2005 Northwest Wisconsin Lakes Convention

“Celebrating the Lakes of Northwest Wisconsin!”

Featured speakers

Mike Dombeck: One of the world's most renowned and respected contemporary conservationists, talked about the fundamental importance of clean water and the looming world-wide water crisis. former Acting Director of the Bureau of Land Management and Chief of the U.S. Forest Service, Mike Dombeck is currently a Professor of Global Environmental Management UW-Stevens Point and UW System Fellow of Global Conservation,

Wisconsin Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager: Her speech focused on the legal aspects of lake protection and the actions of her office to assure that the Public Trust Doctrine is not compromised and the public waters are protected. The Attorney General also gave a presentation on Water in the Courts - Decisions & Pending Cases.

Steve Carpenter: A distinguished, world-renowned limnologist from the University of Wisconsin-Madison spoke about how our presence along the shorelines of our lakes is profoundly changing them.

International Watershed Management Presentation

Twenty natural resource professionals from 15 different countries joined us at the conference during their 17 day tour of Wisconsin as part of an international watershed management seminar. This was a unique opportunity for local lake leaders to learn about global watershed challenges and solutions from this diverse group.

Anar Enkhbold, who works for the Ministry of Nature and Environment in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, shared the watershed management challenges he faces in the Lake Baikal Watershed in southern Russia.

Session topics

In addition to networking with other lake enthusiasts and exhibitors, attendees then chose from a variety of presentations on current lake and water quality themes including;

• Legislative, Regulatory, and Court Cases
• Lake, Fish and Wildlife
• Current Threats and Concerns
• Shoreland Management

The Clean Boats, Clean Waters watercraft inspection course and a hands-on learning Pontoon Classroom were offered as an optional sessions at this workshop.

The full agenda of presentations and presenters is available online. The Summer 2005 edition of WAL's quarterly newsletter, The Lake Connection, published the following three articles based on speeches and presentations at the workshop:

• Securing our watersheds' long term health: lack of clean water threatens human security (Mike Dombeck, Professor of Global Environmental Management UW-Stevens Point, UW System Fellow of Global Conservation, and former Acting Director of the Bureau of Land Management and Chief of the U.S. Forest Service)
• Small indications: using aquatic invertebrates to measure water quality (Jeremy Williamson, Water Quality Specialist, Polk County Land and Water Resources Department)
• How rain gardens protect lakes (Roger Bannerman, Wisconsin DNR)

Wisconsin Association of Lakes lake group members interested in reprinting these Lake Connection articles may request electronic copies of articles.