OUR EFFORTS

What are we up to?

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• Summer 2025: During the summer of 2025, GLEA expanded both its scientific monitoring and community outreach efforts across Geneva Lake. The staff and interns conducted weekly E. coli testing, continued lakewide aquatic plant and zebra/quagga mussel monitoring, responded to water and algae concerns, and incorporated new tools such as the AlgaeTorch to better track blue-green algae in real time. GLEA also advanced E.coli monitoring, coordinated stream testing, and supported partners with data and projects for lake improvements. Education and engagement grew as well, with interns completing lake-stewardship materials, assisting with school group initiatives, and helping residents better understand how boating practices, runoff, and shoreline decisions impact the lake. Major updates can be found in the 2025 Newsletters and the 2025 Lake Management Plan, which are on our website.

• Summer 2024: During the summer of 2024, GLEA continued its core lake-protection work, including weekly E. coli sampling, aquatic plant surveys, invasive-species monitoring, and a full-lake boat count. The season also brought several notable developments: interns started work on new lake-education brochures and shoreline guides for school groups and the community; staff tracked a potential blue-green algae growth, and staff worked with the DNR to confirm quagga mussels in Geneva Lake (an invasive species with long-term ecological implications). GLEA also worked closely with regional partners on updates to the 2025 Lake Management Plan to support future water-quality and habitat goals for release in 2025.

• Summer 2023: As the summer season starts, we are getting busy with monitoring and testing the lake. We are continuing weekly beach testing for E.coli and those results are reported on social media, our website, and the newspaper. White River sampling, groundwater well monitoring, and zebra mussel population surveys, continue to be done monthly. The GLEA has been responding to citizen reports with site visits and research in order to best educate our community. This summer we have been monitoring the large fish kill around the lake. Four permanent CD3 boat cleaning stations have been installed around the lake at three different launches to encourage boaters to clean their watercraft in hopes of stopping the spread of aquatic invasive species (AIS). This is part of the Clean Boats Clean Waters initiative to educate the public on AIS through the use of launch staff as trained inspectors. GLEA has worked to support the 2023 Nearshore Fisheries Survey, first done in 1978 and conducted 4 times total, and the Annual Aquatic Plant PI Survey done in partnership with SEWRPC. We conducted out Annual Boat Count (docked and moored) in early August, totaling to almost 5,000 boats. Our executive director has been attending conferences around Wisconsin talking about leadership, conservation, and aquatic health to share what Geneva Lake has been doing as well as learning new strategies for environmental conservation. (updated 10/19/23)

• Summer 2022:  GLEA continues to conduct weekly beach testing, monthly groundwater well monitoring, zebra mussel population surveys. An aquatic plant survey was also done as well as, the annual boat count on the lake. GLEA managed the Clean Boats Clean Waters Program which emphasizes the importance of cleaning your watercraft and educates boaters on the spread of invasive species, collecting over 200 hours at each Geneva Lake public launch supported by a traveling CD3 unit that housed attachments to clean watercraft as they are entering or exiting the water. In late July, we took a scuba diving trip with Town of Linn Fire Department at the starry stonewort colony site to monitor existing populations. 

• Summer 2019:  A major priority for the summer of 2019 is to address the presence of starry stonewort through an attempt to eradicate it from  Geneva Lake.  A lake-wide aquatic plant survey will be conducted to identify the plant species present in Geneva Lake and to assure that no new invasive species have been established in any new locations. The Big Foot Beach Creek Watershed Study will be conducted in cooperation with Badger High School to  continue the efforts of the Phosphorus Initiative, an effort to reduce phosphorus loading to Geneva Lake. Lake, river, groundwater and the municipal beaches will continue to be monitored as in the past. 

•  Summer 2018:  The Geneva Lake Environmental Agency is collecting water samples from five Geneva Lake beaches on a weekly basis throughout the summer as a means to help monitor and maintain the health of Geneva Lake. The Lake Geneva Regional News Paper publishes the E. coli test results from each sampling. Click here to view the 2018 Aquatic Plant Management Permit for the Geneva Lake Property Owners.

• Summer 2017: The Geneva Lake Environmental Agency will be conducting several small studies including our on-going lake, White River and municipal beach sampling. For 2017 we will be installing groundwater monitoring wells in the Fontana Fen, assessing the impacts of chemical treatment on a small lake lagoon and the nearby lake and initiating a five year well testing program on drinking wells.

• Summer 2016: The Geneva Lake Environmental Agency revisited its assessment of zebra mussels and their impact on the lake bottom community. For more information on the summer 2016 assessment ,click on “Current Lake Data” link and then click on Zebra Mussels on the left hand side of the page.

•  Summer of 2015:  The Geneva Lake Environmental Agency conducted the most comprehensive aquatic plant survey ever conducted on Geneva Lake. Over 750 sites were sampled with the type and amount of plants recorded. For more info on the survey click on the “Current Lake Data” link at the top of the page and then click on “Aquatic Plant Survey’ on the left hand side of the page.