The passion behind the effort

Keeping our lakes and streams clean is so important to us. After all, it is the main theme that Northern Wake Company was formed around. But why? Why are we so passionate? Why is it important?

The origin

Both Andrew and I grew up spending almost every minute of our Summer on the Midwest lakes. I took my first water-ski ride at 6 years old. There are very few days between May 1st and September 1st that I don't have a pair of swim trunks on. Both of us have been lucky enough to travel to some beautiful corners of this earth, but if either of us were asked where our favorite place to spend a Summer is, both replies would sound something like "Anywhere in the Midwest with a lake, a cooler, some sun, and a good group of pals". ​

The issue

The issue can be seen on both a global and local scale. By 2025, over half of the world's population will be living in a water-stressed area. Just looking at Minnesota, almost half of our bodies of water are considered "impaired", meaning they do not meet the water quality standards for swimming or fishing. There are 1.4 million pounds of toxic waste dumped into Minnesota rivers and streams every year. Without working toward conserving our waters, we will soon start to see the consequences. 

In addition to the cleanliness of our waters, we also continue to deal with invasive species. Local lakes have become homes to invasive species including Eurasian watermilfoil and zebra mussels. These non-native species destroy aquatic ecosystems and are difficult difficult to get rid of.

So what?

We knew that when we founded Northern Wake Company, we wanted to focus on helping contain an eliminate these issues. We have decided to focus on helping tackle our local issues in the Midwest, with plans to expand our efforts to a more global scale in the future. 

We determined two significant ways to start tackling these issues. The first is to help fund organizations that are dedicated conserving our waters. Some of these include; The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Conservation Minnesota, and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

The second of the two ways is education. Education is a vital part of stopping the spread of invasive species. When boaters know how to properly transfer their vehicles from lake to lake, it can make all the difference. Read about how to transfer vehicles properly, here. We have also been working hard at creating an educational video that will release this Fall. We are projecting that this video will be seen by over 1 million viewers, and will help people better understand how important conserving our waters actually is.

Thanks for reading!
Nick Anderson
Co-Founder

(1) Environment Minnesota Research and Policy Center
(2) Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
(3) World Health Organization Media Centre Fact sheet N°391. Drinking Water, July 2017