New Coalition Created to Protect WI Lakes

Wake Boats Damage Lake Property, Harm Fishing and Tourism, and Spread Invasive Species

The past nine months have been a very busy time for LWA as we have assisted 17 municipalities, encompassing more than 180 lakes, to pass local ordinances to protect their waterways by restricting wake-enhanced boating. This brings the total number of municipalities in Wisconsin that have enacted a local ordinance regulating wake surfing and enhanced wakes to 31 since 2009. We receive multiple contacts every week seeking help with the development and implementation of local regulations. 

A complete list of these local ordinances is posted on our website.

As we focus on local ordinances to ensure that lakes have the protection they need, we are also working to enact regulation at the state level. Most recently, Last Wilderness Alliance joined with four other state-wide organizations – Lakes at Stake, Wisconsin’s Green Fire, Wisconsin Lakes and Wisconsin Wildlife Federation. This coalition is working together to educate elected and appointed officials about the damage done to Wisconsin lakes by wake-enhanced boating and to enact state regulation that establishes a minimum protection for all lakes while continuing to retain the right of towns to create local ordinances for those municipalities seeking greater protections for their lakes. See Press Release below. 

The highly invasive Quagga Mussel has now been found in Lake Geneva – the first siting in a Wisconsin inland lake. LWA team member Jim Olson petitioned the Natural Resources Board and the Department of Natural Resources to enact an emergency order that would require boats with ballast systems to be decontaminated and inspected before being launched in a Wisconsin waterway and before being moved to a different Wisconsin waterway. This will help to prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species throughout our state. More information on the “Home Lake Rule” can be found on our website.