This weekend, my family and I went on a drive. These days, any chance to leave the house while still practicing safe social distancing feels like a blessing and this drive felt especially so. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and hints of the lush, green landscape Wisconsin will soon become were everywhere – …
While we were knee-deep in stories about algae problems in Wisconsin’s lakes this summer, a serious outbreak of blooms has been unfolding in Florida where a massive “red tide” is swirling in the waters off both its Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Here in Wisconsin, our potentially toxic bluegreen blooms are caused by cyanobacteria like Microcystis aeruginosa, anabeana and …
After last week’s massive cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) bloom in Lake Mendota and smaller (but no less unpleasant) blooms reported in Lake Monona and Waubesa, we received all sorts of questions on what causes these blooms, if they are dangerous and how to stop them. Here are some answers to a few of the frequently asked …
A couple of weeks ago, after yet another round of intense rain in the Madison area, we headed over to the website of the Wisconsin State Climatology office, curious if we were seeing more rain than normal. The answer was, yes, yes we were. In fact, our little corner of Dane County had received anywhere …
As the year winds to a close, we’re taking a look back at some of the the CFL’s most popular blog posts from 2016. Here’s one published on August 16th by CFL director, Steve Carpenter, on controlling phosphorus for clean water results. by Steve Carpenter Summer is the season for unsightly and toxic blooms in …
Field Samples is a Q&A with presenters at our weekly Wednesday seminar. Today CFL grad student, Samantha Oliver, will talk about how humans changes to the landscape have drastically altered nutrient flows into lakes. Who are you, where are you from, and how did you get here? I’m Samantha Oliver, and I’m originally from …
by Jenny Seifert Why is phosphorus in the lakes a long-term problem, why do we care and how could we fix it? The UW-Madison’s Water Sustainability and Climate Project (WSC) and Center for Limnology will address these questions at their exhibit at the upcoming Wisconsin Farm Technology Days, which will take place Tuesday, August 25 …
The latest issue of Madison’s Capital Times has an excellent cover story exploring a new effort to reduce the amount of phosphorus that ends up in Madison lakes. As the article points out – each pound of phosphorus that enters our waterways can fertilize the growth of up to 500 pounds of blue-green algae. Yahara …
Happy Earth Day! Wisconsin, of course, is where it all began, thanks to former U.S. senator Gaylord Nelson’s vision. As we here at the blog mulled over an appropriate topic for an Earth Day post, we kept seeing local media coverage about Madison’s lakes. And that had us returning to one thought – April rains …