Bass Lake Association
BLPOABass Lake · Danbury, WI
Landing Fund Join

Open to everyone who cares about this water

Bass Lake Property
Owners Association

Danbury, Wisconsin. We look after the landing, the water, and the lake's standing with the Town, the County and the DNR — because nobody else wakes up thinking about Bass Lake.

Become a member Help with the buoys

What's happening

Lake news

Lake News — cartoon deck chair and chocolate lab on a dock, loon and pontoon on the lake

Two projects are running at once this year — the boat landing rebuild and a winter aeration system — and a third is just starting. Here's where each one stands.

Day to day the lake moves faster than a website does — ice conditions, weather, who needs a hand with what. That lives in the Facebook group.

Sep 29, 2026
Lake health

Out for quotes on a full lake analysis

The board is gathering quotes for a professional survey of the lake — aquatic plants and weed beds mapped, the fish population assessed, and water quality measured to give us a baseline for overall lake health. Blue Water is one of the firms being asked to price it.

We have opinions about what's happening in this water and almost no data. A survey turns arguments into numbers, and it's what every grant application and management plan gets built on. Costs and options go to the membership once the quotes are in.

Sep 18, 2026
Boat landing

DNR permit application submitted

The Chapter 30 waterway permit application for the landing rebuild has been filed and the fee paid. DNR review runs about 30 days, which puts approval near the end of October — likely pushing construction to spring rather than rushing concrete in November.

It's now public on the DNR's ePermitting system — anybody can search either number below and watch the status for themselves.

Reference numbers ePermit WP-GP-NO-2026-7-X09-22T20-04-54 Docket GP-NO-2026-7-02987 Track it on DNR ePermitting →
Sep 18, 2026
Boat landing

Precast phase fully funded

The landing fund crossed $20,220 of its $25,000 goal, which covers the gravel work and the precast sections that carry the ramp fifty feet out — three quarters of the whole job. Only the slab remains.

Sep 2026
Aeration

Aerator 2 goes in this week

The aerator on the south side of the lake failed last winter after a frozen line was replaced with one too small to carry the pump's output. A new 1 HP, 6.7 CFM compressor and 400 feet of properly sized 3/4″ weighted line are on hand, the compressor has a home and power at the shore, and assembly and placement happen this week. What's still needed is hands for the buoys.

Sep 2026
Boat landing

Boat World MN signs on as sponsor

Boat World MN contributed $10,000 toward the landing rebuild, and a lake owner gave generously in memory of his father. Between them, the project went from hopeful to nearly funded in a fortnight.

Memorial Day
weekend
Association

Annual meeting — Town of Union hall

The association meets every Memorial Day weekend at the Town of Union hall, and dues for the year come due the same weekend. Budget, both projects, and the board election. Membership details.

Sep 2026
Association

Dues notices going out to non-members

A letter is going to owners who have never joined. If you've been on this lake for years and never been asked directly — that's our fault, and we're fixing it. Dues are $120 a year.

Measured on this shoreline, not guessed at

Weather station

The association runs a Tempest station right on the lake. It reads continuously and it's public — check it before you hitch up the boat, before you drive out on the ice, or when you want to know exactly how much rain came through overnight.

Updating right now

Bass Lake, live

Wind and gusts, temperature, rainfall, pressure, humidity, sunlight and lightning strikes — all of it from a single station on our own water, not from an airport forty miles away.

Open the live station
Weather Updates — cartoon sun, clouds and a forecast board on the lake
TemperatureAir and feels-like
Wind & gustsSpeed and direction
RainfallRate and daily total
LightningStrike count & distance
PressureRising or falling
Sun & UVBrightness and index

Why the association keeps one

The storm that took the trees down, how much rain came through in an hour, the cold snap that set the ice — a lake association that keeps its own record doesn't have to argue about the weather later. It's the same reason we started the ice-out log.

The station also feeds the wider Tempest network, so the forecasts you see for this corner of Burnett County are partly built on readings from our own shoreline.

A word on ice

Air temperature is not ice thickness. A run of cold nights tells you the ice is making, not that it will hold you — current, springs, and the open water over the aerators all change what's underfoot within a few yards.

