STEVENS POINT, WI (WSAU) — If you’ve ever had questions regarding the water in Wisconsin, you can expect those questions to be answered during a week-long virtual conference.
Starting on Monday the 2021 Wisconsin Water Week conference will begin at 8 a.m. with a welcoming session. The conference, titled as “Navigating in Turbulent Times” will be held online with nearly 300 researchers, managers, and educators sharing numerous ideas and topics regarding water in Wisconsin.
The conference is being put on by the UW-Stevens Point Extension Lakes. Usually, around this time of year, the Extension Lakes holds a lakes and rivers convention. But with the pandemic, ongoing Director Eric Olson says the Extension began planning an online version of the convention in June to accommodate a wide variety of water-related topics.
Each day of the conference from March 8th until March 12th will focus on a specific theme. Monday focuses on climate and groundwater in regards to water cycles. Tuesday focuses on major water bodies like lakes, rivers, wetlands, and watersheds. Wednesday focuses on actionable ways to help and restore waters in the state. Thursday focus splits participants groups based on location to discuss local waters. And to finish on Friday the conference has free events run by local UW System groups for hands-on activities.
Olson says that with an online conference as opposed to an in-person convention, the group is able to cover a wider range of topics related to state water. “Really when we get together in say Stevens Point, we’re kind of constrained. We can only fit so many people in the convention center at the Holiday Inn. So this year without thinking about how many people we can sit in a ballroom, we decided to broaden the concept out.
“So let’s talk about groundwater. Let’s talk about the big climate water system and how that affects Wisconsin. Most people don’t think about it but the whole state, really all of the water that you see and experience, is the result of about 3 feet of water that falls on top of the state every calendar year. So that precipitation and the connection to the climate is super important.
“Those are topics that would have been hard to fit them into an in-person conference just because there isn’t the time and the space. But with the online setting, we can touch on a whole bunch of different topics,”.
Another advantage of holding an online conference according to Olson is that audience members can directly ask questions of presenters. So if someone has a specific question regarding topics like groundwater or fishing in the state, they can get an immediate answer. “For example a lot of people in Wisconsin love fishing. Fishing is a great way to both pass the time but also go catch some tasty fish.
“But there are lots of challenges that we face to keep a sustainable fisherie in the state of Wisconsin. The Wisconsin DNR as well as UW-Stevens Point, and UW Madison have a number of researchers working on fish-related projects trying to find out how are we going to make sure that there’s walleye in the future. How do we make sure that trout in our trout streams are going to be around in the future.
“They’ll be both presenting what they know about research but also the audience gets to ask questions. So even though were not in-person, people get to interact with presenters. And you’ll be able to ask what is the future of brook trout in Southwest Wisconsin. You could even ask about your favorite trout stream if you wanted to,”.
Registration for the 2021 Wisconsin Water Week conference will remain open throughout the event at wisconsinlakes.org. Registration does include a $20 fee for each day but most of the events on Friday’s agenda are free through local environmental partners.