Big Chetac Lake is a 2400 acre, shallow, highly eutrophic or nutrient-rich lake that forms the headwaters for the Red Cedar River near Birchwood, WI in southwestern Sawyer County. It is the top lake in a three lake chain which includes Birch and Little Birch Lakes. Water from the system exits Little Birch Lake over a small dam and then joins the Balsam-Red Cedar-Hemlock Chain of Lakes. In 2007, The Big Chetac Chain of Lakes contracted with SEH, a natural resources consulting agency to complete a six-phase multi-year lake study aptly named “Getting Rid of the Green.” The study was designed to determine the causes of nutrient enrichment in the system.

Curly-leaf Pondweed, Potomageton crispus

Phase One collected water quality, lake level, and tributary information. Phase Two collected groundwater data, looked at the internal loading of nutrients into the lake, and evaluated the nutrient contributions of an aquatic invasive plant species, curly-leaf pondweed. Phase Three completed full nutrient and water budgets for the lake. Like a bank account, a budget determines what and how much is coming into the lake and what and how much is going out of the lake. Phase Four completed a historical analysis of the water conditions in the lake by collecting sediment cores form the bottom of the lake. These cores went deep enough in to the sediment at the bottom of the lake to determine water and lake conditions back over at least a century. Phase 5 evaluated the aquatic plant abundance, density, and diversity in the lake. Phase 6 included a Lake User Survey distributed to as many local lake residents as possible. Survey results are being combined with all data collected in the other phases to draft a Comprehensive Lake Management Plan and Aquatic Plant Management Plan for the Big Chetac Chain of Lakes. These plans will make recommendations and outline activities that could reduce nutrient loading that is turning the lake excessively green, improving the overall health of the entire system.

It is expected these activities will be implemented through funding obtained from a variety of sources including lake residents, local town and county authorities, and through several State of Wisconsin cost-share grant programs. Volunteer time and donated services and materials will be used to help offset the financial burden to the Big Chetac Chain Lake Association. Plant management, specifically for curly-leaf pondweed control, and activities to reduce runoff over the near shore area, improve the watershed, and to promote greater Lake User understanding of the processes at work in the Big Chetac Chain of Lakes are scheduled to begin in 2010.

Public Project Documents: 

Comprehensive Lake Mangement Plan — 1.16 MB

User Survey Responses — 52.61 KB

Paleoecological Core Report — 768.63 KB

AIS Early Detection and Response Plan — 49.41 KB

Events and Grant Applications Implementation Schedule — 152.31 KB

User Survey — 68.71 KB

Presentation - Lake Management Alternatives  — 2 MB

Presentation - Phase Three — 1.97 MB

Report - Lake Management Data Analysis — 765.17 KB

Report - Plant Survey — 2.66 MB

Report - Sawyer County Septic System — 5.8 MB

Pie Chart - Nutrient Loading — 10.76 KB