The Waterways Association of Menominee and Shawano Counties (WAMSCO) has been in operation since 2014. They are a paid membership service for lake organizations throughout Shawano and Menominee Counties. 

The group was originally started by Brenda Nordin, to bring lake property owners together to discuss and solve common problems. Shanda Hubertus, current president, and Brenda have worked to put together an invested group of individuals: 

  • Shanda, Chris Sampson, Dave Zelinger, Susan Johnson and Mike Emerick all come as lake representatives throughout Shawano and Menominee County 
  • Terry Nillissen brings perspective from the agricultural community
  • Andy Hudak is from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, as is Brenda, who add their insight into the lakes and streams within the two counties. 
  • Scott Frank and Jeremy Johnson represent Shawano County and Menominee County Land Conservation Departments, respectively.  

Their goals are to help the waterways within Shawano and Menominee Counties maintain their current healthy ecosystem or restore them to a healthier state, to educate individuals on shoreline restoration, its benefits and best practices to use, and finally to develop an open dialogue between riparian property owners, waterway users, and watershed landowners to improve water quality within Shawano and Menominee Counties. 

A partnership between the Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance and WAMSCO was formed to advance 2 WDNR surface water grant proposal which resulted in two staff being added to the area. Emily Henrigillis, Watershed Conservation Coordinator, and Anna Bartsch, Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) Coordinator, are both Fox-Wolf employees who are working to help implement lake management plans and control AIS throughout the counties. They also are helping to build the capacity of the WAMSCO board. 

This partnership is coming to close in June 2021 after the kick off of the water quality monitoring program for 2021.

Look for WAMSCO to lead the way for future water quality improvement projects through Shawano and Menominee County.

For more information on WAMSCO, check out their website: https://wamsco.org/