Use the station to know what the weather did. Use a spud bar and an auger to know what the ice is doing.

Project one

The boat landing

Building a Boat Landing — cartoon excavator placing rock while a worker screeds a fresh concrete ramp into the lake, loon and pontoon on the water

Bass Lake has one public access, and it has been loose gravel over soft ground for years. The association is rebuilding it in three phases: gravel to get equipment to the water, precast concrete sections carrying a hard surface fifty feet out past the waterline, and a 30′ × 16′ slab poured last at the top of the ramp.

Hopkins Gravel is doing the work. The DNR permit is filed. The money is nearly raised.

For every owner whose deed doesn't touch the water, that landing is your access to Bass Lake — which makes its condition a property question, not just a convenience one.

Full plan & donate

Where the fund stands

$20,220raised of $25,000

81% funded · updated September 2026

  • Phase 1 — GravelFunded
  • Phase 2 — Precast to 50′Funded
  • Phase 3 — 30′×16′ slab$4,418 to go

Project two

Winter aeration

Aerator Update — cartoon winter lake with an aerator keeping open water, ringed by red and white marker buoys, a chocolate lab watching from the dock

Shallow lakes suffocate under ice. Snow blocks the light, the plants stop making oxygen, and what's left gets used up — and in a hard winter the fish don't make it to spring. Bass Lake runs two aeration sites to keep oxygen going into the water. One of them failed last winter. The rebuild is bought, the compressor has a home, and it goes in the water this week.

Satellite view of Bass Lake with aerator 1 marked in the north basin and aerator 2 on the south side
1Aerator 1 — north end of the lake, east side. Running.
2Aerator 2 — south side of the lake. Down since last winter; being rebuilt now.
Aerator positions on Bass Lake. Satellite imagery © Google.

What happened to Aerator 2

The line froze. A temporary airline was run to get air back into the water, but it was too small to carry the compressor's output. Undersized line means back pressure, and the pump ran against that restriction until it failed.

So the rebuild is not just a new pump. It's a pump and a line that can actually carry what the pump puts out — because an undersized line is what killed the last one.

The rebuild

  • Compressor1 HP · 6.7 CFM
    rated to 3 acres
  • Airline400 ft of 3/4″ weighted
    sinking line
  • DiffusersFour, set on a
    20-foot ring
  • SiteAerator 2 — south side
    of the lake
  • Spent so far$2,099.83

Timeline

  • Done — September 2026

    Pump and line purchased

    New compressor, 400 ft of properly sized 3/4″ weighted line, and all the fittings. Everything is on hand.

  • Done

    Home and power secured

    The south compressor has a place to live and electrical service at the shore. That was the piece that used to hold everything up.

  • Now — this week

    Assemble and place the system

    Compressor built and set, 400 feet of line run out, four diffusers set on a 20-foot ring.

  • Before ice — help needed

    Wash and prep the buoys

    The warning buoys need cleaning, the reflective tape checked, and a look-over before they go out. The center buoy is still sitting on the east shore and needs fetching.

  • At first ice — help needed

    Place the buoys

    Once the ice will carry, the reflective-taped buoys go out to mark the open water over the diffusers. This is the DNR marking requirement, and the part that keeps somebody's snowmobile out of a hole.

  • Through winter

    Run and monitor

    Check both compressors, keep the markers standing, watch the holes after every thaw. Last winter is exactly what we're trying not to repeat.

  • Spring — help needed

    Collect the buoys

    Buoys come in before ice-out takes them, the line comes up, and everything dries and gets stored for next year.

Help needed

The equipment is bought, the compressor has a home and power, and it goes in this week. What's left is four jobs, and every one of them needs people rather than money.

1 · Wash and prep the buoysBefore they go out they need cleaning and a look-over, and the reflective tape checked. An afternoon with a hose and a few pairs of hands.
2 · Fetch the center buoyIt's sitting on the east shore of the lake and needs bringing round to where the rest are. One person with a boat or a trailer.
3 · Place the buoys at first iceOnce the ice will carry, they go out to mark the open water. This is the DNR requirement — and the safety one.
4 · Collect them in springBuoys come back in before ice-out carries them off. Same job in reverse, warmer.
Put your name down

Rules of the water

DNR & permits

Bass Lake is a public water, which means the DNR has a say in most of what gets built, dug, or floated here. These are the rules that bear on what the association is doing right now.

