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Healthy Lakes Keep Families Together And Businesses Growing · ALL IN Kosciusko

• 0:11
  Speaker: Welcome to ALL IN Kosciusko, a podcast connecting people, places, and progress throughout Kosciusko County.
• 0:18
  Speaker: I'm your host, Matt Deuel.
• 0:20
  Speaker: When people picture Kosciusko County, there is a good chance they picture water.
• 0:25
  Speaker: We are home to more than 100 lakes and 600 miles of streams.
• 0:30
  Speaker: Our waterways shape the way we live, the way people experience our community, and in many ways, the way our local economy functions.
• 0:38
  Speaker: They attract visitors, support businesses, strengthen property values, and give people another reason to call Kosciusko County home.
• 0:47
  Speaker: But resources this valuable cannot be taken for granted.
• 0:50
  Speaker: Healthy lakes require research, education, investment, and long-term stewardship.
• 0:56
  Speaker: Today we are going all in on our lakes and streams with two people who can help us understand both their environmental and economic importance.
• 1:05
  Speaker: Dr.
• 1:05
  Speaker: Nate Bosch is the Dean of the School of Science and Engineering and the Director of the Lilly Center for Lakes and Streams at Grace College, where he leads research, education, and collaborative efforts focused on the health of our local waterways.
• 1:20
  Speaker: And Cori Humes, who is the Executive Director of Clearly Kosciusko and the Kosciusko County Convention and Visitors Bureau, helping residents and visitors discover the places, experiences, and natural resources that make this county distinctive.
• 1:35
  Speaker: Well, Nate, Cori, thank you all so much for being here.
• 1:38
  Speaker: Really appreciate it.
• 1:39
  Speaker: Yeah, thanks for having us.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: Thank you for having me.
• 1:41
  Speaker: Absolutely, for sure.
• 1:42
  Speaker: Okay, so Nate, let's kick it off with the big picture.
• 1:44
  Speaker: Okay.
• 1:45
  Speaker: When we talk about Kosciusko County as this community of lakes, all these waterways, what exactly are we talking about?
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so we are blessed here in this county to have over a hundred lakes, over 600 miles of streams.
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: We have the continental divide north-south running through our county as well.
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: We've got the biggest natural lake in Indiana, the deepest natural lake in Indiana.
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: We're really um Lake and Stream Central for sure.
• 2:17
  Speaker: What would you say makes this concentration of water unusual or significant?
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so it is unique that we have this concentration of water with all of these lakes and all of these streams.
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: And it's significant because not only are these great natural assets for us to be able to enjoy, it's our quality of life, but it also leads into our identity of who our county is and also the economic driver that those things provide as well.
• 2:47
  Speaker: Perfect, perfect.
• 2:47
  Speaker: And we're gonna dive into that for sure.
• 2:50
  Speaker: And you kind of teased my next question for Cori.
• 2:52
  Speaker: So, Cori, when we talk about from the tourism standpoint, just that the county branding, right?
• 2:58
  Speaker: How much do these waterways play into who we are as a county?
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: Well, just like Nate just said, it is a true foundation in our belief, especially with tourism, of who Kosciusko County is.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: Um, beyond like the beautiful natural resources of it, and it has a lot of historical value here.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: Um, I feel sometimes we also we don't maybe overstep the fact of how unique the history is around the communities and the growth around the waterways and how it has positively affected our economy and not just for tourism, a huge impact for tourism.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: Me and Nate both have done our resource with that, but just the way that people have um utilized those waterways and um yeah, over a hundred.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: And Nate, I was gonna throw this at you.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: Do you know the true number?
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: Because I get that randomly asked.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: Um, they're like, you say over a hundred, but what does that mean?
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: And I said, Great question.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: It's just we have a lot, over a hundred.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: But I feel like it what it sets us apart from so many other communities in Indiana, excuse me, is the number of lakes and how for tourism we feel it it's that hook.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: So it is that hook a lot of our visitors come to see, but it's not the only thing they're able to experience while they're here from a tourism standpoint.
• 4:21
  Speaker: Excellent, excellent.
• 4:22
  Speaker: So, Nate, if you sent out the students to to hand count them.
• 4:24
  Speaker: Sorry, Nate, we haven't.
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: We haven't.
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: Well, that's funny because your predecessor at the C VB asked me, that was probably one of the first questions when I got here to Kosciusko County and we launched the Lily Center for Lakes and Streams.
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: And so you know that amongst the different counties, there's this sort of uh who's got the most lakes or between Noble and Stubed.
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: The three of us play that game, right?
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: So so when I was asked this question originally, it was in the context of how do we beat the other ones, kind of?
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: It really was.
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: Here's here's here.
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: So I looked spatially, we have this uh this tool called GIS.
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: And uh so you can look at different layers, and so I looked at the surface water layer, and we can say if we look at five acres or larger, we can count 104 bodies of water.
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: Okay, but then they thought that wasn't quite good enough.
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, because that's and so when I went down to two acres or larger, we got all the way up to 116.
