UW Oshkosh researchers present citizen-science plan to track harmful algal blooms on Lake Winnebago

UW Oshkosh researchers briefed the Oshkosh City Sustainability Advisory Board on Monday, July 7, about an interdisciplinary project that studies harmful algal blooms across the Lake Winnebago watershed and is deploying a citizen-science reporting app intended to provide near-real-time public information and feed local monitoring efforts.

The presentation, led by Stephanie Spehar, project lead and professor at UW Oshkosh, and Heidi Nichols, head of the project’s ethnographic team, described a four-year, National Science Foundation–funded effort that began in 2022 and combines biological, geospatial and social research. The team said it has collected more than 350 short interviews and employs roughly 10–15 UW Oshkosh students per year to support fieldwork and public outreach.

Why it matters: Lake Winnebago supports recreation, drinking-water uses and a regional economy tied to fishing and tourism. Researchers told the board that blooms of cyanobacteria (commonly called blue‑green algae) are a public-health and economic concern and that, despite long-standing biological monitoring, public understanding and coordinated, real‑time warning systems are limited.

"I am the project lead, and I'm also a professor at UW Oshkosh," Spehar said in her opening remarks. The project includes community partners such as the Fox Wolf Watershed Alliance and an international academic partner (NTNU). The team emphasized the goal of producing usable products for the public and local…