The Vilas County Land & Water Conservation Committee will meet on Wed Oct 21, 2026 at 9:00 am in Room B.

Agenda October 21, 2026

Did you know that non-native Phragmites has been spotted in a few sites in Vilas County? Where it has been found in the county, Land & Water staff work to contain it. This tall grass can be seen dominating highway rights-of-way in eastern WI. If you get out for duck hunting, fall wetland hikes, or deer hunting through wet areas, remember to clean your gear. Check out the video below to learn more about preventing its spread.

Phragmites: Stop the Spread Video

Great Lakes Phragmites Collaborative

Vilas County has over 240 boat landings and carry-in sites! While I don't know anyone who has been to all of them yet, some people do come close! If visiting new lakes is your thing, Vilas County Land & Water has an interactive boat landing map. Zoom into a new boat landing you'd like to visit and click on the boat landing/carry-in icon. Pop ups contain photos so you can check out pics of the parking areas, see how much room there is to turn your trailer around, and what the signage looks like. Turn layers on and off to see where verified aquatic invasives are, as well as prevention efforts like Clean Boats Clean Waters campaigns. A day on a lake with a few less surprises can be a nice thing!

Vilas County Boat Landing Map

Students grades 4K-12th grade can sign up to participate in the Vilas County Youth Conservation Poster Contest themed "From Source to Sea Every Drop Has a Journey". Grades 5-12 can also participate in a Speaking Contest about any locally relevant soil or water topic. Students can participate as a class or individually. Posters will be displayed at the Olson Memorial Library from mid-Dec through January. If you know an interested student in Vilas County, check out the flyer linked below or contact Cathy Higley at cahigl@vilascountywi.gov or 715-479-3738.

Vilas County Youth Conservation Poster & Speaking Contests flyer

Properly cleaning your boat and equipment after leaving a landing will prevent most aquatic invasives from spreading. But when invasives are too small to see it takes extra steps to effectively remove them. Check out the YouTube video on spiny waterflea prevention created by our own summer LTE's Josh Stirn and Jack Hartman.

YouTube Spiny Waterflea Prevention

If you are curious about your lake or stream, we have some tools that the public can borrow:

• pH meter
• flow meter
• dissolved oxygen meter

The pH meter and dissolved oxygen meter are calibrated by staff before each use. To check these out and/or be trained to use them contact Cathy Higley at cahigl@vilascountywi.gov or 715-479-3738.

Meet us at the Boulder Junction Community Center on Fri Oct 30 at 10 am! Lake organization representatives and lake professionals get together annually to share updates on what we are all doing for local lake conservation. Lake organizations from Vilas County are highly encouraged to send a representative. Public welcome!

2026 Vilas County Lake Conservation Partners Meeting

Check out the Oct edition of the Northwoods Journal - a free publication about enjoying and protecting outdoor life in nearby Marinette County. Of interest this issue: preventing light pollution for migratory birds; national forest products week; international bat week; helping leaf litter critters; monarch ESA status update; and bipartisan senate bill introduced to improve endangered species act implementation.

October Northwoods Journal

If you plan to plant 300+ trees this spring, you can order seedlings from the WI DNR. Check out their announcement and inventory below.

WI DNR Now Accepting Seeding Orders

Seedling Inventory

Making the connection that conserved land equals healthy water is often difficult to communicate. Northwoods Land Trust wrote a thoughtful article on how this works, and why conserving land helps our water.

The Ribbon of Life

Northwoods Land Trust