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: But I can, as a scientist, legitimately say two acres is really a lake.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: That's like a pot.
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: But when with that threshold, you can't say up to 116.
• 5:39
  Speaker: So depending on your job title, where you're coming from, you may want to grab about 116.
• 5:44
  Speaker: Okay, I got it.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: I love that because we are often competing.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: Because my colleague in Noble and my colleague in Stuben will play that game.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: Well, how many do you have?
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: I have more than you.
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: Right, right.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: Because we're all very lake-centric in those, but we have the deepest.
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: I would say, and maybe we'll get into this.
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: Our lakes are are really well cared for and well studied, more so than some of those other countries.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: That's exactly what sets us apart.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: Sorry, I didn't mean to get on off the line.
• 6:12
  Speaker: No, no, I love that.
• 6:12
  Speaker: No, that's that was that was that was a great bit of information there for sure.
• 6:15
  Speaker: So, Cori, with the lakes, do you see obviously there's a boost in the summer.
• 6:20
  Speaker: That's a that's a very part of it.
• 6:22
  Speaker: But I I feel like there's a more year-round picture that's happening there.
• 6:25
  Speaker: Can you speak to that?
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: Oh, sure.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: So often for visitors and all of us here that are residents of this great community, we see that influx of visitors during those those months.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: Um, and especially between Memorial Day to Labor Day.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: So you see that major influx of the visitor.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: And we typically see about two, over two million visitors to K County on a normal basis, which is we average, we exceed that from all of the great things that are happening.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: But during those months um of summer, we see about half, about a million of them are just during between May and September.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: According to our research, yeah.
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: Um, we have some tools too that we're utilizing.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: So I was pulling those numbers and I was actually quite surprised by that myself.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: And yes, we can see that during the summer months, all of the activities from boating, fishing, um, our vacation homes, etc.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: But yeah, you're right, it isn't the only time of the year that you can lovely and utilize the lakes.
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: There's so many other winter and fall activities, but um it is more of a year-round experience.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: So, yes, we may be able to be on the lakes more in those winter months or those summer months, excuse me, but everyone can utilize them or vis visit them in so many different ways.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: If it's dining in a restaurant on the lake, even if it's even for us, if it's cold and they're open and they're on the lakefront, there's something about the ice.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: Or in the fall, when maybe you won't be in it with your boat, but you'll be able to visually see that fall foliage and it just brings visitors in a different manner and traveling differently than we're used to from the boating and the the fishing, etc.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: But hey, fishing can happen all year round.
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: That's one of the things I love about our lakes is that is the seasonality and just the different personalities that they can serve, right?
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: I mean, some people love being really loud and having a party, and the lakes can provide that with a big gathering of family or friends.
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: Maybe it's out on one of our sandbars in one of our lakes, or it's it's on the shore at someone's lake cottage.
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: Other people like solitude and just quiet, and oftentimes those non-summer months can be great times for that solitude, you know, out on a stand-up paddleboard or kayaking, or out uh on the ice fishing.
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: Not a lot of people would want to do that, so you're usually by yourself if you're doing that.
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: Um but but it and it could be, as I said, with a lot of people, with few people loud or quiet, cold or warm, uh fast or slow.
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: You know, some people like like speed, and so they're out there sailing as fast as they can, or we have a sport of ice sailing.
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, right.
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: Ice sailing, thank you for bringing that up super fast, um, or on a speed boat going super fast.
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: Other people just like the slow, just sort of like contemplative.
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: And so I just love that.
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: And and so that there's a seasonality there, but it also shows all of the personality.
• 9:32
  Speaker: Oh, what a great way to stay.
• 9:33
  Speaker: I love that.
• 9:34
  Speaker: So, Nate, I know at the center you all have done quite a bit of research around the economic impact of the lakes.
• 9:41
  Speaker: So uh talk to us about that and what have you learned about how much value are being generated by our waterways.
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so a lot of communities can point to sort of the big three.
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: When I was in graduate school and in Arbor, the big three in that area were the big three automakers, right?
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: Our big three economic drivers are orthopedics and agriculture and the lakes.
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: And so when we look at the lakes specifically, we did some research about 10 years ago and found that over $300 million comes into Kosciusko County every year because of the lakes.
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: And we know that that was a conservative number because we were out there surveying business owners and getting a sense on what portion of their revenue came because of the lakes, and some business owners, for whatever reason, didn't feel comfortable providing that data to us, or we couldn't get in touch with the right person who had that data.
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: So that's conservative.
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: It's it's higher than that.
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: The other thing is that was 10 years ago.
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: So we did an inflation sort of correction just this last year and found likely it's up over 400 million in today's dollars.
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: We're gonna be partnering with our School of Business at Grace College in the next year to redo that study and uh and see what what that true uh value is today.
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: Um, but it just just an amazing economic uh incentive for, you know, I like to think that we we would take care of our lakes because it's the right thing to do, to be good environmental stewards of of this uh world that we have around us, but the economics bring a whole nother group of people to the table to see the value of that, our business community and and our elected officials.
