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Yahara Lakes Legacy Partnership (YLLP)
Dane County’s lakes are some of the highlights of this area that make it a truly special place to live. Recreational opportunities like fishing, boating and swimming and sporting events such as Ironman Wisconsin attract people to Dane County from all over the world to enjoy our water resources.
While much has been done to clean up our lakes, foul-smelling water, summer algae blooms, thick weed mats and fish consumption advisories tell us we need to do more to rehabilitate the watershed to the best quality possible. 
To this end, Gathering Waters is now participating in the Yahara Lakes Legacy Partnership (YLLP). This partnership is an unprecedented collaboration of public agencies and private organizations: the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP), Dane County, the City of Madison, Clean Wisconsin, and Gathering Waters Conservancy.
The broader partnership has been formally recognized in two ways: (1) a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the DNR, DATCP, Dane County and the City of Madison; and (2) a resolution by the Dane County Lakes and Watershed Commission to collaborate with Clean Wisconsin and Gathering Waters in a visioning process. These two agreements help to illustrate the commitment of the various partners; however, they fail to capture the bigger picture. On a more practical level, all of the parties involved in this broader partnership are equal players at the table and are working collaboratively. In addition, Gathering Waters and Clean Wisconsin have received a generous grant from the Madison Community Foundation that will support the efforts of both organizations.
Within YLLP, two specialized teams have been identified: the “Visioning” team and the “Technical” team. The “Technical” team, staffed primarily by the DNR and the County and operating under the conditions of the MOU, will spend the next two years studying several specific pollutants within the watershed, including: nutrient and sediment loads and bacteria on certain beaches. They will then provide a list of feasible goals and solutions, as well as the associated costs. Gathering Waters and Clean Wisconsin will lead the “Visioning” team and will work closely with Dane County to develop and implement a broad visioning process to encourage community buy-in. The experience and reputation of our organizations, in addition to our status as non-governmental entities, provide us with a unique opportunity to engage stakeholders. By combining Gathering Waters’ experience in facilitating collaborative conservation efforts with Clean Wisconsin’s expertise in policy development, we will be able to educate and mobilize the community.
All members of YLLP are hopeful that a long term implementation strategy will develop out of this short term work. Every participant realizes that the rehabilitation of the lakes will take many years of hard work and dedication, but we are confident that YLLP will help to generate the necessary excitement and collaboration in the community to achieve success in the future.
For more information about YLLP, please contact:
Mike Carlson, Policy & Program Coordinator, at (608)
251-9131 x13 or carlson [at] gatheringwaters.org |
