Volunteer Water Monitoring Spotlight

By Tanner Yurk, Conservation Programs Manager 

It is one thing to talk about lake health; it is another to have a 100-year family history backing you up. John Marklewitz’s family has been on Walloon since the 1920s, and his wife Libby’s family literally shaped a corner of the landscape when they developed Wildwood back in the 1970s. When John talks about the “personality” of the lake, he isn’t reading it off a chart, he’s watched the Village change and the high-end homes go up with his own eyes for more than 60 years.  

Whether it’s rigging his Sunfish on a sunny afternoon or sitting on the porch watching the night come in, John is clear about why he’s out there: “It’s still the same lake we grew up on and love. We are dedicated to doing our part to being good stewards.” 

With a background in chemistry and biology, John was a natural fit for the science side of lake stewardship with the Walloon Lake Association and Conservancy (WLAC). He remembers back when monitoring meant just checking surface temps and using the Secchi disc for water clarity, but now he’s using the meters the Walloon Lake Trust and Conservancy (WLC) bought before the merger with the Walloon Lake Association (WLA) to track dissolved oxygen, pH, and Chlorophyll-a.  

Our volunteer lake monitoring program has expanded from monitoring three sites to seven since John started, and he monitors from early May all the way through mid-September. 

For John and Libby, it’s a team effort. They like to get out early in the morning before the wind picks up and the lake gets busy. John usually drives the boat and does the physical testing while Libby handles all the recording. They’ve even used their fish finder to map out the lake bottom topography over the years. He’s pretty clear that even though it’s a commitment, it doesn’t feel like work. “We really enjoy the time on the lake; simple as that,” he says. “It’s a fun way to be in a place Libby and I both grew up knowing and love.” 

Of course, it’s not always quiet. John told a story about a morning near the Wildwood basin when their boat suddenly stopped because they hit a DNR fishing net that didn’t have a buoy on it. They ended up hauling the whole net, and about a dozen fish, into the boat to untangle the prop.  The DNR came to get the net the next day, but they might have been missing a couple of nice walleye. 

Having spent so much time on the water, John can usually feel if it’s a good water quality day before he even drops the disc in. He’s noticed the water getting warmer, which is why he’s such a big advocate for smart shoreline development. He wants people building around the lake to realize that their choices directly affect the health of the water. 

Whether he’s taking WLAC interns out on the boat or watching his grandkids jump off the dock, John is exactly the kind of steward we need on Walloon. John was also recently approved as a new member of the WLAC Board of Trustees. 

If you want to get involved with our monitoring or any other projects, reach out to Tanner Yurk, Conservation Programs Manager, at Tanner@walloon.org or call our offices at the office (231) 535-6112.