Botanically, wild rice differs from common rice, and is actually a cereal grass that grows in shallow lakes and streams, ripening in late summer. While the range of wild rice stretches from Manitoba to Florida, the most prolific stands are located in the upper Great Lakes of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Today Wisconsin has seventy major rice fields in thirteen counties. The grain usually begins to ripen in sections of the Wolf and Wisconsin rivers before lakeside areas are ready to be harvested.

Only Wisconsin residents may harvest wild rice in the state and must purchase and possess a wild rice harvesting license.   Harvesters are limited to gathering wild rice in boats no longer than seventeen feet and no wider than 38 inches that must be propelled by muscular power using paddles or push poles. The grain is still harvested by hand using wooden sticks (flails) that bend the tall stalks over the canoe. As the seed heads are tapped, some rice falls in the canoe and some in the water to seed the bed for future years. The flails must be rounded wooden rods or sticks no more than 38 inches long and hand-operated. Harvesting should be done gently, so that the stalks and beds can be harvested again as more rice matures.

Many of the large wild rice beds in Wisconsin have been lost due to pollution, exotic species, large boat wakes and especially changes in water levels.  Dams erected many miles away can also affect the harvest, for wild rice grows in the shallow parts of lakes and streams, maturing best if a fairly constant water level is maintained. The primary method of wild rice lake management is by controlling water levels on the lakes by operating water control structures (dams), ditch maintenance, and beaver dam management.  Aquarius Systems’ equipment is also used to help maintain the wild rice by removing aquatic vegetation and helping to restore the flow of water.

An aquatic vegetation cutter (AVC) better known as a Swamp Devil® effortlessly plow through bogs, water hyacinth, cattails, small trees, tulle, tussocks and other stubborn growth.  In the process it also carves through the subsoil creating an open water channel up to three feet deep and eight feet wide, allowing the water to once again flow freely.

Learn More about Wisconsin Wild Rice

The RELAC air conditioning system pumps chilled water to homes where blowers blow air over the chilled water creating cooler air inside the home.  RELAC chills the water by pumping cold water from Lake Anne into chillers to cool the chilled water.

Hidden Creek, a once- public/now-private golf course has the right to use water from Lake Anne to water its golf course and to keep its greens green.  The corporation that developed Reston in the early 1960’s gave the golf course permission to use the reservoir as a water source and four years ago after being taken to court by the Reston Association, a judge agreed.

This summer a storm seems to be brewing in the Reston area; and not the kind that bring rain.  Over the past weeks residents have watched the water level in the lake drop dramatically leaving behind four-foot deep muddy beaches; sticks and debris once submerged are now visible.   Precipitation levels for the month of July are below normal and not, dry weather is partly to blame.  So is evaporation…….and Hidden Creek.

Hidden Creek draws water off every night to maintain the course.  They have the right to do that, a judge even agreed.  RELAC has been forced to add temporary pumpers to pump water from deeper, therefore cooler parts of the lake in order to provide relief for home owners.

Most of the home owners agree that Hidden Creek have a right to maintain their business, but also feel they aren’t making any effort to be creative during this situation.  While RELAC is running 3 chillers full –time to chill the water, it appears Hidden Creek may be exasperating the problem.  Resident Karen Noel wonders, “If they looked into the possibility of using grey water?  Assumedly, other golf courses have similar problems.  Do they drain nearby lakes?  No.”

Both businesses, Hidden Creek and RELAC obviously rely upon the water in Lake Anne.  Both have customers who benefit from the water in Lake Anne.  Who’s right?  I don’t even have an opinion in that matter, but Hidden Creek has agreed to a face-to-face meeting the Reston Association so hopefully they can come to a mutual agreement.