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: And so uh yeah, big, big economic driver for sure.
• 11:36
  Speaker: Yeah, amazing, amazing.
• 11:37
  Speaker: So, Cori, where do you see that economic impact most clearly?
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: Oh, we see it significantly, you know.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: When we for our lakes being such a major impact for the hook for tourism, when we're thinking of economic activity, you know, people often think of hotel stays or attractions, et cetera, but it's so much broader than that.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: Um, for tourism itself, it generates um we are we're close to about 186 million dollars in visitor spending.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: That's visitor spending.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: Um and that supports over about 21, 2,150 jobs in Casakiasco County.
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: But it also helps bring down tax base for our community as well.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: So state and local taxes that rough that's visitor spend helps buy um about $20 million in tax revenue to our communities.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: So you're we're seeing these numbers.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: I would love to do a study together and see how that looks because we know the significant value of lakes.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: Yes, but it is a true driver to our economic growth.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: And and a lot of people, and I feel tourism is also seen as an economic driver, but like you said, our big three we're thinking of our orthopedics and our other manufacturing and the lakes, etc., and agriculture.
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: So tourism is on there.
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: And from our own studies, we've seen that tourism actually as a as an industry is ranked eighth or ninth of industries where our industries stay in Kosciusko County.
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: So, of course, manufacturers like our top, but tourism is one of those ninth ranked due to the number of jobs in the industry that we do support.
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: From hoteliers to um our dining, shopping, all of those that have to do with hospitality and welcoming people into our communities.
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: Because as much as we want to say that the visitor center right on US 30 is gonna be that first stop, we know that most of our visitors are going into a hotel, vacation home rental, um, or a local restaurant or business, retail business in our downtown, the village of Winona, where they're getting that first initial hospitality.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: So we're hoping through that we're just driving lots of dollars to Kosciusko County.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: And that's just one way that it how the lakes have been so effective in that.
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: It's interesting you talked about tax base, because as part of that economic study we did 10 years ago, we looked at property taxes and we looked at the revenue to our county from property taxes that was due to the lakes.
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: So so people's homes that are on the lake have an inflated value from what that value would be if it was, you know, out in a cornfield or something elsewhere in Kosciusko County.
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: So we took just the lake influenced portion of those values, added it all up, and it was 15 million.
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: And at the town, at the time, the total county tax revenue was 60 million.
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: So we're talking about a quarter of it, and then you just talked about tourism.
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: So if you add the 15 to 20, we're talking over half of the county tax revenue is due to our lakes.
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: That's a pretty impressive statistic.
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: And that's our lakes.
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: So it's just it's important to see because it's such a draw for visitors and residents alike.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: And you see, visiting friends and relatives are a huge part in this desk in our destination.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: And we see that maybe a lot of places, but I feel specific specifically here in Kate County, because so many of those that are coming back to visit family is a huge number.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: We can see that through some of our research, but that is a great statistic to add to that.
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: And you talked about history earlier and the these lakes, I've heard from many families who live around the lakes that if it wasn't for that lake and that lake home, their family would be much more fragmented and wouldn't get together as often.
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: But the lake, especially over Fourth of July, week is that that place where that family comes from all around the country or sometimes internationally, back home with the family and just spending time together.
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: And so these lakes create this family heritage that goes back generations, which is really cool too.
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: That is so great.
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: And that's hard to monetize.
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: It is very important.
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: But it's equally important.
• 15:56
  Speaker: Yes, very important.
• 15:57
  Speaker: Yes, for sure.
• 15:58
  Speaker: So I love how, and thank you so much, helping us to understand the economic impact, because a lot of what we talk about here in this show is that economic development piece.
• 16:09
  Speaker: And so I love Nate how you really boiled it down to we have our big three and the lakes being one of them.
• 16:16
  Speaker: So from your perspective, do you feel like our natural resources maybe get overlooked a little bit in the infrastructure discussions?
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: I th I think so.
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: You know, even when we think of agriculture, that's natural resources as well.
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: That's uh landscape, that's soils and water chemistry, at least that's the way I think about it.
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: But um so so these natural features are a large part of uh in and even when we talk to business owners, a lot of the reasons they came here was because of the lakes.
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: They wanted that quality of life for themselves or for their employees.
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: And so they chose to come here or they chose to stay here because of the lakes.
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: So I I think the natural features do sometimes get overlooked, but but that doesn't diminish the fact that they are so important, even though they they might not be perceived as much.
• 17:21
  Speaker: Sure, sure.
• 17:22
  Speaker: So, and I know this is something you and your team are very passionate about, but why would you maybe put the health of our lakes up there with things like housing?
• 17:32
  Speaker: Yeah, things like job retention, things like talent, recruitment, that sort of stuff.
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: Well, some of it has to do with the numbers, uh, the economic numbers, right?
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: These these lakes, if invested in, can be even better for the future.