Chapter 30 — the landing

Work below the ordinary high-water mark needs a waterway permit. The landing rebuild fits DNR's general permit for public boat ramps: crushed rock base, precast planks, 50 feet maximum, open to public access. Application filed September 2026; DNR review runs about 30 days.

Reference numbers ePermit WP-GP-NO-2026-7-X09-22T20-04-54 Docket GP-NO-2026-7-02987 Track it on DNR ePermitting →

Marking open water

Aeration keeps a patch of the lake open all winter, and that open water has to be marked so nobody walks or drives onto it. BLPOA marks it with buoys carrying reflective tape, set around the open area once the ice firms up and collected again in the spring.

Two more things worth knowing

Riparian rights. Only property touching the ordinary high-water mark carries the right to a private pier. Everyone else reaches the water through the public landing — which is why the association cares so much about its condition.

Shoreland zoning. Clearing trees, cutting shoreline vegetation, removing native aquatic plants or altering the bank near the water falls under DNR standards and Burnett County zoning. Check before you cut.

We're not the only lake dealing with this. The Burnett County Lakes and Rivers Association publishes Lakelines, a newsletter covering water quality, invasive species, aeration, shoreline rules and what other associations around the county are working through. Worth reading if you want the wider picture.

DNR water permits → Boat ramp permits → Aerator fact sheet (PDF) → Burnett County zoning → Lakelines newsletter (BCLRA) →

The lake itself

Photos

This page is only as good as the pictures on it, and the best ones are on your phone, not ours. Send them in and we'll keep adding.

Scroll or swipe through — drag the strip, use the arrows, or the arrow keys.

The argument that settles itself every spring

Ice-out log

Everybody on this lake has an opinion about when the ice goes out and whether it's going earlier than it used to. Nobody has written it down. Starting now, we do — one date a year, logged by whoever is standing there when it happens.

Bass Lake ice-out by year

Each dot is one spring; the amber line is the median. Hover a dot for who called it.
Ice Out — cartoon calendar with a date circled beside a bass jumping through breaking ice
What counts as ice-out. So the record means something years from now, we use one rule and stick to it: ice-out is the first day the lake is completely free of ice — no sheet left anywhere you can see from shore, floating slush included. Not the day the middle opened up, not the day your bay cleared. If you're not sure, wait a day and look again. Note the date, not the hour.

Report an ice-out date

Saw it go? Send it in. Old dates welcome too — if you have years written on a calendar in the cabin, that's exactly what this record needs.

Why bother writing it down

One year's date tells you nothing. Thirty years of dates tells you what's happening to your lake — and it's the kind of record nobody can go back and reconstruct later.

It's the cheapest data there isNo equipment, no training, no budget. One person, one look at the lake, one date a year.
Wisconsin has done this beforeLake Mendota's ice record runs unbroken back to 1855 — the longest of its kind anywhere. It exists because somebody started.
It can count officiallyThe DNR and UW‑Stevens Point run a volunteer Ice‑On/Ice‑Off program. If we keep this up, our dates can go into the state database alongside every other lake's.
The state program →

Sleds, side-by-sides and the county forest

Trail updates

Burnett County Forest & Parks runs the trail system around us and posts what's open, what's closed and what's being groomed. Dates on a calendar don't open a trail — snow depth, frost and the county do. Check before you load up.

Cartoon snowmobile on a snowy trail

Snowmobile

December 1 – March 31, once officially opened
300+ miles across the county

State-funded winter trails, marked with orange blazers, connecting to every surrounding county and across into Pine County, Minnesota. Local clubs do the grooming and the signing.

County snowmobile trails →
Cartoon side-by-side UTV on a dirt trail

ATV & UTV

Three separate seasons — see below
Summer, fall forest access, winter

Summer trails carry white blazers, winter trails blue, and the Frozen Ground winter trail green. Machines have to be registered, and the Gandy Dancer has rules of its own depending on the season.

