Wisconsin Conservation Congress
The Wisconsin Conservation Congress (WCC) and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will once again offer their annual opportunity for the public to provide input on a variety of natural resource-related questions with an in-person opportunity April 8, 2024, at 6 p.m. in each county or online starting at noon April 10 to noon on April 13, 2024.
A list of Spring Hearing Questions can be found here. Three of the hearing questions relate to wakesurf regulation. We strongly urge you to participate in this opportunity to vote on matters of significant impact to our lakes.
Environmental Committee
32. Would you support the WCC and legislature creating a new statute that prohibits the use of wake boat ballast systems on Wisconsin’s lakes and rivers?
Motorized Recreation Committee
42. Would you support regulations by DNR to require that all ballast systems used in boats shall have a reasonable practical means of inspecting the system to confirm that no water is retained in the system (tanks, piping, valves, etc.)?
43. Would you support the WCC and legislature modifying existing statutes to prohibit generation of intentionally magnified wakes for wake surfing through the use of ballast, design features, operational procedures or any other means on lakes smaller than 1500 acres and less than 20 feet deep and maintain a distance from shore and other lake users of 700 feet?
Background on these and other questions can be found in the list of Spring Hearing Questions link given above.
ALL 72 COUNTIES WILL HOST A SPRING HEARING. VISIT HTTPS://DNR.WI.GOV/TINY/1521 FOR LOCATION DETAILS, OR SCAN THE QR CODE BELOW. Note that the input gathered at the in-person meetings will be combined with the online input when results are presented, so both options will be weighed equally. While everyone is welcome to attend the meetings and join the discussions if possible, it is strongly recommended that individuals provide input through the online tool if possible. This allows your feedback to be gathered efficiently and helps expedite compiling the results.
To vote online, go the website listed below and follow the voting instructions.
