​On Wednesday, April 27, 2022, the United States Geological Survey was on Long Lake conducting a water monitoring research program.

Grant Benjamin will be presenting more information, regarding the water monitoring program, at our annual meeting on Friday, May 13th at 7pm at Jerry’s Parkway By The Lake. We hope to see you there!

The full description of the program is below.

US Geological Survey - Remote Water Monitoring

The USGS has launched a 10-year national research program called the Next Generation Water Observing System (NGWOS).  This program is selecting a limited number of watersheds across the US for intense application of new remote sensor technologies to improve real-time watershed monitoring and modeling, with a focus on nutrient pollution and harmful algal blooms (HABs). 

The Illinois River basin is one of just three watersheds nationwide selected for the project thus far, and the work on this basin is led by a team from the USGS Upper Midwest Water Sciences Center. We first learned about this effort last fall when attending a meeting of the Flint Creek Spring Creek Watersheds Partnership. At that meeting, Jim Duncker from USGS spoke about the NGWOS in the Illinois River. At the end of that presentation, he provided contact information, so (of course) we contacted him, since our watershed is in the Illinois River basin..

After initial contact, we hosted a Zoom meeting with five members of the USGS research team, and convinced them that our lake and watershed (along with our motivated volunteer community) would be an ideal partner to include in their project. Following more Zoom meetings and information exchange, the USGS team has now scheduled a field staff training April 25 - 28 on Long Lake. 

They will be bringing floating Algae Tracker sensor sondes (see attachment), airborne drones equipped with multi-spectral sensors, and have also included LANDSAT 8 and Sentinel 2 satellite imaging of Long Lake this year.

This Fall the fish stocking plan continued with extended growth walleye ranging in size from 6 to 8", northern pike ranging in size from 10-12” and pure musky ranging in size from 10-12”.  The stocking was done with continued recommendations from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources for a lake of our size and structure. Medium to large size fingerlings are stocked due to their better survival rates and the goal of providing a better fishery.

• 200 Common Musky *** Special Thanks to Mike Pierce and the Fox River Valley Musky Chapter 39 Donation to Long Lake $2,000.00
• 150 Northern Pike
• 350 Walleye 

We cannot stress the importance of following the Illinois Department of Natural Resources statewide creel and size limits. Please practice catch and release on Long Lake! Please send us photos of your Long Lake catches.
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Thank you again for all the local support.
 
Special thanks to Mike Pierce – Director of Fish Stocking for the Fox River Valley Musky Chapter 39 fish donation and musky catch and release signage. Thank you, Gollon Bait and Fish Farm, for your excellent game fish stock.

Scope

• To be able to remotely monitor Long Lake water levels in real time
• To eliminate the painstaking manual collection of data and expand the number of water level data points and locations we monitor
• Provide data directly to the LLISA website for easy viewing and analysis
• To maintain a historical record of the levels year over year for better prediction in the future
• To learn more about our lake and how it is affected by weather events and seasonal cycles.
• To use this data to help keep our lake clean and healthy!

This past year we embarked on a project to remotely monitor the water levels on Long Lake. We interviewed several different equipment suppliers and ultimately chose to partner with Stevens Water.  The equipment we chose was physically installed last September 20’. Afterward, the team worked through the winter designing data dashboards and configuring equipment.  We are now pleased to announce the release of the first version of the water monitoring dashboard!

On the dashboard, we show lake levels from both the Long Lake side of the dam and the Fox Lake side. We also added NOAA rainfall data and sensor data from certain locations on the Fox Lake Chain to create a full view of everything we have available to us. It is quite an achievement and we would like to thank Joe, Ryan and Erik for their efforts to make it happen. Please visit the site and feel free to explore.

https://stevens-connect.com/public/LongLakeDam

This is just a friendly reminder to please remember to pay your 2020 dues as soon as possible! Due to the ongoing pandemic, we postponed our annual meeting, however, we are still out there working for YOU to keep Long Lake healthy, so please remember to support this organization! Click below for the membership form.

If you have been thinking about planting or adding to a native garden on your property, we have a great opportunity for you!

We are offering Long Lake area homeowners an opportunity to buy high quality native plants at wholesale prices.

Hopefully all LLISA members have recently received a brochure in the mail with the details. If you haven't, you can download it here.

If you are interested, act quickly as the deadline to send in your order and payment is Feb 15, 2020.  Plants will arrive in late May.

Thanks for your interest in helping to improve the water quality of Long Lake. 

September 2019 Flooding InformationThe recent heavy rain has brought lake levels up substantially in the last two days. 

We have received over 8 and a half inches of rain since Monday. For reference, we got just over 7 inches of rain the entire month of May 2019, and that was considered a very wet month. The sluice gate has been open since 3:15 A.M. Thursday (special thanks to Jim Miller for venturing out in the dark stormy night to take care of that). Lake levels rose 2 feet 3 inches in five days due to the sheer volume of water that fell in our area. The lake is expected to continue rising for the next day or two as the 24,000 acre watershed drains through Long Lake.

During this period of flooding, please be mindful and respectful of your Long Lake community. Boat waves will damage piers, lifts, and boats and will also erode your neighbors' property. If you are removing your boat from the water, please drive straight to the boat launch at idle speed.
Lake Level Data

• Normal lake level as determined by the Lake County Government: 739 feet above sea level
• Minor flooding in low lying yards starts when the level reaches 740
• Major flooding of roadways, garages, and sheds starts at about 741
• Lake level as of 11:30 A.M. September 13, 2019: 741.38
• Highest flood level of the previous flood (July 2017): 742.48