When you can ride →
2026 season

Snowmobile & winter ATV map

The county's official winter map — groomed snowmobile trails, winter ATV routes and the connections into neighbouring counties and Minnesota. This is the one to have on the sled.

Open the winter map →
2024 edition

Summer ATV / UTV map

Summer-use routes across the county forest, open from the Friday of Memorial Day weekend through September 15. Trailhead parking is marked at Danbury, and the map shows county forest land, club routes and every road class. Dated May 31, 2024 — check the county's page for a newer one.

Open the summer map →

Reading the winter map

Four line types, and the difference decides whether you can legally be on it.

Snowmobile trail — sleds only
Snowmobile / winter ATV trail — both
Snowmobile route — sleds only
Snowmobile / winter ATV route — both
If it isn't blue or grey, it's a sled trail and your ATV doesn't belong on it. The trail through Danbury is blue — winter ATVs are welcome on it. The map also marks corridor numbers, intersection numbers and trail shelters, and shows where the system crosses into Douglas, Washburn, Polk and Barron counties and on toward Gordon, Minong, Spooner and Minnesota.
Club routes are the ones on town roads. The orange dashed lines on the summer map are club routes — road routes that are not part of Burnett County's state-funded ATV trail system. They're managed by the Turf & Tundra Trails Association together with the local towns and villages, which means the Town of Union's own ATV and snowmobile ordinances are what govern them. Those ordinances, including an amended ATV ordinance, are posted on the town's website.
Both maps carry the same warning, and it's worth repeating: they are a guide only, the county and the trails association take no responsibility for the accuracy of a route, and the data changes constantly. The summer map in hand is dated May 31, 2024.
Town of Union ordinances →

The ATV / UTV year in Burnett County

County forest land only — town and private roads have their own rules.

Memorial Day Fri – Sep 15
Summer trails State-funded summer-use trails only, marked with white blazers.
Sep 16 – Nov 30
Fall forest access Snowmobile trails, fire lanes and logging roads at least eight feet wide. Not the Gandy Dancer.
Dec 1 – Mar 31
Winter trails Blue-blazed winter trails once there's a 4″ groomed base and the county opens them.
Apr 1 – Memorial Day
Everything closed County forest lands are shut for the spring thaw. No riding.

The clubs that keep the trails open

Five snowmobile clubs and the county's ATV association groom, sign and repair these trails, almost entirely with volunteers and their own equipment. If you ride here, join one.

Cozy Corner TrailsSue Smedegard · 715-656-3855 Facebook →
Lake Country RidersTeri Simonson · 763-350-9639 lcrsc.com →
Lakes & Pines Sno-TrailsDeb Grobner · 651-485-7514 lakesnpines.org →
Phantom Trail RidersJohn McNally · 715-463-2100 phantomtrailriders.com →
Wonderland Sno-TrailsKris Hoefs · 651-343-3083 wonderlandsnotrails.org →
Turf & Tundra Trails AssociationATV & UTV · club routes and summer trails County trail updates →
All five sled clubs, and the rest of the stateAssoc. of WI Snowmobile Clubs AWSC club listing →
One page decides it. The county's Trail Updates page is what actually says open or closed, and it changes through the season. Groomers and maintenance vehicles can be on the trails at any hour. Burnett County Forest & Parks: (715) 349‑2157.
Burnett County trail updates →

What the law actually says

Boating & jet skis

Most friction on a small lake comes down to one thing: how close you are to shore and how fast you're going. Wisconsin puts a number on it, and the number is different for a boat than it is for a jet ski. Here it is, drawn out.

How far off the shoreline before you can open it up

Slow‑no‑wake means as slow as you can go and still steer. Not "a little slower." Not "off plane." The wake is the test — if you're throwing one, you're too fast.

