Water Level Workshop Coming to Sturgeon Bay

If you want to learn more about Great Lakes water levels and talk to state agency representatives about how they’re impacting Door County, you’ll soon get your chance. On Aug. 8 at Crossroads at Big Creek, the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program is hosting a Great Lakes Water Level workshop for just that purpose.

The workshop in Sturgeon Bay is one of four that will take place across the state. The workshops came out of a Door and Kewaunee County Legislative Days initiative, Door County Conservation Officer Bill Schuster said.

“These agency people will discuss what the lower lake level issue is and what programs are available to help,” Schuster said. “They’ll also listen to invasive species [experts] and [representatives] from the shipbuilding industry talk about how low water levels are impacting them and what assistance they’d like from the state.”

Photo by Roy Lukes.

Schuster is on the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program council and will open the workshop. After, a round of experts will talk about the science behind low lake levels, the impact of low lake levels and state resources available to help deal with those impacts. A question and answer session is scheduled for the end of the workshop.

The Wisconsin Coastal Management Program works with federal, state, local and tribal agencies and nonprofit organizations to preserve Wisconsin’s Great Lakes coast. It disperses federal funds to projects that promote the coasts.

“We’re trying to get coordination among the state agencies and local organizations,” Schuster said. “I think one of our biggest roles is trying to bring the business and tourist sectors and the public access people together and that’s why we’re working with the coastal program to put the focus on the Great Lakes Levels.”

The council has allocated money to projects in Door County, such as controlling runoff in Egg Harbor, monitoring groundwater in the Mink River estuary and acquiring more land for Portage Park in Sturgeon Bay.

On Sept. 19, the full council will be back in Door County for its fall meeting. The schedule and location of the meeting have yet to be determined, but it will be open to the public.

“Our job as a council is to provide guidance and feedback to the program and try to steer certain focus,” Schuster said. “Now we’re trying to focus on the Great Lakes levels.”

For more information on Great Lakes water levels, click here.