Dane County
Lake Classification implementation activities
Dane County has chosen to take new approaches to several aspects of its waterbody classification project. The goal of Dane County's approach is a comprehensive strategy for shoreland management and protection along both lakes and rivers that will rely on a variety of tools—regulatory and non-regulatory; shoreland-focused and watershed-focused—for implementation.
Dane County also used an innovative approach for classifying its lakes. First, in addition to a set of limnological and watershed criteria, Dane County also used lake type (seepage/spring or drainage) and lake depth (shallow/deep—with a maximum depth of 18 feet delineating the difference between those two) to help classify lakes.
Secondly, Dane County established each lake’s current level of development, to intersect with the sensitivity levels explained above to delineate various management classes. Dane County also employed an impervious surface area-based approach to classify its rivers and streams. Combining available data from the state and other sources on the sensitivity of flowing waters with watershed impervious surface area provided a neat approach to classifying the county’s rivers and streams for cost-effective and strategic management.
