Five Reasons for an Ordinance

Five Reasons an Ordinance Prohibiting the Operation of Artificially-enhanced Wakeboats is Needed for Clark Lake

The negative environmental impacts of wakeboating are substantial and potentially irreversible. The force from the downward propeller wash and  the waves that extend sideways for hundreds of feet from the boat cause lake destruction.

(1) Wakeboating resuspends phosphorus, nitrates, and toxic heavy metals that have long been buried in the muck. This impairs water quality, accelerates the development of algal blooms, and makes the water toxic for people, animals, and fish.

(2) The prop wash and waves tear up vegetation on the lake bed, which ruins fish habitat (food and spawning sites) which will destroy our sport fishing.

(3) Aquatic invasive species can spread from one body of water to another through the water in the wakeboat’s ballast tanks which cannot be completely emptied and dried. Quagga mussels and Spiny water flea are the most dangerous to Clark Lake.

(4) The large powerful wakes and poor forward visibility can harm others enjoying the lake and the shorelines and docks that surround it.

(5) Clark Lake is rapidly becoming increasingly vulnerable to the above-described negative impacts. As more towns and municipalities adopt ordinances to prohibit or restrict wakeboating, wakeboat owners will look to lakes where wakesurfing is not prohibited. Door County is a vacation destination. Now that Kangaroo Lake is protected, Clark Lake is the only inland Door County lake where wakesurfing is still allowed.

We are urging the Towns of Jacksonport and Sevastopol to enact an ordinance prohibiting artificially-enhanced wakeboating for Clark Lake that is identical to the one which the Towns of Jacksonport and Baileys Harbor have already enacted for Kangaroo Lake.

Clark Lake cannot protect itself. Only the Towns of Jacksonport and

Sevastopol jointly can protect this treasure.