100 FT OF ANY PIER, DOCK OR RAFT 200 ft from shore 100 ft from shore SLOW–NO–WAKE · EVERY BOAT, EVERY JET SKI JET SKIS · STILL SLOW–NO–WAKE OPEN WATER
Wis. Stat. § 30.66(3). Distances are measured from the shoreline. A town or county can make these rules tighter, and marked water‑ski pickup and drop‑off zones are the one exception.
Cartoon runabout boat on a sunny lake

Boats

  • 100 feet of shore — slow-no-wake, on any lake.
  • 100 feet of any dock, pier, raft or buoyed restricted area — slow-no-wake.
  • 100 feet of a swimmer — slow-no-wake, unless you're going to help them.
  • Born on or after Jan 1, 1989? You need a Wisconsin boating safety certificate.
  • Kids under 13 wear a life jacket while the boat is underway, unless they're in a cabin or below deck.
Wis. Stat. § 30.66(3); DNR boating regulations
Cartoon personal watercraft throwing spray

Jet skis (PWC)

  • 200 feet of shore — double the distance a boat gets. This is the one people don't know.
  • 100 feet of any other boat — slow-no-wake.
  • Sunset to sunrise — a PWC may not be operated at all.
  • Everyone aboard wears a life jacket. No exceptions, any age.
  • Under 12 can't operate one. Ages 12–15 need a safety certificate; a parent in the seat behind is not a substitute.
Wis. Stat. § 30.66(3)(ar), (b); DNR boating regulations
50
Acres or less On a lake of 50 acres or less with public access, the whole lake is slow-no-wake unless it's a thoroughfare between navigable lakes.
1989
The certificate line Born on or after January 1, 1989 and you need a boating safety certificate to run any motorized watercraft. Born before, you don't.
200
No circling Running repeatedly in circles within 200 feet of another boat or anyone in the water is illegal, however good the driving is.
0.08
Same as the road Operating a boat while intoxicated is its own offense at 0.08, and it is enforced on this lake like anywhere else.
Cartoon pontoon boat cruising past a wooded shoreline
The part no statute covers. On a lake this size your wake reaches somebody's dock, somebody's swimming kids and somebody's shoreline every single time. The legal distance is the floor, not the goal — and the lake is small enough that everybody knows whose boat it was.

Ten minutes at the landing

Clean, drain, dry

Invasive Species Alert — cartoon boater rinsing a trailered boat at the landing, weed hanging off the propeller and zebra mussels on the hull, beside a Clean / Drain / Inspect sign

Zebra mussels, Eurasian watermilfoil and starry stonewort do not swim between lakes. They ride. Every one of them arrives on a trailer, in a live well, or in a coil of wet anchor rope. The whole defense is one routine done properly, every single trip.

1

Inspect

Walk the boat and trailer before you pull away. Look at the bunks, the rollers, the axle, the transom, the anchor and the lines. Run a hand over the hull and the trailer frame — young zebra mussels feel like coarse sandpaper before you can see them.

2

Remove

Pull off every scrap of weed and anything attached, and scrape off the mud. Leave it on shore or in the trash — not back in the water, where a fragment of milfoil is a new plant.

3

Drain

All of it. Live well, bait well, bilge, ballast, the motor, the cooler. Pull the plug and leave it out. Tip the bow up so the last of it runs out of the bilge instead of sitting in the back corner.

4

Never move

No live fish, no lake water, no leftover bait going to another lake. Unwanted minnows, leeches and worms go in the trash, not over the side.

Everywhere a boat hides water

The live well is the one everybody remembers. These are the ones that get missed.

Live well — and the plumbing behind it, not just the tank
Bait well — dump it, don't top it up at the next lake
Bilge — plug out, bow raised, let it run dry
Ballast bags and tanks — wake boats hold hundreds of pounds of it
Motor lower unit — trim it down at the ramp and let it drain
Transom and splash wells — water sits in the corners
Coolers — especially if you iced fish in lake water
Anchor and rope — a wet coil in a locker stays wet for days
Trailer bunks, rollers and frame — where mussels actually attach
Transducer and trolling motor — weed wraps around both
Buoys, ropes, dock sections — anything that lived in another lake
Waders, boots and nets — felt soles hold water and spores

Wisconsin

The law says drain,
not "pull the plug"

Wisconsin requires all water drained from the boat, motor and equipment before you transport on a public road — drinking water and up to two gallons holding legal minnows excepted. It doesn't spell out the plug. Pulling it is simply how you comply, and how a warden can see that you did.

