The change appears to be slow. In fact, it may not even appear to be noticeable. What are even the signs? Wisconsin and the Midwest are home to a wide variety of lakes, all of which may be impacted in different ways. In addition, management of lake issues has been an evolving practice since its inception, so adding contingency to a wrinkle for an imperfect science only makes things more complicated for stakeholders with controlled budgets. Wisconsinlakes.net has not yet seen a good guide or resource page that provides any real guidance surrounding the issue of climate change, most likely because to the naked eye it may appear to be normal issues continuing to manifest themselves, albeit in an accelerated or different manner. We hope the information within this posting proves beneficial to some. None of this is backed by research or academic sourcing. It is observational and is not universally applicable.
To continue this in this post discussion, it must be understood that climate change is a real thing, not a made up concept from 1987. Most have accepted this by now. In fact climate change is being referred to as “climate shift” by many in the sense that climate is not simply changing but, but causing a physical shift of range of changes. Regardless of how you wish to catalog these changes internally, they are in fact a real thing and will likely require solutions based on adaptability and proactive maintenance rather than a fixed endgame solution.
While coarse policy begins to take shape both nationally and globally, communities are faced with real world issues that impact people at the local scale, both economically and from a health and safety perspective. There are endless miles of utility infrastructure beneath the grounds surface, all of which are at some degree of risk. There are no fast and ready rules to apply because each of these communities geographical space is unique. Some face coastal concerns, some flooding, and yet some seismic. The geographical space and unique weather patterns all require custom approaches. Even more so with lakes. Lake types can differ greatly simply by being a few miles apart and will therefore act differently due to precipitation, landscape positions, watershed size, urban influence, temperature flux, and other factors both known and unknown.
The term resiliency is often used to describe the process of making something able to withstand or adapt to change. There is also a general school of thought that believes that natural systems are generally more resilient than manufactured systems. Often potentially overlooked in this equation is general systems maintenance. Do systems lack resilience or do they generally lack maintenance? These can be difficult questions to answer. Even more importantly is the need to consider the tracking of assets for those same maintenance reasons.
So how does all of this factor into a discussion about our lakes, climate change, and the quest for resiliency? Below is a list of potential considerations for your lake that can be potentially influenced by climate change:
Shorelines: Several of the topics below have a degree of interplay, that is they do not operate independent of each other but each may influence each other. Shorelines can be impacted by water level and system volume, among other things. Vegetative systems that make up shorelines adapt to water levels but take decades to adjust since ecological systems react over time. Waves and ice add a dynamic, but these are still natural occurrences, whereas wakes are not.
As climate reduces months of ice cover in Wisconsin, that is traded for more precipitation as rainfall. Additional months of rainfall throughout the Midwest can result in higher groundwater levels or longer periods of drawdown at dams and outlet structures. Elongated periods of high water put natural systems at risk as they can be exposed to extended periods of inundation, wave impact and even record high wake impacts. Several river systems in WI and throughout the midwest have shown signs of higher than average baseflow. Higher baseflow results in necessary shoreline adjustment, albeit incremental over time.
Water elevation will be discussed further below, but sustained high water exposes shoreline not traditionally adapted to water inundation. Saturated soils may leach fines (smaller soil particles) and girdle vegetation roots, increasing the mortality of plants and increasing erosion or lateral loss of land.
Reinforced shorelines are not absolute solutions. Man-made systems can be compromised by repeated overtopping, toe scour, or improper design. Research also suggests that hard armor shoreline reflects wave activity along adjacent unprotected shorelines and can have ecological impacts. These effects can have cumulative effects in urbanizing lake environment. Shoreline solutions will need to flexible rather than simplistic. Good solutions typically suggest bio-engineered shores capable of withstanding wave and wake punishment, but also regrowth of vegetation when possible.
Sediment: 10/7/2023
Water Level: TBA
System Volume: TBA
Infrastructure: TBA
Lake Ecosystem: TBA
Nutrients: TBA
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