Comparing water-level policies in a boreal reservoir: How wave and ice energy can help maintain walleye spawning habitat

Papenfuss JT, Cross T, Venturelli PA. 2017. Comparing water-level policies in a boreal reservoir: how wave and ice energy can help maintain walleye spawning habitat. Lake Reserve Manage. 00:00–00. Water levels in reservoirs affect the timing and depth of wave and ice forces that help maintain walleye (Sander vitreus) spawning habitat. We studied how changes in a water-level management policy (“rule curve”) in 2000 affected these forces on 3 lakes of the Namakan Reservoir, a large boreal reservoir on the border of Canada and the United States. The 2000 rule curve increased mean water levels (0.1 m) during open-water seasons and caused a significant increase in the amount of time each year that wave energy over suitable spawning substrates suspended P P