News Release

Loon Lake resident Walt Hessler is shown holding the Volunteer of the Year award he recently received from the Indiana Lakes Management Society. Photo provided by The Watershed Foundation.

BLOOMINGTON — Walt Hessler, a resident of Loon Lake, located in Whitley and Noble counties, and a member of The Watershed Foundation board of directors, was selected as the Indiana Lakes Management Society’s Volunteer of the Year during its annual meeting in early March in Bloomington.

Hessler was nominated for the award by a neighbor in recognition of his work during last summer’s fish kill at Loon Lake. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources would later determine the fish kill, similar to other fish kills that happened in other area lakes, was the result of a strange anomaly — a combination of bad weather, weather-related stress on a specific species of the fish population and a fish-centric virus that was only lethal when the fish were stressed. It also posed no risk to humans.

But, before all that, there was fear and uncertainty.

In the twilight hours of June 13, 2022, a derecho storm wreaked havoc on the Loon Lake community, located in the upper Tippecanoe watershed. Loon Lake residents were surprised by the extent of the storm damage. Trees were torn from their roots and many homes sustained significant damage. Roads to the community were blocked in many directions by fallen timbers, and residents lost power for days.

Within several hours of the storm and its temperature fluctuation, residents began noticing dead crappie floating along the shores of the lake. Immediately, Hessler, a longtime Loon Lake resident, sprang to action. He reached out to the Indiana DNR and also to The Watershed Foundation to find guidance on what to do.

At first, it was just a few dead fish, but within days, there were scores of dead crappie lining the shores around the lake. The dead fish were so plentiful, their bloating bodies could be found encircling the entire lake and were several feet wide in some areas. At the same time that neighbors were coping with life without electricity, extreme heat because of the widespread power outages and cleaning up storm damage, the dead fish were beginning to smell.

Through all of it, Hessler was at work. He made arrangements with a local farmer to dig trenches away from the lake and coordinated with residents to bring their dead fish by the bucket and barrels-full to the farm where they would be buried. Neighbors supported neighbors, helping to carry away the rotting fish. Hessler also coordinated teams of volunteers to work from the water to remove dead fish from areas where homeowners were not present or unable to get them. Hessler also kept a line of communication open with residents, providing social media updates and emails, sometimes several times a day.

Because of Hessler, key stakeholders were looped in early, residents were engaged in positive action and the lake was cleaned up quickly, with a reduced impact on community health and overall enjoyment of the lake. No one asked Hessler to do this — he just stepped up and did it.

“We are absolutely delighted that Walt was chosen for this award,” said The Watershed Foundation executive director Lyn Crighton. “Throughout the disaster at Loon Lake, Walt was continually in touch with us and with others looking for good information about what to do. Walt has also been a great volunteer for Loon Lake and for The Watershed Foundation for quite some time now, sharing his time to help monitor water quality and serve as an ambassador of his lake community. We are thankful for him and proud to see that he was selected as the ILMS Volunteer of the Year.”

Hessler is the third The Watershed Foundation board member and the second Loon Lake resident to be a recipient of the award. Past foundation board members Bob Smith and Jane Loomis were both previous recipients of Indiana Lakes Management Society’s Volunteer of the Year award. Loomis is also a former resident of Loon and Old lakes in Whitley County.