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: And so we'd expect even increases on top of the current economic uh driving that we see from the lakes.
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: Uh we know the opposite is true as well.
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: If these lakes get degraded, they're no longer a draw for who we are as a community or businesses or or their employees wanting to stay in the community, or those families gathering together.
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: I mean, no family is gonna want to keep gathering together at a lake that is toxic and their their kids and pets can't go in the water.
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: So um, so so I I I think it's gonna be increasingly important, even.
• 18:27
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 18:27
  Speaker: Right.
• 18:28
  Speaker: Any thoughts for you, Cori, on that, just that attraction and retention?
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: It's a great question.
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: It's hard when you think about it.
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: You know, our natural resources are absolutely part of that overall infrastructure.
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: And I think to most of us, when we think about it, we're thinking of roads, utilities, make sure we have broadband.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: But I feel like you mentioned those natural resources, not just from a lake standpoint, from our agriculture, um, water streams, trails, etc., but to continue to build a strong economy and continue the growth when it comes to the talent and attraction component, maybe pulling that in.
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: Because sometimes we always say it all starts with a visit, right?
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: If we're getting a visitor here, if they're here to look at a specific company that they want to work for, they want to be able to know what they can do.
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: So ultimately, if those natural resources are continue to be invested in, just like Lilith Sandy for Nixon's dreams and yourself and all around are continue and invest in that, we were hopefully attracting those people to come and work here and live here through those natural resources.
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I do think sometimes it's not always the first thing that we're initially thinking we make sure our roads are maintained and make sure that, but making sure those natural resources are continued.
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: So we have something to celebrate always because lakes are so important to this community.
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: So that would be a little bit of my two cents on that.
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: But maybe I I just feel it could it does in the investment that you all have done is major and how important it is for the tourism industry for sure.
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: And everybody else as well for the county.
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: Sure.
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: Well, thank you for that.
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: I I think investing into our lakes and understanding them better, I think is is important for for that quality, like we were saying, but it's also important for the health and safety of our residents and visitors alike.
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: So there's no other, you know, I I said sort of a bold statement a little earlier in the episode here that we're doing more than any other county.
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: And I can say that very confidently because no other county is testing, you know, 16 different lakes, all our most visited lakes every single week from Memorial Day to Labor Day, looking after algae toxins, notifying the public when those levels have gotten too high.
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: Our lakes are are really good.
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: So don't get the sense that our lakes are more degraded than other lakes in Indiana.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: It's just we are we are sampling them more often and we are looking at them more closely than other counties in Indiana, and we're then being proactive about letting people know what those levels are and um and uh fixing those problems then exactly if there was because I know that from our standpoint um we get visitors that come in and we often are sharing about the that you have your text message program about those lakes that you're testing to make sure that they're of they're in how their levels are and how quickly when there is a potential issue that it is how quickly you are able to fix that as quickly as possible and notify the public.
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: Which I feel is such a unique asset and resource that I'm not aware of any other county that does that, specifically with the lakes.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: And especially because so many of the 16 you know, we have over a hundred and you know, so many so many privately owned and public, but especially for those very um.
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: Well populated our center, our pikes, our Winona Lakes, um, in Wawas Sea, Syracuse, but so many people utilize uh free access to those, and being able to know that they're in a safe environment when they're there is really important.
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: Yes, it is to the family, our dogs, kids, everybody.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: So I thank you for that.
• 22:20
  Speaker: Yeah, absolutely.
• 22:21
  Speaker: Okay, so Nate, you gave us a little bit of a sneak peek, and I know this is an unfair question because I'm gonna push you to answer it briefly.
• 22:27
  Speaker: You want the deep dive, go to the Lake Doctor Podcast, which is a fabulous podcast where you can get all of the good stuff.
• 22:34
  Speaker: But help us understand what makes a lake healthy.
• 22:37
  Speaker: Like again, what what is that what are you testing for?
• 22:39
  Speaker: What are you looking for?
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so when we look at lake health, we're we're trying to see if it's clean or not.
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: Now, clean doesn't mean clear, um, and we don't have time to go into all of that.
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: I appreciate that but but the cleanliness of the lake, I think of measures like um is there E.
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: coli in the water that might make somebody sick, or is there algae toxin in the water that might make a pet sick?
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: Uh these these are some of the things that we look at to determine the health of a lake.
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: And I would say that those are probably our two biggest threats right now in our counties' lakes.
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: Again, not any more of a threat than any other county in Indiana or even throughout the Midwestern United States.
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: Actually, probably globally, those would be two two pretty key important measures that uh communities around the world are trying to deal with.
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: Um but where do those things come from?
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: So those things are gonna come from different nutrient sources.
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: Okay, now let's think about those nutrient sources.
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: Where are those and how can we go about trying to minimize those for the future?
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: That really becomes the work of what we and other partners that we get to work with are all about is our lakes are good, but not being content with that.
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: We want them to be better.
• 24:01
  Speaker: Yes, I love that.
