action needed: 2024 Wisconsin DNR survey available now

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Written By Danny Amir

Survey Closes This Saturday at Noon; Check Out Questions 32, 42 and 43 Surrounding Wake Boats

Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is hosting their annual opportunity for the public to provide input on a variety of natural resource-related questions. This year's survey includes a couple of questions that would impact towed water sports in Wisconsin (No. 32, 42 and 43).

We need our following to understand what's happening here -- when regulations are set in place that impact any aspect of towed water sports, it's a dig to the industry as a whole and may lead to continued pushes for regulations that impact all boat types. The reality here is that environmentalists and people who don't participate in this sport outweigh us, making this fight an uphill battle. 

If you read through the issues, and we provide more of our two cents below, you'll see that they are trying to single out ballast (wakesurf) boats. In two of the questions, they're using the spread of invasive species as the main reason behind it, but the regulations they want to put in place may soon impact almost any other boat that is used on multiple lakes. We should be focused instead on programs that educate boat owners on proper lake-to-lake protocol and how to properly clean your boat after pulling it from a lake. The other question pertaining to ballast (wakesurf) boats is regarding the impact of these boats on the lake and other boaters. 

Their online survey is now available and closes at noon CT on Saturday, April 13.

OUR TWO CENTS

  • 32: Wake boat ballast systems violate current Wisconsin regulations -- the information they provide in the survey to prevent ballast boats, pertaining to invasive species, doesn't make sense. Whether it is a ballast boat or not, when you have an uneducated boat owner using their boat in multiple lakes and not properly cleaning out their boat or following lake-to-lake protocol, then there is the potential for invasive species to spread. Ballast boats aren't the issue here -- all boats have a bilge area, fishing boats have wells in them, we can go on and on. 

  • 42: Ballast system inspection requirement -- this again shouldn't be singling out ballast boats. Boat owners should respect marked signage noting not to launch your boat if it has been in another body of water within a recent period of time. Plus, several boat launches offer washes and rinses to clean your boat immediately after leaving the lake.

  • 43: Regulation of wake surfing boats is necessary to protect our lakes, personal property and safety of everyone else using the lake -- the WSIA has done tests, 700 feet is a bit of a stretch. At a minimum, you should be a good neighbor and keep 200 feet from shorelines and avoid continuously running the same passes. In most cases, the best path is in the middle of the lake.

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