerned citizens.
Earlier this year, the city released their “Warner Lagoon Water Quality Planning Final Report” outlining plans to address the many issues facing Warner Lagoon. While there are many facets to the 164-page plan, I have summarized the top three interventions as they were ranked in the report based on feasibility and impact.
1. Carp management
When carp feed, they disturb sediment and make the water cloudy. This prohibits the growth of plants that produce the oxygen more desirable fish species need to survive in the lagoon.
According to DNR Fish Biologist for the Madison lakes, Dan Oele, “With a healthy fish community surviving year after year, the native species can keep carp populations somewhat in check. With lower carp numbers, the water quality and clarity will improve. This will result in fewer harmful blue green algae blooms, making the lagoon safer for the public and their pets.”
If you’ve been to the Warner Dog Park in the summer, you know that toxic algae blooms shut the swimming beach down every year.
Many people don’t connect carp with algae blooms, but in 2008–09 a carp population reduction of about 50% in Lake Wingra reduced phosphorus levels by almost 40%.
There are many ways to reduce carp populations including poisoning, baiting and trapping and exclusion. Poisoning is not desirable because it kills other fish species. Baiting and trapping is effective but laborious and expensive. Exclusion is the preferred method.
Between April and June, carp enter the lagoon from the outlet to Lake Mendota to spawn. Retired DNR fish biologist and Northsider Kurt Welke and others are working with the city to install a “carp gate” at the outlet to Lake Mendota that allows water and desirable fish species to pass through but keeps amorous carp out. A similar gate was installed a few years ago, and the lagoon saw immediate improvement. Unfortunately, that gate was damaged and never re-installed.
2. Stormwater catch basins
Every time it rains, almost 1,200 acres of urban landscape drain into Warner Lagoon. The water carries with it sediment, phosphorus and all the other things you might find in our streets. Catch basins installed in 2007 have reduced sediment loads but the construction of three additional catch basins will help even more.
The city’s report calls for a catch basin in the southwest corner where Castle Creek enters the lagoon, one in the northwest corner of the lagoon and a third on the north end of the lagoon near Forster Drive. It is estimated that these three outfalls are responsible for 81% of the annual sediment that makes its way into the lagoon. The installation and maintenance of these catch basins could also reduce phosphorus levels by as much as 29% and will greatly reduce the amount of sediment that flows into the lagoon each year.
3. Dredging
Warner Lagoon hasn’t been dredged since it was created in the late 1960s. For over 50 years the lagoon has served as a giant catch basin for much of the Northside. Dredging will remove polluted sediment and significantly improve fish habitat.
Dan Oele stressed, “The success of this entire project hinges on dredging and carp management. These two activities will increase all benefits associated with the project. Dredging isn’t just a place for anglers to target, it will provide cold, well-oxygenated water for game fish to survive harsh winter conditions.”
Dredging is expensive. The main challenge is spoils disposal. Hauling spoils away in dump trucks is impractically expensive but finding somewhere to dispose of spoils nearby is challenging. Through the public meeting process, locations such as the prairie near the dog park, the large fields near the recreation center and even creating a new marsh around Marsh Island (the island in the middle of the lagoon) were discussed as potential spoils disposal sites.
So, we have a plan — now what?
The Warner Park Lagoon is a rare feature and invaluable resource and needs to be protected. Many Northsiders fish to feed their families, and a good number of them do so from shore. Improving fish habitat in the Warner Lagoon will greatly improve shore fishing opportunities in a part of town where such locations are sorely lacking.
As part of its commitment to equity, the City of Madison should pursue all feasible options to restore outdoor recreational opportunities in neighborhoods and communities that need them most.
Besides fish, the lagoon supports a wide variety of birds and other wildlife that abound year-round. Northsiders and folks who travel from all over the area enjoy the natural bounty Warner Park has to offer.
Every year the Warner Lagoon restoration is delayed is another year of heartbreaking fish kills and the stench that greets us each spring, not to mention the pollution that continues to enter our precious lakes.
According to the city’s report, renovation of the lagoon will cost $4.6 million. That’s a lot of money to be sure, but the report says the project can — and in fact should — be done in phases, which will soften the financial burden. Dane County officials should also have a stake in this project. These waters connect beyond Madison to other Dane County communities, and aspects of the proposed lagoon could fit nicely with Dane County’s “Suck the Muck” efforts.
This pandemic has taught us the importance of access to quality outdoor recreation opportunities. Warner Park is a gem in the Madison parks system with the potential to be a crown jewel if it gets the attention it deserves.
For over 15 years Northsiders have been pushing for the renovation of the Warner Lagoon and considerable taxpayer money and city resources have gone to developing the final plan.
Our leaders need to find the political will to come together and make this important project happen sooner, rather than later. Please, contact your local representatives and let them know that restoring and protecting our lakes should be a priority, starting with the Warner Park Lagoon.
Warner Lagoon: how did we get here?
In the late 1800s, Warner Park was almost all lowland marsh and farmland. In the early 1900s, a group called the Madison Parks and Pleasure Drive Association (MPPDA) purchased a section of white sand beach on Lake Mendota from the Woodward family farm to create a public swimming area. The park was named after Ernest Noble Warner, a former MPPDA president and longtime advocate for the creation of what is today Warner Park.
In 1912 the installation of the Tenney Locks (a point of contention for some environmentalists even to this day) raised lake levels as much as 5 feet. The higher water flooded the area east of the beach, known then as Castle Marsh, and created an ideal spawning location for many of the lakes’ fish species.
In the 1950s the DNR purchased 13 acres of what is modern day Warner Park in an effort to protect the spawning habitat. At the same time, the City of Madison was purchasing land around Castle Marsh for parkland to serve the many housing developments popping up on the Northside.
Jack Hurst, 87, has been leading the push for lagoon renovation for 17 years. He has lived in the area his entire life. “When we built our house up the hill from the fire station in 1965, I could count pheasants from my back patio in what is today Warner Park,” he said.
By the late 1960s, the City of Madison had installed drainage ditches, dredged the marsh into a 27-acre lagoon and began redirecting residential runoff to the lagoon.
Since then, silt has filled the lagoon so much that areas once 15 feet deep are less than 5 feet deep today, and most of the lagoon averages a depth of just a couple feet.
In 2007 the City of Madison installed catch basins near the Mallards Stadium. In just the first year, the basins collected 66,000 pounds of sand that would have otherwise gone into the lagoon. The restoration of Castle Creek and other mitigating efforts have also prevented thousands of pounds of sediment from settling in the Warner Park lagoon, but the damage from over 50 years of neglect and mismanagement remains.