• 24:02
  Speaker: Anything else you would want people to know about the Lily Center, the work that you all are doing that maybe on the surface people just have no idea?
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so maybe starting with our mission, lakes and streams, we want to see them clean, healthy, safe, and beautiful.
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: We work in three areas research, we've kind of touched on that already.
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: We want to identify any threats like E.
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: coli or toxins.
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: We want to find the most strategic solutions to those threats.
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: Uh, education, we want to raise up the next generation of water literate citizens and visitors uh to our community.
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: And then collaboration, I already mentioned that as well.
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: We need to be working with partner organizations that helps our efficiency and effectiveness at making the lakes better for the future.
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: So those are the areas we work in.
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: That's what we're we're after as our mission, and it's really a privilege to be able to work in a community like this that, though we'd like to still see these natural resources be more valued, they already are valued quite a bit.
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: And so we feel quite fortunate to be working in this community where people see the importance of what we're doing and want to partner with us to make these things better for the future.
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: Great.
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 25:18
  Speaker: And so you all recently introduced the Lake RX initiative.
• 25:22
  Speaker: Yes.
• 25:23
  Speaker: Talk to us a little bit about that and what's the vision behind it.
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so we're really excited about Lake Rx.
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: So we have been sort of building our foundation as an organization in the research and educational space, and we want to increasingly lean into the collaboration pillar of our organization.
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: And we we know there's problems in the lakes that we would like to solve.
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: We have some strategic solutions for those.
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: We've been doing a lot of education.
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: Let's now link arms with our partners even more intentionally towards fixing those problems that have been identified.
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: And so, again, that's that algae toxin, that's the E.
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: coli.
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: Lake RX is where we develop custom prescriptions for individual lakes for how to fix those problems.
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: And so we want those solutions to be holistic.
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: Uh, we're looking at the whole of the lake and and not just a quick fix sort of a thing.
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: So they need to be sustainable, visible.
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: Uh, we're building momentum uh through this program, uh, starting with fewer lakes, but then expanding out to all of the lakes of Kosciusko County.
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: And we we see this vision, it took us a couple hundred years to get the lakes a little bit degraded from what they were.
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: Rather than waiting a couple hundred years until we slowly incrementally get them better.
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: We think that this is this is a um uh a major shift for us towards probably in the tens of years, we'll be able to get these lakes back to where we want them rather than hundreds of years.
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: And so um it's gonna take investment.
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: We've already gotten a large grant from Lily Endowment, $10 million going into kind of starting this uh Lake RX program, uh, which which that's a big shot in the arm.
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: That's a big momentum boost.
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: Congratulations.
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's we're we're excited to to invest that with our partners towards uh towards uh cleaner lakes.
• 27:25
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 27:25
  Speaker: Well, and it feels like you know, to me, uh you know, dumbest person in the room here that can understand that the investment you're making now is only going to continue to propel that economic number in the right direction, right?
• 27:41
  Speaker: Yes.
• 27:41
  Speaker: Versus the opposite.
• 27:43
  Speaker: Right.
• 27:43
  Speaker: We tend to lose and have things shut down and that sort of thing.
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: So just for we did some research with the United States Environmental Protection Agency and found that just as simple as one foot extra of clarity in the water um would increase our property values by over a hundred million dollars in our county.
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: Oh my goodness.
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: So so you so there is there's scientific evidence there for improved water quality in our lakes will improve uh the economic prosperity of of the people and visitors here too.
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: That is exciting.
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: That is who isn't research fun.
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: It is.
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: I'm a big nerd in that, I love it, but just hearing from that, just that little bit of change can make that significant.
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: And what's unique about your um to me, your lake RX initiative is that every lake has a different need.
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: So I love how you called it um, was it the prescription for each?
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: It is just such a unique way to showcase that because I guess you wouldn't think with every lake having its unique need.
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, from Webster has a different issue than maybe Wynona has, as a if whatever those needs may be.
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: But you would never really think that they would be changed because you know they all came from our glaciers, etc.
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: But that's unique in how what that looks like in the world.
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: Well, think about it, even I mean, we used Lake RX specifically because it has those medical connotations towards and it has the health connotation, and that's what we're working for for our lakes.
• 29:23
  Speaker 3: So you wouldn't want to go to a doctor that just gives the same prescription to every single person that comes through his or her door, right?
• 29:32
  Speaker 3: You want a doctor who's actually looking at the data for your health and what's gonna make the most difference for you going forward, and so that's what we want to do for our lakes as well.
• 29:43
  Speaker: So good.
• 29:43
  Speaker: So unique.
• 29:44
  Speaker: Yes.
• 29:44
  Speaker: Okay, so Cori, back to our visitors.
• 29:46
  Speaker: So for the folks who come in, they're looking for that lake experience.
• 29:51
  Speaker: What are what are they looking for?
• 29:52
  Speaker: And then maybe what are some of the things that you feel like are a little undiscovered and kind of just hidden gems?
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: Oh my goodness.
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: That is such a huge question.
