A nonprofit group in Wisconsin is pushing for a limit on wake boating on lakes under 1500 acres.........
A nonprofit organization called Lakes At Stake Wisconsin has formed in an effort to restrict wake-enhanced boating to lakes larger than 1,500 acres.
www.jsonline.com
They're claiming that "wake-enhanced" boats destroy marine habitat but I didn't see any facts presented in the article - and they hired a lobbyist. The video at the top of the article shows a drone video of a "wake-enhanced" boat in action and some slow piano music for effect. I don't own a "wake-enhanced" boat so I don't have a dog in the fight but I can see how this could effect anyone pulling a tube or water ski. This seems like a hit-job masquerading as journalism and it doesn't surprise me that the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel would publish it.
I think most people should be able to pull up the story but there is a monthly article limit.
Non profit=virtue signaling and is the hallmark of “environmental” groups, banning is also a favorite tactic which also includes books, speech, and discussion that goes against the narrative.
You do have a dog in this fight, we all do. Just as with NOAA saying they are going to limit the speed of off shore boats to 10mph due to the pilot whales, its in our best interest to come together as a boating community to stop the over reach of politically driven “rule” making by three and four letter agencies and not our elected officials.
These are incremental steps. Its the old story about the frog and pot of water, throw the frog into a boiling pot of water and he jumps out, put him in a cold pot of water and then turn on the fire and he will boil to death as the heat comes on slowly. I‘ve been dealing with “environmental“ groups for well over 40 years now in land use issues and this is the same old tactic. To put it in other terms, there will be mission creep. I do not particularly like it when wake boats come by when I’m fishing and it upsets my apple cart, but I also realize that we all share the lakes so you cannot throw out the baby with the bath water. These are mostly good people out having a good time on the water, LOVE IT! I just can’t understand why their music is so bad LOL!
These melodramatic messages are the norm, begging people to make decisions with their heart instead of their logical and critical thinking minds. There is a billboard in town here about “sustainable” off road use and a picture of a four wheeler engulfed in muddy water as It is hauling ass=earth raping off road enthusiasts, man have I seen that before. I did a term paper in college about the effects of off roading and its affect on the desert tortoise, the media never talked about the 8000% increase in the raven population between the late 40’s and the early 80’s and its huge impact on desert tortoises. When it finally came out, and fish and wildlife wanted to cull a lot of the ravens, the animal groups came out and said that “innocent” ravens might be killed, and wanted poison eggs put out so that only the ravens ”guilty” of pecking on eggs, similar to them pecking holes in the baby tortoise shells which are too soft to resist their beaks, would be killed. Really?
Having said that, there has been some actual science done on the wakes that wake boats generate and their affect on the shore line and the the bottom of the lake. If the research and data and the whole truth, actual science, shows that there is significant harm being done, then some restrictions may have to be put in place, and not just a blanket prohibition. There are some restrictions in some lakes, like 200’ from shore, and in more that 30’ of water if memory serves. And, having concert level music volumes that interferes with others using the water is not helping the wake boaters cause, imagine sitting on the porch of your lake front house that you worked your ass for, for decades, and having to listen to other peoples music that you find offensive, that is infantile and disrespectful to others.
So, figure out where to write letters opposing sweeping rules without the proper research, not close it off and then do the research, once closed it will not change, and send them.
