VICE president
Dale Katsma
Dale Katsma has lived in the Sheboygan River Basin for over twenty years and been a board member for two years. He wants to help improve the natural environment and promote environmental projects in the Basin. “Our lives lives are dependent on and interrelated with the environment around us, so it is imperative that we work to keep it healthy and functioning for our own sakes and for future generations,” he mentioned when asked why he was on the board.
“Our lives lives are dependent on and interrelated with the environment around us, so it is imperative that we work to keep it healthy and functioning for our own sakes and for future generations.”
Currently as vice president he tries to participate in as many meetings, projects, and activities as possible to keep this team going into the future. His background and experience working in the Basin and surrounding areas have been helpful in guiding suggestions of projects and programs. In his short time as a board member Dale helped with Sheboygan River Trail project which is now accessible. With this project he provided a few suggestions and photographs for the trail project which is now online.
Dale grew up enjoying the outdoors in rural Columbia County and was the first in his family to attend college. He attended the University of Wisconsin — Madison to study in the Department of Wildlife Ecology where he earned a bachelor of science in natural science and a master of science in wildlife ecology. After graduation he worked as a wildlife biologist and wildlife supervisor for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR). For most of the nearly 37 years he worked out of the DNR’s Plymouth Field Office. It was here where his roots in the Basin began as property manager for some of the state’s properties there. As property manager he worked cooperatively with Sheboygan County on the management of the Sheboygan Marsh; of which he helped write the first comprehensive management plan in 1984. During his tenure, Dale worked with the DNR’s water program working with wildlife related projects in the Sheboygan AOC including serving on the Fish and Wildlife Technical Advisory Committee. In 2015 he retired and has worked part-time as an environmental education specialist for CampY-Koda helping to teach young people about the environment in the Basin.
His favorite part of the Basin, even though he enjoys it as a whole, is exploring the Kiel and Sheboygan Marshes.
