OUR LAKE ECOSYSTEMS ARE AT RISK.

In the video below, a drone captures a wake boat launching from the Big Cedar Lake Bar in approximately 7 feet of water. Watch as the plume expands. Notice how none of the other boats cause such sediment disruption. Big Cedar Lake is currently experiencing a Blue-Green Algae Bloom. This makes us question the cause.

Propeller downwash and energy from the stern plow through the water, resuspending and stirring up silt and muck. this side-by-side comparison shows the resulting change in lake bottom over the course of 9 years.

Shorelines as an ecosystem are being destroyed

  • Lake property owners are increasingly "armoring" their shorelines with riprap to protect against large wakes and shoreline erosion. What was once the exception is now becoming the norm.

  • When natural shorelines are replaced with weed barriers and rock, they no longer provide habitats for duck nests, turtles, and natural shoreline vegetation.

  • Shorelines that remain "unarmored" face unprecedented impacts from waves comparable to gale-force winds, with little chance to "heal."

1,543 of Wisconsin's lakes, rivers, and water bodies are on the DNR's Impaired Waters list because they exceed EPA's toxic pollutant levels. These pollutants, buried in lake sediments from years of poor practices, are now being resuspended by wake boats.

Wake boats stir up bottom sediments, which is a well-documented fact. A 2015 industry study by the Water Sport Industry Association found that wake energy dissipates due to bottom friction in shallow water.

Some pollutants impairing Wisconsin's water bodies, and contaminating fish tissue, include:

  • 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin

  • Ammonia 

  • Arsenic

  • Cadmium    

  • Chloride        

  • Creosote     

  • Dioxin 

  • Lead

  • Mercury

  • PCBs

  • Phosphorus

  • Zinc