Despite the fact that it is the lakes that bring visitors and summer residents to northern Wisconsin, the only thing in the lakes of any real interest to these visitors is the fish. While the fish are certainly important, there is a lot else in the lakes that should be of concern.

The most obvious of those is the recent invasion of rusty Crayfish in the lake. They have now disappeared (2020) for several years, but they took the native crayfish with them. A lot has been said of the problems of Acid Rain and its effect on lakes. Evidently the effect on Star Lake has been minimal, but we cannot ignore possible consequences.

The UW Trout Lake Station has a long-term winter lake research project. Over the past 100 years we have seen 1-2 weeks less ice coverage on northern Wisconsin lakes. Furthermore, in the las ten years (prior to 2022) there is has more extremes in the freezing and thawing of the lakes, with more extreme events than in the past 100 years. Trout Lake Station

I am in no way an expert on lakes and limnology. However, I will attempt, over time, to add additional information about lake ecology and I hear and read about them.

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Major References

Minor References

• 2012 Lake Mercury Levels
• Mercury Map
• North American Lake Management Society
• University of Wisconsin Center for Limnology
• Wisconsin Lakes Partnership
• Wisconsin's Water Library, UW Madison