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: And why we're so lucky to be able to have that.
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: But from a lake's perspective, and what we see in a visitor center or just from our own engagement with the visitors, is so many people are spending their time on the lake when it comes to fishing, boating, the beautiful beaches that we have.
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: And no, we only have six public beaches.
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: Seven.
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: Am I wrong?
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I'm wrong.
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: So we have let me see if I can get a oh the tourism coral just messed up big time.
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: Okay, uh Winona.
• 30:30
  Speaker 3: Right, Pike and Center, Waubee, Waubee, Syracuse, Webster, and Syracuse has two.
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: That's where I missed.
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: Because Wawasee doesn't.
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: Correct.
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: And everyone Syracuse because they connect.
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: They can get Syracuse.
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: Okay, okay.
• 30:46
  Speaker: That's okay.
• 30:46
  Speaker: Fair.
• 30:47
  Speaker: You're okay.
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: So we have a hundred lakes, but only about we have seven public beaches.
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: So, um, which was funny, we had this this conversation is last year we did our own little research study trying to figure out how many people are really visiting our beaches.
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: And it's a significant number of visitors that are visiting our beaches.
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: Did you know that we can look at data from cell phone usage and sort of figure out where people are going in the county?
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: That's what I'm talking about, the nerdy stuff.
• 31:16
  Speaker 3: That's pretty cool.
• 31:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah.
• 31:18
  Speaker 3: Interesting.
• 31:19
  Speaker 3: Because we were trying to pull some of that data to understand how many of these visitors are going to the lake, how long are they spending there at the lake.
• 31:25
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 31:25
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 31:25
  Speaker 3: So you can get some really detailed info.
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: It's a major number of visitors.
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: It wow throughout the mind you, you're gonna guess outside of you know, April to October that no one's really going to a beach.
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: But during those time frames, a significant number of visitors.
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: And I believe Winona's beach is one of the higher, more visited locations.
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: But those are just some of the things that we do.
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: Um, those are those hooks.
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: But what's unique about discovering what else there has that going on in Kosciusko County, our lakes and our beaches and our family-related activities and festivals are that.
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: But we have so many unique communities in Kosciusko County.
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: Um, from the village at Winona and its own history with Winona Lake.
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: Um, when I first started, Nick with the village shared all of that.
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: And I didn't realize that Winona really only has been what it has been for what, 25 years?
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: It's been a village of the college of the village and the lake and the significant change.
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: But we have so many wonderful communities in Kosciusko County from Milford to Mentone to Syracuse, um, but in Piercton with our antiques.
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: So there's so many other unique um things a visitor can discover if they're also here to visit the lakes.
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: And we are full of food options.
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: You cannot go hungry in K County.
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: And I'm worried, we at the visitor center always we get visitors that are like, well, where can we go?
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: And of course, we are always promoting our local dining establishments because that's where they are.
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: We um in our visitor guide annually, we have a dining grid, and there's eight dedicated pages just to local restaurants and food trucks in K County that is unique and we love it.
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: But there are just so many charming things to do, attraction-wise, from you know the investments that are going on with wagon wheel and a lot of different things, especially a lot of investment in our downtowns and in our smaller communities.
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: So um, with the cat program being a huge, such a great option for our communities and Kosciusko being able to, you know, increase their quality of place with parks, trails, etc.
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: So um we just love being able to showcase all those communities too.
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: Warsaw and I don't know are great, but we have 10 other great communities across the county that you can discover.
• 33:45
  Speaker: For sure, for sure.
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: Each with kind of their own unique identity and flair, which is kind of fun.
• 33:51
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: And um, I think correct me if I'm wrong, but Piercton, I believe, is our only community that doesn't have a lake attached to it in some way.
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: And Webster is so Webster is solely a tourism-based community because they have no industry hook.
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: So they don't have a large manufacturing base.
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: So North Webster is solely focused on their small retail businesses to their that when you think of a tourism community, that is when you think about it with North Webster and the Dixie and all those great things.
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: Which you have, if any listeners have not been on the Dixie boat, please do.
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: They've been investing a lot of dollars in keeping her um, you know, worthy and continuing to grow that.
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: So those are just some little uniqueness with every community.
• 34:40
  Speaker 3: Webster is cool because when you go on the Dixie, you you go around the lake and you see some islands on the lake, which is really unique, and there's actually some cottages out on those islands.
• 34:51
  Speaker 3: I think that would be the coolest thing ever is to live on a little island.
• 34:54
  Speaker 3: Oh, I agree.
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: And North Webster is where they're at.
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: So also if you've often seen a random picture on an aerial and they're like, oh, what's that island?
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: Where's that at?
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: That's in Kosciusko County.
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it is in North Webster, but yeah, Lily Center has some great picks of that.
• 35:09
  Speaker: That's so cool.
• 35:10
  Speaker: I could see you just going out with your morning coffee, testing the water, going back.
• 35:13
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 35:15
  Speaker: You're like, forget the world.
• 35:17
  Speaker: Yeah, that's awesome.
