Happy Independence Day! Welcome to this website-Blog!
I’ve always loved the idea of “home”. Wisconsin is where I grew up and I am happy to be back home working on our lakes and watercourses. I have worked at offices located in several other states along the way, with the opportunity to work on projects in adjacent states. It has been a great adventure with a tremendous amount of experience to be gained in a variety of environments and among some extremely talented minds, but I always knew this was a domain I desired to re-inhabit.
I guess I should caveat things by saying that I didn’t just appear overnight, I have been working on projects, primarily in southern part of the state for the last 10 years, but mostly from a distance, slowly integrating into the local policies and protocols. Make no bones about it, Wisconsin is different and operates differently than many other states. This isn’t exactly a bad thing, but integral in understanding the flow of things when you are at the plate.
Wisconsin is such a very water and natural resources rich state that it can become part of your very being. It can become imprinted on you at a young age and continues to follow you wherever you may go. The state’s abundance of clear, and relatively clean lakes and streams overshadow the fact that these areas need management and upkeep as much as any water body. For every clear and clean lake there is an equal number of lakes that are overloaded with nutrients, typically driven by a delivery mechanism yet to be controlled or fully understood.
As I have explored the canvas of lakes management and furthermore the natural resources components that accompany these services over the past 20 years of my career I have realized just how dependent people are on use of the internet to begin their journey. While this is totally reasonable, there is no “paint by numbers” in this business. No replacement for experience or a trained eye coupled with applied education. Lakes are not houses, they are a living breathing ecosystem that is constantly evolving to achieve a balance, more particularly in the last few centuries this would include the heavy influence of man.
So welcome aboard! Perhaps there is something that you can learn from my projects or the experience of others. I hope to have others contribute over time their expertise and input. To the maximum extent possible I will try to keep this website- blog less opinionated and more factual but at times it becomes difficult to hold the line when you are passionate about things, particularly decisions driven by others who are forced to look at things as black and white or place a financial line in the sand. So let us soldier ahead to discover our lakes, rivers, and everything else in between.
-BV
Wisconsin Lakes.net 