Property owners in northwest Wisconsin have filed a lawsuit against the Town of Scott over an ordinance passed last year prohibiting specialized boats that create large wakes for “surfing.” The plaintiffs, who live in Florida and Texas but own property on a lake in the town, say the ordinance was passed without sufficient public input and process.

An attorney for the plaintiffs also said the lawsuit is the first step in an effort to challenge anti-wake boating ordinances across Wisconsin. More than 50 communities in the state have passed ordinances regulating wake surf boats since 2009, according to the Last Wilderness Alliance, a coalition that supports municipalities and residents seeking to regulate the recreational activity. Nineteen new ordinances have already been passed this year.

Wake surfing uses specialized craft with large water tanks that are filled to increase the boat’s weight and create a larger wake. “Surfers” can then ride the wake, not needing to hold a tow rope. As the activity has risen in popularity in recent years, its ecological harm to lakes and the ways it affects other lake users have become prominent problems.

The Town of Scott is rich in lakes: the thirty-six square mile town includes at least part of 27 named bodies of water. Many have cabins and homes on them, and are popular for fishing and water sports.

Two of the largest lakes in the town are Birch Island Lake and McKenzie Lake. Both are on the edges of the town, spanning neighboring towns, but most of their shorelines are in Scott and are thus covered by the ordinance. Owners of property on Birch Island, Chad McEver of Houston, Texas and Scott Oppenheimer of Naples, Florida (as well as an Oppenheimer family trust based in Florida) are named as the litigants in a suit filed by Eau Claire law firm Weld Riley, S.C.

Birch Island is about 770 acres, 13 feet deep at most, and has very clear water, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

In addition to seeking a ruling that will prevent the town from enforcing the new ordinance, the plaintiffs also claim the regulation illegally removed their rights to use their wake surf boats on Birch Island Lake, and allege damages equaling the value of the boats. According to the suit, McEver is owed $124,570 and Oppenheimer should receive $65,587.

The town passed the ordinance by a 2-1 vote on November 11, 2024. The three-person board previously held a public hearing on September 23, receiving comment from numerous members of the public. The lawsuit plaintiffs allege there was no further public discussion of the proposed ordinance, despite repeated communications from the plaintiffs and their lawyers, until the November 11 town board meeting, when it was passed without further public input .

“No discussion or rationale was provided by the Board in passing the Ordinance on November 11, 2024 and no rationale or discussion occurred or was provided by the Board which justified the Ordinance’s prohibitions as applied to Birch Island Lake,” the lawsuit reads.

The Town of Scott’s ordinance includes several statements asserting its reasoning for the regulations, beginning, “Whereas, artificially enhanced wakes can cause environmental damage to lakes and lakeshore, including resuspension of sediment adding nutrients to the water and increased risk of algal blooms, turbidity, shoreline erosion, and threats to aquatic life and waterfowl…”

Large and shallow, Birch Island Lake is potentially at higher risk than average from the impacts of wake surfing boats. Because much of their energy is focused downward, the waves they create can reach lake bottoms, disturbing sediments and fish habitat, mixing nutrients into the water that feed algae.

A 2022 report by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources found that wake surf boat energy can be detected much farther down than Birch Island Lake’s maximum 13-foot depth: wake surf boats “generate enough turbulence to resuspend bottom sediments in water up to 33 feet deep,” the agency reported. A 2022 study from the University of Minnesota found it takes 500 feet for wakes from wake surf boats to diminish to the same level as 100 feet for an average powerboat wake.

Wisconsin has no statewide regulation of wake surf boats or the special problems they pose. Currently state law simply prohibits creating a wake within 100 feet of shore.

Last month, three Wisconsin citizens told the state’s Natural Resources Board that the Department of Natural Resources is not doing enough to prevent the spread of invasive species by wake surf boats. Because some wake boat owners move their boats from lake-to-lake, and frequently fill and empty their large water tanks, the boats easily transport non-native organisms like zebra mussels. The Natural Resources Board requested a presentation from the DNR at its June 25 meeting; information included in a memo sent to the board in advance of the meeting indicates the DNR believes current state laws are adequate.

Last summer, organizers of a wake surfing contest that had previously been held on Lake Minnetonka decided to move to the St. Croix River at Stillwater during the annual Lumberjack Days festival. Although they received permission from the city, high water levels triggered no-wake rules, ultimately forcing the organizers to cancel the competition.

References and documents

• Town of Scott ordinance (PDF)
• Lawsuit filing (PDF)
• DNR memo to Natural Resources Board
• Kaeding, Danielle. “Wake Boat Owners Sue Northern Wisconsin Town to Overturn Ban on Wake Surfing.” WPR, 30 May 2025.
• Francis, James, et al. A Literature Review of Wake Boat Effects on Aquatic Habitat. 37, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Fisheries Division, July 2023.
• “University of Minnesota Researchers Study Waves Created by Recreational Boats.” University of Minnesota, 1 Feb. 2022.