Minnesota — five miles west of here

The plug must be out
while you're trailering

Minnesota law is explicit: drain plugs out and draining devices open while transporting, and it's an offense to arrive at an access with the plug in. Plenty of boats on this lake launched in Minnesota last weekend. Plug out, both directions, and the question never comes up.

140°F
High-pressure hot water For the outside — hull, trailer, anything you can reach with a wand. This is what actually kills what's clinging on.
120°F
Low-pressure, inside For the compartments, and a 3–5 minute low-flow flush through ballast systems until it runs clear.
Dry
Then leave it alone Where there's no hot water, time does the work. Let the boat and everything in it dry fully before it touches another lake.

We could be doing this at our own landing

Clean Boats, Clean Waters is a state program where volunteers spend a few hours at a boat landing on a busy weekend, walk boaters through the checks, and record what they find. Extension Lakes trains the volunteers, and the DNR funds the program through a streamlined grant that lake groups like ours are eligible for.

It is the single most effective thing a small association can do about invasives, and the whole cost is somebody's Saturday morning. If you'd sit at the landing for a few hours next summer, tell a board member.

DNR prevention steps → Wisconsin transport & bait law → Minnesota clean-drain-dispose → Clean Boats, Clean Waters →

Bass Lake is named after what's in it

Fishing

Bass, northern pike, crappie and bluegill are what come out of this lake. The rules that govern keeping them are set by the state, adjusted by county, and changed often enough that the honest advice is always the same: look the lake up before you put a fish in the bucket.

Cartoon fishing rod on a dock with a largemouth bass jumping on the line

Why the aerators matter to this

A shallow lake under a foot of ice and a foot of snow runs out of oxygen, and when it does the fish die under there where nobody sees it until spring. That's winterkill, and it's the reason the association spends money on compressors and airline instead of something more visible.

Every fish anybody catches out of here in June is a fish that got through the winter. The two things are the same project.

The Burnett County rule people get wrong

There is no minimum length limit on bass
in Burnett County waters

Largemouth and smallmouth, county-wide — the statewide 14″ minimum does not apply here. The exceptions are the Namekagon, the St. Croix and the Totagatic rivers, which keep their own rules. The daily bag is still five bass, combined. Legal and wise aren't the same thing: a lake this size does not have an endless supply of keeper bass.

Ours are largemouth. The DNR lists largemouth, northern pike and panfish for this water — smallmouth want rock and cool deep water, and we have weed beds and a soft bottom. The fish survey the board is pricing will confirm exactly what's down there.

What's open, what you can keep

Inland waters, Northern Zone, Burnett County — 2026–27 license year.

SpeciesSeasonDaily bagMinimum length
Largemouth bass Harvest May 2, 2026 – Mar 7, 2027
Catch and release the rest of the year		 5 combined
with smallmouth		 None in Burnett County
Smallmouth bass Harvest from Jun 20, 2026
Catch and release May 2 – Jun 19		 5 combined
with largemouth		 None in Burnett County
Northern pike May 2, 2026 – Mar 7, 2027 5 None — we're north of Hwy 10
Crappie Open all year 25 — shared with
all other panfish		 None
Bluegill & perch Open all year Part of the same 25 None
Panfish share one bag. The 25 is all panfish together — crappie, bluegill, perch and the rest — not 25 of each. And it isn't 25 everywhere: the DNR sets panfish bags lake by lake and some nearby waters sit at 10. Look our lake up on the DNR regulation page before you keep a limit.

Licenses

  • 15 and under fish free, every day of the year. So does anyone born before 1927.
  • Resident annual, $20. Non-resident annual, $55. A one-day resident license is $8.
  • First time, or back after ten years off? $5 for residents. There is no cheaper way to get somebody started.
  • Free Fishing Weekends — the third full weekend in January and the first full weekend in June. No license needed; every other rule still applies.

