The Yahara Lakes: Giants Among Us
The Yahara lakes are the Madison-area's dominant natural feature. They affect our daily lives, yet we may not know them well. This Wisconsin State Journal series examines the history, impact and health of our lakes.
(23) updates to this series since
GIANTS AMONG US
The Yahara chain of lakes dominates our landscape. For the past 12,000 years, almost as soon as the last glacier withdrew, people have been dr…
The Yahara lakes are a largely unknown world within our world. Running right through the middle of our lives, they affect us in ways so big and so familiar that that are easy to forget.
The Yahara lakes help quench the human need for contact with nature.
The state christened the Yahara River’s four main lakes with undulating three-syllable names in 1855.
Tamara Thomsen is a marine archaeologist with the Wisconsin Historical Society and has documented hundreds of dives in the Yahara lakes. She a…
Madison's lakes have a long and storied history. Here's a look back at how they have changed over the years.
Wisconsin State Journal photographers capture the stunning beauty of the Yahara River chain.
Images from lakes Mendota, Monona, Waubesa, Kegonsa and Wingra, the jewels in the Yahara River chain of lakes.
Discover underwater oddities such as cars, boats, equipment and other objects beneath the surface of the Yahara lakes.
Why is the water here? The unhurried Yahara River you see today follows much the same path of a very different watercourse that flowed long before the last glacier came and went.
Lt. Gerald Stull's crash is also remembered.
One route travels above ground, the other below.
Lake levels have been rising.
You'll find cars, boats, ice shanties and much more at the bottom of the Yahara lakes.
Native peoples and European settlers have been drawn to the lakes.
It only recently was subject to academic study.
Many were destroyed by white settlers.
White settlers found the lakes attractive, just as did earlier inhabitants.
We asked Wisconsin State Journal readers for their stories and photos about the Yahara lakes. We received a tremendous response. It’s clear th…
Each of us has our own relationship to the lakes, an affection that endures through good times and bad.
The beauty, health and culture of Madison's four lake has inspired timeless art in all mediums.
“If Wisconsin is going to have swimmable, fishable, drinkable water in 30 years, we need better farm policies,” said one researcher. “What we’re doing is not working.”
Madison, Dane County, farmers and others are fighting back against phosphorous and invasive carp. Will their efforts be enough?
Lake levels are rising, and the area may be on the cusp of flooding unlike anything in the last 100 years, according to one expert.
Our everyday actions can have an impact on the lakes we love. Here are some simple things you can do to help take care of them.
Want to help improve and protect the Madison-area's cherished lakes? Several groups offer a way to get involved, including:
OUR VIEW: Newspaper series on Madison lakes should prompt stepped-up action
Thank you very much for the series, "The Yahara Lakes | Giants among us."
I am one of those "old school" individuals who reads the printed newspaper while having breakfast and enjoying a cup of coffee.
The Healthy Farms, Healthy Lakes Task Force recommended several oversight and prevention methods for Dane County.
The provision is intended to help public health officials stay ahead of the soupy, blue-green blooms of bacteria that threaten the health of swimmers, boaters and their pets.
Madison lakes, algae blooms and clean water are a statewide concern.
The increased flow will push water levels higher on Lake Monona, which was at the 100-year flood level Thursday afternoon.
Multiple choke points have been created by built-up sediment, bridges over the river and aquatic plant growth, slowing down water movement and extending the time it takes to lower lake levels after a storm.
A 12-ounce coffee mug full of pavement salt is enough to protect a 20-foot driveway or 10 sidewalk squares.
The "Yahara Lakes: Giants Among Us" series was honored for Excellence in News, and the "Center Stage" political podcast received an Innovation in Digital Audience award from Lee Enterprises.
Whether the launch begins July 1 or later is in the hands of the state Legislature because college officials say it cannot start the initiative without money from the 2019-21 budget.
Blooms of toxic algae, a result of too much fertilizer in the water, forced a record number of beach closures in 2018, including a stretch of Lake Mendota between UW-Madison and Middleton.
In a unanimous vote, the board approved a resolution calling for the bay at the lake’s southeastern corner to be named Wicawak (we-chow-ek), the Ho-Chunk word for muskrat
The county aims to acquire such properties before they can be developed to limit runoff into area lakes.
Every winter and spring since the 1850s, observers have staked out Madison’s lakes to determine when they freeze and thaw, adding to a vast data trove that offers a window into history.
The four-year, $10 million to $15 million project removing sediment from the Yahara River could drop lake levels by a foot and prevent against flooding like was seen in 2018.
Smalley’s last day with the newspaper will be Aug. 21, ending 39 years of service with Lee Enterprises, which owns half of the paper’s publisher, Capital Newspapers.
The $1.65 million system takes liquid manure from three local dairy farms.
At the current rate, the city's drinking water could taste salty by 2035.
Because those lakes are not sources of drinking water, the primary concern is how those chemicals, known as PFAS, are accumulating in fish, said Adrian Stocks, the DNR’s water quality program director.