About a quarter of the lakes examined showed increasing oxygen in surface waters, which researchers says is a bad sign because it's likely attributable to increased algal blooms
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Climate Change, Aquatic Invasive Species, and increasing development on shorelines are just some of threats facing lakes in the Northwoods.
“Lakes are facing a perfect storm of problems,” said Bob Martini, president of the Oneida County Lakes and Rivers Association.
He said for a long time they used to host a Six-County Lakes Meeting every other year to just keep people up to date on things impacting lakes.
10 years ago, they switch to every year because law changes meant lakes had less protection.
“The legislature and the then-governor changed the lake protection system dramatically in Wisconsin. They removed local control. They changed some of the standards. They started cutting the DNR. They really changed the zoning requirements. So we starting doing this conference yearly instead because there was so much information,” said Martini.