LAKE ORGANIZATION CAPACITY BUILDING

Wisconsin has over 500 lake associations and over 250 lake districts working for Wisconsin’s lakes. Thousands of individuals across the state are contributing their time and skills as board members to protect and/or restore our lakes. To be effective, these individuals must work collaboratively with others in their organizations to ensure they have strong membership bases, successful internal processes, and strong external relationships, which in turn, provide the organization with the programmatic capacity and ability to get things done. Our model of Organizational Capacity includes these four distinct facets of capacity. To establish a baseline of organizational capacity for lake organizations in Wisconsin, Extension Lakes, a program of the College of Natural Resources at UW-Stevens Point, conducted a capacity survey in 2020 that collected information on what lake organizations think they do well regarding lake protection and management as well as what areas they need support and training. Based on the initial information collected, Extension Lakes is providing the tools and resources for Wisconsin’s lake organizations to climb the capacity ladder.

Primary Presenter: Sara Windjue, Extension Lakes (swindjue@uwsp.edu)

Authors:

Sara Windjue, Extension Lakes, UW-Stevens Point  (swindjue@uwsp.edu)

Eric Olson, Extension Lakes, UW-Stevens Point  (eolson@uwsp.edu)