What is new for Northwoods Drifter in 2026
The Turtle-Flambeau Flowage has drawn anglers, paddlers, and nature lovers to Iron County for nearly a century. Now, local residents are rallying to protect this 12,942-acre wilderness treasure from a modern threat that’s been building across Wisconsin’s Northwoods: wake boats and the outsized waves they generate on fragile waterways.
At a packed public comment meeting in Mercer on February 13, residents made their voices heard in support of a proposed ordinance that would ban wake boats from the flowage. The meeting followed a similar gathering in the Town of Sherman just days earlier, where residents also called for restrictions. The message from both communities? Keep our waters calm and protect the shorelines that make this place special.
Stretching across Iron and Price counties, the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage ranks as Wisconsin’s seventh-largest lake by surface area. But numbers don’t capture what makes this place remarkable. With 195 islands scattered across its waters and 227 miles of meandering shoreline—95% of it in public ownership—the flowage offers the kind of wilderness character that’s increasingly rare in the modern Northwoods.
Created in 1926 when a hydroelectric dam flooded 16 natural lakes and thousands of acres of forest and marsh, the flowage transformed from an industrial project into a recreational gem. By the 1930s and ’40s, resorts were popping up to serve anglers chasing trophy walleye, musky, and bass. That reputation hasn’t faded. Today, the flowage remains one of the Midwest’s top destinations for serious anglers, while also drawing paddlers who navigate its maze of channels and bays.
The state recognized the flowage’s significance in 1990, purchasing it through the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program and later establishing the Turtle-Flambeau Scenic Waters Area in 1995. This designation protects over 23,000 acres of water and land, preserving the wild character that keeps people coming back year after year.
Wake boats—specialized vessels designed to create massive waves for water sports—have surged in popularity over the past decade. While they’re fun for riders, their impact on smaller, shallower lakes like those found throughout the Northwoods has raised serious concerns. The large waves these boats generate don’t just fade away. They pound shorelines repeatedly, accelerating erosion that can destabilize docks, uproot native vegetation, and stir up sediment from lake bottoms.
For a waterbody like the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage, with its extensive shallow areas and diverse aquatic habitat, that kind of disturbance threatens both the ecology and the experience. Walleye and northern pike spawn in shallow, vegetated areas. Disturb those zones too much, and you’re messing with the very resource that made the flowage famous in the first place.
The Wisconsin DNR has acknowledged the problem but left the solution to local townships. That’s put the decision-making power in the hands of communities like Mercer and Sherman—folks who actually live on the water and understand what’s at stake.
Randy Schubert, president of the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage and Trude Lake Property Association, came to the Mercer meeting with a clear mission: educate residents about wake boat impacts and build support for the ordinance. The response suggested he didn’t need to work too hard. Speaker after speaker voiced support for restricting wake boats, echoing concerns about erosion, habitat damage, and preserving the peaceful character that defines the flowage experience.
“Our objective and goal is just to kind of educate the town and hopefully get an ordinance passed that would restrict the actual wake boat activity on the Turtle Flambeau Flowage,” Schubert explained. The property owners association has been instrumental in organizing these meetings and rallying residents around a shared vision for the flowage’s future.
The turnout at both the Sherman and Mercer meetings signals something important: people who call this area home aren’t willing to watch their waters change without a fight. There’s a recognition that once you’ve lost shoreline integrity or damaged critical fish habitat, getting it back isn’t simple—or cheap.
The Mercer Town Board didn’t make an immediate decision at the February meeting, choosing instead to coordinate with Sherman and other townships that share the flowage. This collaborative approach makes sense. A patchwork of different rules across township boundaries would be confusing to enforce and potentially ineffective. Working together ensures everyone’s moving toward the same goal: protecting the flowage while respecting the realities of managing a large, multi-jurisdictional waterway.
The board scheduled the next meeting for March 12, when they’re expected to move forward with a vote. Given the overwhelming community support voiced at the public comment sessions, passage seems likely. From there, the ordinance would need to work its way through the formal approval process before taking effect.
Schubert remained optimistic after the Mercer meeting. “Obviously there was a lot of support in favor of the ban of wake boat activity, so we’ll kind of continue to monitor the situation and hopefully at the next meeting they can pass the ordinance and get it up the ladder,” he said.
The wake boat debate highlights a broader tension playing out across Wisconsin’s lake country. How do we balance new forms of recreation with protecting the natural resources that make those activities possible in the first place? It’s not about being anti-fun or anti-boating. Plenty of boating happens on the flowage without causing problems. Traditional waterskiing, tubing, fishing boats, pontoons—all coexist with the environment when operated responsibly.
Wake boats are different. They’re specifically designed to displace massive amounts of water, and the physics don’t care about your intentions. On a large, deep, high-energy lake? Maybe the impact is manageable. On a flowage with extensive shallows, islands, and critical fish habitat? The calculus changes.
Local control means communities can make decisions that fit their specific waters. The Turtle-Flambeau Flowage is a treasure that’s been nearly a century in the making—a place where Wisconsin got it right by protecting shorelines, preserving wilderness character, and managing for quality fishing and paddling experiences. Keeping it that way for the next generation seems like a goal worth pursuing, even if it means saying no to one particular kind of boat.
As the March 12 meeting approaches, the message from Mercer residents is clear: protect the flowage first, and everything else will follow. That’s the kind of long-term thinking that’s served the Northwoods well, and it’s exactly what’ll keep places like the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage special for years to come.
Written by
Mike has been coming up or living in the Northwoods since his childhood. He is also an avid outdoorsman, writer and supper club aficionado.
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