• 35:19
  Speaker: Well, for my family, one of the the hidden gems truly was at Hidden Lake with the Lake City Skiers, right?
• 35:26
  Speaker: So we lived here about 12 years, and our first few years somehow we missed that completely, and then we got connected of like what a very cool family experience.
• 35:35
  Speaker: So, with that, a major opportunity ahead.
• 35:37
  Speaker: I'm gonna read it so I don't get it wrong.
• 35:38
  Speaker: So the 2027 IWWF World Water Ski Show Championships have been.
• 35:44
  Speaker: So exciting.
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: It is so huge.
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: So this is like the Olympics of water show ski.
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: Um, and we um the Lace City Skiers team, a nonprofit, you can view a free show um Sunday and Tuesday evenings, but um, they were able to win a bid to host that here in Warsaw in Kosciusko County in 2027.
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: And it's huge.
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: So um it's world-class where I believe at this point we have at least five or six teams from around the world that are coming, US including.
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: Um, we're also hearing that I think two of our Lake City Skiers teams will be on Team USA competing next year.
• 36:27
  Speaker: Wow.
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: So this is in September, September 15th through the 19th.
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: Um, what's unique about it from a tourism standpoint is the teams will probably between the number of teams, we're roughly about 600 athletes, including coaches and officials that are coming.
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: But the uniqueness is that they're bringing between three and five thousand spectators to Kosciusko over that period.
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: And the Lay City Skiers executive team, so Randy Patrick and his team have been doing great work.
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: We're working with them to make sure this is showcasing Kosciusko County at its base.
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: This is uh we often are able to in our orthopedic world showcase what K County has to offer.
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: But from a lake perspective, I feel this is a little bit unique.
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: Um, I was also able to hear today that a lot of these teams will be here longer than that.
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: They're gonna want to test the water and Hidden Lake of being one of them is privately owned, um, maybe utilizing some of our other access points to be able to practice their shows on.
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: So, in that uniqueness and what makes it us unique, most of these shows are happening on a riverfront, right?
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: So Lake City Skiers is even unique that it's on a lake.
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: Most of our other competitors around this the states are um on a river.
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: So we're able to utilize those additional assets for those teams when they come next year.
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: So we're really looking forward to having the economic the economic impact will be very important.
• 37:53
  Speaker: Yes.
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: And we've we've talked with some of those folks uh with with Lake City Skiers in the past, and as they've described a lot of other locations for ski um competitions on those rivers, you oftentimes will have uh trash floating down the river, you'll have logs or other sort of obstacles that make it a little more difficult to do their thing.
• 38:16
  Speaker 3: But but there's also water quality issues in a lot of those rivers as well.
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: And we did some testing for them just to show how uh wonderful the quality of the water is in Hidden Lake.
• 38:30
  Speaker 3: And so a lot of these teams coming over have nothing to worry about as far as the quality of the water, whereas other locations they might have competed.
• 38:38
  Speaker 3: You know, if you fall in, you better close your mouth because you could be taking a gulp of some pretty nasty.
• 38:44
  Speaker 3: It's true, right?
• 38:46
  Speaker 3: So something I wanted to ask you, Cori, as you were talking about that.
• 38:50
  Speaker 3: So we've just uh uh uh uh across North America here just hosted the World Cup, right?
• 38:57
  Speaker 3: And I heard this anecdote of Norway team coming over and bringing all their own food.
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: I heard this too.
• 39:05
  Speaker 3: So, how do you make sure that all of these people coming are gonna be eating food rather than bringing their own, right?
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: This is so funny.
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: I don't want to this maybe the cart before the horse.
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: So good question, because I've heard this too about the World Club, which was major tourism.
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: Go look at the FIFA numbers.
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: I love it.
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: And we're a soccer fan, so it's good.
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: Um so we're there will be a big downtown Warsaw event that they're trying to host um the Wednesday prior to um to make sure that they're receiving a taste of US food.
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: Good.
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: So I don't want to talk more about that until it's more solidified with our other partners.
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: But no, um, we've all they have all been working very hard.
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: Um we're very we're helping as much as we can.
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: Um, we're so excited for that.
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: But yes, our goal is to get make sure that they're eating.
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: And from what I understand, they will be.
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: So they're they're not, we don't have to worry about that as far as I know.
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: But yeah, that was an interesting tidbit.
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: Come on.
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, that's it's gonna be a wonderful event next year.
• 40:10
  Speaker: Yeah, what a great opportunity.
• 40:12
  Speaker: Okay, so as we wrap up our time, I'd love for both of you to think if we were to fast forward 20, 30 years down the road, what would you love to be true of our lakes, our streams, how our community are embracing that?
• 40:28
  Speaker 3: I would say from the lakes perspective, that we no longer have to have an algae toxin notification system that comes out once a week because we've fixed all those problems.
• 40:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and visitors and residents alike can know that Kosciusko County lakes are the safest and healthiest that they can find throughout the Midwestern United States because of that work.
