News & Reports
Tuesday, December 9, 2025 ~ 4:30pm
Online via Zoom
Join with your new Executive Director, board, and fellow members across the state for your 2025 Annual Membership Meeting on December 9 from 4:30-6:00pm!
Learn about what we’ve accomplished in the past year as well as hear about the exciting plans for 2026.
ALL ARE WELCOME, including non-members!
Attendance is FREE but you must register to attend via Zoom.
Join us for the Wisconsin Lakes Annual Membership Meeting, Tuesday, December 9, 2025 from 4:30-6:00.
(Note: The agenda does not include any items which require a vote of the membership.)
Wisconsin Lakes and the Last Wilderness Alliance are calling for urgent state action to halt the spread of Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) via the ballast systems found in wake boats.
AIS management already costs MILLIONS of dollars annually in Wisconsin. Evidence shows that wake boats contribute to this problem by transferring invasive species between lakes.
The Problem with Ballast Systems
Studies confirm that ballast systems, which are filled with lake water to weigh down wake boats to create surfable waves, retain water and invasive species:
- A University of Wisconsin study by Campbell found that, on average, wake boat ballast systems contained 8 gallons of residual lake water after being removed from a lake. Some boats held over 22 gallons.[1]
- This residual water was found to contain AIS, including zebra mussel larvae and zooplankton. Spiny Water Fleas (zooplankton) have been found in 24 Wisconsin lakes, and no effective eradication exists.
- A University of Minnesota comparison of eight boat compartments showed that ballasted boats contained the most zebra mussel larvae. Median data indicated 296 veligers (larvae) were found in ballast systems.[2]
- Transferring a ballasted boat from an infested lake to a new lake carries a 7 in 10 chance of transferring 100 mussel larvae.
The Common-Sense Solution: Hot Water Flushing
Fortunately, a common-sense, common-ground solution to this problem is Hot Water Flushing.
Some boat manufacturers, such as Malibu [3], recommend flushing the ballast system with hot water to prevent the spread of invasive species like quagga and zebra mussels.
- Flushing the system with hot water at 120 degrees or greater kills quagga, zebra mussel juveniles, larvae, and spiny water fleas in seconds.
This procedure not only helps prevent the spread of AIS but also allows boaters to comply with existing state and federal laws prohibiting the spread of quagga and zebra mussels.
Proposed Regulation
The boating industry and lake advocates agree on this hot water flushing solution, representing a point of “common ground.” The decontamination protocol and equipment already exist.
1. All recreational boats with ballast systems must be flushed with hot water (120 degrees or greater) before being launched into a different Wisconsin lake.
2. All flushing certifications would be required annually, with a new certificate required at the start of each boating season. This annual requirement would also prevent ballast tank antifreeze [4 ]from being discharged into a lake after winter storage.
3. If a boat is used on only one lake all year, it would only require cleaning once per year.
This prevention measure is considered a reasonable, common-sense approach.
Funding the Program
The cost of this prevention program should not fall on taxpayers. Instead, the industry and wake boat owners should cover the funding. The industry should have originally designed ballasted boats to drain completely and allow easy cleaning to comply with existing state law, but it did not.
What are we waiting for? Every lake in Wisconsin should not have to become infested with quagga mussels, zebra mussels, spiny water fleas, and the next new invader before action is taken.
Call to Action:Please contact your legislators and urge them to require mandatory hot water ballast flushing for the 2026 boating season.
Please forward this message to a friend.
Protecting our lakes is worth this level of prevention.
Wisconsin Lakes is the only statewide 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization working exclusively to protect and enhance the quality of Wisconsin’s lakes. We are the citizen arm of the Wisconsin Lakes Partnership.
The Last Wilderness Alliance’s 501 (c) (4) mission is to advocate for the protection of our natural resources to support Wisconsin’s long-term environmental and economic viability.
Last Wilderness Alliance: Jeff Meessmann, jmeessmann@aol.com, 715-385-0268
Wisconsin Lakes: Ben Wojahn – Executive Director, bwojahn@wisconsinlakes.org, 608-661-4313
[1] Volume and contents of residual water in recreational watercraft ballast systems,” Management of Biological Invasions (2016) Volume 7, Issue 3: 281-286, first published online 04/18/2016, https://www.reabic.net/
[2] “Occurrence and Survival of Zebra Mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) Veliger Larvae in Residual Water Transported by Recreational Watercraft,” University of Minnesota thesis, Adam Doll, Dec. 2018, https://conservancy.umn.edu/
[3] https://drive.google.com/file/
[4] https://drive.google.com/file/
Over the last few years, wake-enhanced boating activity has been a hot topic for many landowners, lake groups, recreationists, and town boards. In the last year, it’s been an increasingly big concern for many Iron County residents. This is a complicated issue with lots of questions to be answered. In an effort to provide a time and space for folks to come get educated and allow for questions and answers, I have organized a wake-enhanced recreation forum. The forum will take place at the Mercer Community Center on Wednesday, November 12th , from 6:00-8:00 pm. There will be a diverse group of panelists from all sides of the issue to address questions from the audience. My hope is that this will be a time and place for town board members, landowners, lake groups, and recreationists to learn about this issue to help make informed decisions.
Turtle Flambeau Flowage & Trude Lake Property Owners’ Association, Inc.
Annual Membership meeting
Saturday June 21, 2025, at the Mercer Community Center, 2648 W. Margaret Street, Mercer, WI
10:00 am – 12:00 noon
- Call to Order:
- Attendance:
- Members and Board members introduced themselves.
- Minutes of June 22, 2024, meeting
- Treasurer’s Report
- Elections (vote on):
Secretary – Todd Jirous
Treasurer – Roger Nelson
Director – Jeff Wilson
Director – Troy Tipton
Director – Open
- Presentation
Mary Jung and John Richter – Wake boats and their impact on Northern Wisconsin lakes
BREAK
- Updates on Committees
- President’s Report- Randy Schubert.
- Water Level- Millard Johnson
- Fish Management- Jim Kohl.
- Water Quality- Todd Jirous.
- Invasive Species- Randy Payne
- Membership Committee- Roger Nelson
- Communication Committee- Troy Tipton/Terry Daulton
- Old Business
- Wake Boats – Millard Johnson
- Aquatic Invasive Species grant applications/opportunities for partnering with Burke Center – Randy Payne/Valerie Damstra
- New Business
- Future committee chairs/volunteers
- 100 Anniversary of the Turtle Flambeau Flowage
- Discuss dates for 2026 Annual Meeting
Any other business for the Association
Adjourn