History of BIWBLA

The harsh winter of 1995-96 was particularly hard on our relatively shallow chain of lakes, resulting in so-called winterkill with virtually all of the entire fish population dying. The tough question was, “how best could the lakes be rehabilitated?”. The answer came in a roundabout way during a morning breakfast with my wife Judy, sometime in late 1997. After reading a Vilas County News Review article on the devastating economic impact of winterkill on Vilas County lakes that mentioned lake associations, Judy gave me the paper and asked, “Why don’t we form a lake association?”. 

The first thing I did was to call Joe Heitz to see what they were doing on Upper Gresham Lake where he was an officer in their lake association. To make a long story short, based on Joe’s suggestions, I contacted the following individuals to obtain information on lake associations and lake restoration: Bob Korth at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point (UWSP), Tiffany Leyden at the Vilas County Land and Water Conservation Department, and Mike Coshun, the Wisconsin DNR’s (WDNR) Woodruff fisheries supervisor. 

Judy, assisted by Carol Tucker and Carolyn Jacobs, organized a get-together of lake property owners at the home of Dwight and Fay Sandman where I outlined the attributes of a lake association and asked for and received backing to go forward and begin organizing what was to become the Ballard-Irving-White Birch Lakes Association (BIWBLA).

BIWBLA went on to garner two WDNR Lake Management Planning Grants. Work on grant-related projects was all encompassing, covering historical highlights, watershed and lake features with assessments, as well as project ideas for watershed stewardship, shoreland protection, aquatic plant and fishery management, wintertime lake aeration, and a lake monitoring program. Work on the grant programs also helped unite our lake community around a common purpose.

As the BIWBLA president, I was responsible for managing these projects under the guidance of Steve McComas, Bluewater Science, and WDNR’s Bob Young and Paul Garrison. I also had strong support from White Birch Village owners Dick and Carol Malmgren, and lake residents Jim and Kay Vaughan, John and Carolyn Jacobs, Bob and Carol Tucker, Joe and Jennifer Heitz, Dwight and Fay Sandman, and Vicki Gillett.

Editor's Note:  Special thanks to the BIWBLA founding Board of Directors:  

Frank Splitt, president, Dwight Sandman, vice-president, Carol Malmgren, secretary, John Jacobs, treasurer, Vicki Gillett, Mary Gollash, Joe Heitz, David Hinke, and John Schaeffel.  Newsletter by Carolyn Jacobs.  

And a very special thank you to Judy Splitt for inspiring the creation of a lake association and to Frank Splitt for writing the initial grants that gave BIWBLA a tremendous boost and great reference that our lakes have for generations to come.