Leelanau Summinar – Combating Swimmer’s Itch

Swimmer’s itch is an emerging public health problem in many Northern Michigan lakes. The Lake Leelanau Lake Association (LLLA) has made it a priority to control this public health menace. This summer, we have contracted with Freshwater Solutions, LLC, to battle the problem with measures that include trapping and relocating the common mergansers, the primary definitive host for the schistosome parasite in our lake.

NICK FLEEZANIS
Nick is the President of the LLLA.

WAYNE SWALLOW
Wayne holds a B.S. in fisheries biology, an M.S. in aquatic biology, and an MBA. He was involved for several years with the LLLA and the Leelanau Conservancy as a stream and lake sampling volunteer. He also served as the LLLA water quality chair, as well as a lead instructor with the Inland Seas Educational Association. He now works part-time as LLLA’s watershed biologist, coordinating water quality studies and technical aspects of swimmers itch. For the last seven years he has been busy trying to develop a swimmer’s itch repellent.

RON REIMINK
Ron began working on parasites responsible for causing swimmer’s itch in 1977 and, in 1983, began 25 years of summer fieldwork with Dr. Harvey Blankespoor, in a partnership focused on education, research, and control of swimmer’s itch on lakes in Wisconsin, Maine, and Michigan. Ron was a professional biology educator at Hudsonville High School from 1983-2015, directed the Summer Science Institute in the Rocky Mountains, and taught at the American Wilderness Leadership School in Jackson, WY. He currently volunteers at Hope College Campus Ministries during the academic year, while focusing all of his attention during the summer on innovative swimmer’s itch strategies for lakes in Michigan with Freshwater Solutions, LLC.