Clean Boats/Clean Waters

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What is the "Clean Boats, Clean Waters" program and Why We Participate?

 

In 2003, a group of young students from northern Wisconsin researched the impact tourism had on their town, Minocqua, and the devastating impacts aquatic invasive species (AIS) might have on the surrounding lakes. As young student activists, they proposed an action plan to prevent the spread of an aquatic invasive plant, Eurasian watermilfoil. The outcome was the Milfoil Masters project, which produced and delivered 150 tool kits to twenty-five counties across Wisconsin. This successful project created an awareness of not only AIS, but also the prevention steps each boater needs to take when they leave a waterbody.

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The Clean Boats, Clean Waters (CBCW) program grew out of the successful Milfoil Masters project. The Wisconsin Lakes Partnership (DNR, UW-Extension Lakes Program and Wisconsin Lakes) assisted by conducting a series of statewide workshops to deliver CBCW materials.  These workshops were strategically placed in lake intensive areas of the state where invading aquatic species were most likely to take a foothold.

 

Since 2004 when the CBCW program was initiated, hundreds of workshops have been held and thousands of folks in over fifty counties have been trained as watercraft inspectors. The inspectors have attended workshops to learn how AIS threaten Wisconsin waters. They also received instructions on how to organize a watercraft inspection program, how to approach boaters, perform boat/trailer checks, record pertinent data and report suspect specimens.

 

​The trained inspectors are the frontline defense against AIS. On weekends and busy holidays, teams of watercraft inspectors across the state educate boaters on how and where AIS are most likely to hitch a ride and how to perform a watercraft inspection. During watercraft inspections, inspectors engage boaters in conversation about the AIS prevention steps and keep a record of how many people they talk with. They report this information to a statewide database that tabulates both paid and volunteer watercraft inspector data.

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The CBCW program has been active on Shawano Lake since 2007. SAWM has been involved in the program since 2014. With a grant from the DNR each year, we have been able to hire interested high school and college students to man one or two of our busier boat launches each summer. The program is coordinated by Pam Anhalt, a chemistry and physical sciences teacher at Shawano Community High School. The student work weekends from Memorial Day to Labor Day, with some extending longer.

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So why do we do it? Shawano Lake is home to many of the invasive species that other lakes are trying to avoid. By being a good neighbor, we can reduce the chances of invasive species present in our lake spreading into surrounding lakes. In addition, there are other AIS that are not yet present in Shawano Lake. Just this past month quagga mussels were found in Lake Geneva for the first time. This is the first recorded instance of this mussel being found in an inland Wisconsin Lake. From all reports from the great lakes, the quagga mussel is much more problematic than the zebra mussel, which we are all familiar with.

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So the bottom line is: Clean Boats, Clean Waters is one more tool that we use to keep Shawano and other Wisconsin lakes healthy and enjoyable for all of us.