Watercraft Inspections Florence County is home to many beautiful inland lakes and state designated wild rivers. With the generous, continued financial contribution from the Spread Eagle Chain of Lakes Association (SECOLA), and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, in 2024 the Land Conservation Department will again be running a Clean Boats, Clean Waters program in Florence County. This marks the tenth year the department has run a multi-landing Clean Boats, Clean Waters project. This year Watercraft inspectors were only located at North Lake on the Spread Eagle Chain of Lakes. Staff will began on Memorial Day weekend 2024 and covered the North Lake boatlanding full time until Labor Day weekend. A huge thanks to the generousity of the Spread Eagle Chain of Lakes Association SECOLA for thier donation, allowing staff to provide outreach to boaters. 2024 Clean Boats Clean Waters Staff manned the North Lake Boat Launch for a total of 920 hours. 2024 has been right on track with the past 5 years at North Lake in terms of numbers: 1681 watercraft inspected, 3901 people contacted with the Clean Drain Dry messaging, and 167 watercraft were disinfected (kill/remove potential aquatic hitchhikers) as they were either coming or going to other lakes which often times consisted of AIS free waterbodies or waterbodies from different areas that are a host to invasive species not found in the Spread Eagle Chain. A summary of the data collected throughout Florence County Lakes previously and currently involved in the Clean Boats Clean Waters Program is entered into WI DNR SWIMS (Surface Water Intigrated Monitoring System) and can be found on the following website. Wisconsin Lakes (Florence County) A summary of the data collected at North Lake on the Spread Eagle Chain can be found on the following website: Wisconsin Lakes (North Lake). This website includes graphs and charts to compare data collected at North Lake from 2005 to current. The Land Conservation Department urges everyone to please take special care in cleaning your water-sports equipment before entering and after leaving area lake and river sites. AIS such as Eurasian water-milfoil (EWM) can spread easly from fragmentation. It only takes a small fragment of the plant on a boat or trailer to spread the plant to new lakes. Zebra mussel larvae are microscopic, and can easily be moved in bilge water or bait wells. Help do your part to keep these waters clean. Anyone interested in more information, or volunteering to assist in this effort, is encouraged to contact Shawna Dishaw at the Florence County Land Conservation Department, 715-528-3483 or sbroullire@florencecountywi.gov Remember... INSPECT your boat, trailer, and equipment. REMOVE any attached aquatic plants or animals (before launching, after loading, and before transporting on a public highway). DRAIN all water from boats, motors and all equipment. NEVER MOVE live fish away from a waterbody.