• 40:56
  Speaker 3: Um that I think would be a really strong step forward, and that's exactly what what we're working for.
• 41:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 41:05
  Speaker 3: Um, I would say also that that um the lakes continue to be that draw for those families.
• 41:15
  Speaker 3: I think we'll continue to see as people move around and as um, I don't want to get too doom and gloom, but relationships fracture and families are no longer as tight knit as they used to be.
• 41:29
  Speaker 3: I think that if those lakes can continue to be a place for pulling people together, pulling communities together, uh, that there's access for all people in Kosciusko County to our lakes and enjoying those water features, uh, that I think is a future to be excited about.
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, very I completely agree, especially from a tourism perspective.
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: We hope that the lakes are going to continue to be that hook to bring a visitor, um potential business owner, whatever that may look like, that it continues to be that for Casakiasco County.
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: Um it is part of who we are.
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: Um it is often the the the one thing between lakes and orthopedics that Casakiasco County is known for.
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: So we want to make sure that we're continuing to showcase the long-term value of that and what that looks like for tourism as well as the whole county.
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: Um and I think we're unique too because we have so many free opportunities for visitors and residents alike to access those lakes.
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: And that's not always a common thing.
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: Um we're unique.
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: We know that there are some public access lakes for a beach, may require some type of um cost.
• 42:42
  Speaker 2: So for us, it's a unique in being able to provide those for nothing for our community and visitors, especially when we're all trying to find to figure out time stuff to do and financials get maybe a little tight.
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: It's always nice to know that we have those abilities to be able to showcase and share with our visitors here.
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: So we hope that can continue.
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: And with your work with Flake RX, I think it's going to continue that for years to come.
• 43:06
  Speaker 2: So hopefully in the next hundred plus years, we'll see that.
• 43:10
  Speaker: We're excited.
• 43:10
  Speaker: Very good.
• 43:11
  Speaker: Okay, so for people who are listening that want to get a little more connected to your programs or or some of the, you know, what you have coming through the visitor center, what are the best ways for people to connect?
• 43:22
  Speaker 3: People for us can go to our website, lakes.grace.edu.
• 43:26
  Speaker 3: They can get any information they want to know about lakes.
• 43:29
  Speaker 3: If they want to sign up for algae toxin notifications or our e-newsletter to know exactly what we're keeping up with.
• 43:37
  Speaker 3: Uh, we're on you know the different social media networks as well.
• 43:41
  Speaker 3: But really, I think signing up for that e-newsletter and and if they are using the water, signing up for those notifications, lakes.grace.edu.
• 43:51
  Speaker 3: Perfect.
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: Um, for us, you can either visit our website, uh, visitkosciuskocounty.org, or we have a visitor center located right on US30 in Warsaw.
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: It's a um we have a 24-hour vestibule.
• 44:05
  Speaker 2: So if we're not there to help you, there are some resources there you can grab.
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: But um RE newsletter is an also a great way.
• 44:12
  Speaker 2: You can find that at our website and we're on all those social media platforms.
• 44:15
  Speaker 2: But one big showcase piece we often like to say and award-winning, and we also like to share to our visitors Nate and his team have often been um so kind and helping write some stories about sustainable tourism, what that looks like in um our sections here in the visitor guide, but our visitor guide isn't also another resource.
• 44:34
  Speaker 2: It's digital, or you can walk in the visitor center or pick it up randomly throughout the county.
• 44:38
  Speaker 2: But those are some other resources for for us and what's going on around the county.
• 44:42
  Speaker: Perfect, perfect.
• 44:43
  Speaker: Well, thank you both for your time today.
• 44:45
  Speaker: I know you're both very busy people.
• 44:46
  Speaker: Cori, thank you for you and your team, the way you roll out the red carpet to our visitors, make them welcome.
• 44:52
  Speaker: And then Dr.
• 44:53
  Speaker: Bosch, thank you for the work you and your team do to just invest into our waterways and make this place sustainable and healthy for generations to come.
• 45:01
  Speaker: I appreciate you both.
• 45:02
  Speaker: Our waterways are among the most visible parts of Kosciusko County, but their impact runs much deeper than what we see from the shoreline.
• 45:11
  Speaker: They support businesses and families.
• 45:13
  Speaker: They attract visitors and investment.
• 45:16
  Speaker: They give us places to gather, explore, and build lifelong memories.
• 45:20
  Speaker: And they remind us that some of our greatest community resources are not simply ours to enjoy.
• 45:26
  Speaker: They are ours to protect, strengthen, and pass on.
• 45:30
  Speaker: Because investing in healthy lakes and streams is about more than water quality.
• 45:35
  Speaker: It's about advancing lives and livelihoods, preserving what makes Kosciusko County special, and ensuring these resources continue to serve our community for generations to come.
• 45:46
  Speaker: That is what it means to go all in.
• 45:49
  Speaker: To find out more, please visit us at AllInKosciusko.com.
• 45:54
  Speaker: Thank you so much for listening.