Clean Boats Clean Waters wraps up in Shawano/Menominee Counties

With the cold Wisconsin weather rolling in, the boating season has finally come to an end. This means that all the Clean Boats, Clean Waters (CBCW) volunteers and employees that were out all summer are ready to sit back on yet another successful season of preventing the spread of aquatic invasive species (AIS). A brief background on CBCW; it is a program where volunteers or employees station themselves at boat launches in their respective regions and not only inspect boater’s watercrafts for AIS, but also educate and collect data from them as well. This data includes where they have launched their boats in recent days as well as if they are familiar with AIS and the CBCW program. Collecting this data helps the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) in several ways including the ability to track where AIS are coming from if there are new populations, how many watercrafts are entering and exiting certain launches, and how many people are contacted with the consistent message of stopping AIS spread. In short, CBCW is a vast and effective program for talking with lake goers to get the message out about how to prevent the spread of AIS.

In the Counties of Menominee and Shawano, there are several CBCW programs that are in place. In Menominee County, the Legend Lake Protection & Rehabilitation District has three employees that not only do maintenance of AIS in the lake but also run the CBCW programs on all three of the launches on Legend Lake consistently. In Shawano, there are a few organizations that conduct the CBCW program on their lakes respectively. One of the organizations are the Cloverleaf Lake Protection & Rehabilition District. They hired on an intern, Bob McCoy through a CBCW WDNR grant. Bob was then funded to conduct a couple hundred hours on the Cloverleaf Lake Chain Boat launch. Through this funding he not only reached several contacts, but was able to participate in WDNR campaigns as well. A couple of these programs are landing blitz and drain campaign. In the northern part of the county Pam Anhalt coordinated a CBCW program with several student workers on the Shawano Lake County Park boat launch. The Shawano County Park Launch is one of the most highly trafficked boat launches in the county which allowed for maximal contacts reached. Along with their several contacts they participated in WDNR campaigns as well to help prevent the spread of AIS. Finally the AIS Coordinator whom works for the Fox-Wolf Watershed in partnership with WAMSCO also conducted a CBCW program. Over the course of the season, he was able to get outreach at 17 different launches throughout the county. These include the most trafficked launches such as Swan Acres on Shawano Lake, the Legend Lake Lodge Boat Launch, White Clay Lake access, Loon Lake access, and even included smaller, more secluded lakes to contact anglers and boaters that prefer their own personal lakes such as Koonz and Beulieu lakes, Korth Lake, White Lake, and Lulu Lake. By the end of the season, our AIS Coordinator put in a total of 200 hours of CBCW with close to 600 contacts.

Taking into account the contacts and efforts of all the CBCW volunteers/employees, it is safe to say the program was successful in promoting consistent messaging of AIS prevention throughout the Menominee and Shawano Counties. Albeit successful, there is no room for complacency. Moving forward, the Fox-Wolf AIS Coordinator will be working with all the CBCW programs in place throughout the counties over the winter. This joint effort and collaboration will help to ensure the most efficient coverage by all, as well as increase numbers of volunteers and interns. If successful, the number of contacts and inspected watercrafts in the counties should surpass this summer’s numbers by a noticeable margin. However, we could always use a little extra help. If you are in the Menominee/Shawano area and are interested in being a CBCW volunteer or intern, or if you are interested in starting your own program for your lake or waterbody, please contact the Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance using the information provided below. Thank you for taking the time to read this article, and continue to make the environment a better place for future generations!

To learn more about these programs, feel free to visit the below links!