Board of Directors

History of FCAL

We owe a debt of thanks to our Founding Mother, Mary Bierman. Through her unwavering drive, in 1992 Forest County became only the fourth county in Wisconsin to have a county-wide association of lakes.

She said until she became a Board member for the State Lake Association, now called Wisconsin Association of Lakes, she “took the pristine waters and forest covered shores of our lakes for granted”. That ended when she began to hear what was happening to the lakes in the southern part of Wisconsin. “Lakes that were as pristine as ours 30 to 50 years ago are now totally weed clogged. Degradation and Eutrophication (the enrichment of lake by silt from soil erosion and nutrients causing accelerated plant and algae growth obstructing shore lines and open waters and eventually killing the lake) are so far advanced… there is little chance of their recovery.”

To quote Mary, “Our hope and desire is that we preserve and protect our northern lakes heritage for our children and our children’s’ children. I believe that in order to do this we need to learn from our past mistakes. We need to band together to effectively influence government groups and to learn how to achieve goals through use of the educational resources and grants which are available.”

It all became official on September 16, 1992 when the Forest County Association of Lakes (FCAL) incorporation was officially signed by then Secretary of State, Douglas La Follette.

The first Board of Directors consisted of: James Stormer (Pickerel), Arden and Mary Bierman (Butternut-Franklin), Mary Chapman (Ground Hemlock), Robert Stillings (Ground Hemlock), Wilbert Klug (Jungle Lake), Glenn Snyder (Little Long Lake), Jack Kloss (Lake Lucerne), Richard Lewis (Lake Lucerne), Richard Jahnke (Roberts Lake), Russ Tiedemann (Roberts Lake), Allen Bluhm (Silver Lake), Cliff Haskins (Silver Lake) and Ronald Tschol (Windfall Lake). Advisors were Sheila Landsverk UW Extension Office and Rosa Homer, Forest County Sup./ LCC Advisor.

Over the years, FCAL has served as a means for lake organizations to share with each other and learn from each other. It has been instrumental in supporting education and legislation concerning: land use, zoning, soil erosion, septic systems, grants, invasive species education, Other activities include: Eurasian milfoil education, conducting environmental science field trip for the three area high school students, water quality monitoring, conducting a 5th and 6th grade essay contest at the three county schools, annual newsletter, fall forum, annual meeting, environmental books donated to the public library and the Potawatomi Library, development of a website (fcal-wis.org), informational placemats for area restaurants, purchase and distribution of invasive species cards, and Clean Boats/Clean Water and Citizens Lake Monitoring.

Don’t take our waters and the forest covered shores of our lakes for granted. Be part of the effort to protect our waters by joining your local lake association, Forest County Association of Lakes, and/or the Wisconsin Association of Lakes.