On the ice

  • Three hooks, baits or lures per person, same as open water. Holes no more than 12 inches across.
  • Shelters need your name and address or DNR customer ID on the outside, in letters at least an inch, in a contrasting color — and the door has to open from outside.
  • Off the ice by March 15. We're north of Highway 64, so that's our deadline for anything not removed daily.
  • Mind the aerators. There is open water over the diffusers all winter, marked with reflective buoys. Ice near open water is never the thickness you think it is.
Bait rules are part of the invasive species law. You may not take live fish or lake water away from the landing, and minnows bought outside Wisconsin can't be used as bait here. Drain the live well before you pull out, every time — it's the same rule as the boating section, and it's the reason this lake still fishes the way it does.
DNR fishing regulations → Licenses & fees → Season dates → Free Fishing Weekends →

Where we sit

Lake facts

Bass Lake is one small piece of a very wet corner of a very wet state. Some context for what we're looking after.

15,000

Lakes in Wisconsin

The state counts roughly fifteen thousand of them. Most have no name at all.

Wisconsin DNR
500+

Lakes in Burnett County

Our county alone holds more than five hundred — which is why half the traffic on Highway 35 in July has a boat behind it.

Burnett County
6.6%

Of the county is water

Fifty-eight of Burnett County's 880 square miles are water. One square mile in fifteen.

U.S. Census Bureau
~12,000

Years since the ice left

Northern Wisconsin's lakes are holes the glaciers left behind. The last great North American glaciation is literally named after this state — the Wisconsin glaciation.

Wisconsin Geological Survey
3

Counties with no city

Burnett is one of only three counties in Wisconsin with no incorporated city inside it. Siren is the county seat and it's a village.

U.S. Census Bureau
1855

The longest ice record on earth

Lake Mendota's freeze and thaw dates have been kept since 1855. The long-run average is 102 days of ice a winter; the recent five-year average is 73.

Wisconsin State Climatology Office
…shall be common highways and forever free. Wisconsin Constitution, Article IX, Section 1

Wisconsin's Public Trust Doctrine says the bed of every navigable lake is held by the state in trust for every citizen — not for the people who happen to own the shoreline. It is the oldest reason there is a public landing on this lake at all, and the reason the association fights to keep it usable. Own on the water or not, the water is yours.

Membership

Join the association

Dues are what keep this an association rather than a mailing list. They fund the work, and they give the lake a voice that carries weight with the Town, the County and the DNR. You don't have to own shoreline to join — membership is open to off-lake neighbours too.

$120Per year, per household

What dues pay for

  • Upkeep and improvement of the public boat landing
  • The winter aeration system and its running costs
  • Watching the water — quality, clarity, and invasive species
  • A seat at the table on decisions that affect the lake
  • The annual meeting, and keeping members informed year-round
Who can join. Anyone who owns on Bass Lake, anyone who owns off the lake but nearby, and anyone who simply uses this water and wants the landing kept usable and the aerators running. The association was started by shoreline owners and the name still says so, but the work has never only benefited them — the landing exists precisely so that people without shoreline can get on the lake. If you're in that second group, you're welcome here and your dues count the same.

Pay your dues

Venmo is the quickest way, and it lands straight in the association's account.

Venmo @BLPOA-Treasurer-Danbury-WI

Put “Dues” and your name and address in the note so the treasurer knows who it came from. Prefer a check? Payable to BLPOA, mailed to Lois Mueller, Treasurer, 8604 S Shore Drive, Danbury, WI 54830.

Open Venmo

One payment covers the whole household, not each person in it. New this year? Send your dues any time; you'll be on the books through the following Memorial Day.

When & where

Dues due
Memorial Day

Dues run the year and come due each Memorial Day. One date, easy to remember, same weekend everybody's opening up the lake anyway.

Annual meeting
Memorial Day weekend

Held the same weekend at the Town of Union hall — budget, the landing, the aeration systems, and the board election. Members and prospective members are both welcome.

Bring
Your dues, if you haven't sent them

The treasurer takes payment at the meeting — Venmo on the spot works too.

Who we are

The board

Four neighbours, elected by the membership. Any of us is glad to answer a question about the landing, the aeration project, dues, or anything else on this lake.

Scott Heller

Scott Heller

President email
Steve Herrmann

Steve Herrmann

Vice President email
Lois Mueller

Lois Mueller

Treasurer email
Jackie Diehl

Jackie Diehl

Secretary email

Connect with us on Facebook

The group is where the day-to-day happens — ice conditions, aerator updates, lost dogs, found boat cushions, and word when something needs doing. If Bass Lake matters to you, join it.

Join the group