The Fox Locks system will celebrate the season opening on Saturday, May 17 and mark the end of service for its Board Chairman Ron Van De Hey. He has been involved with the community effort to restore and reopen the lock system since 1981, originally serving on the task force to explore saving the system.
“When we started, the vision was to have a system open from the Bay of Green Bay to Lake Winnebago,” Van De Hey said. “We are continuing along that course, but this effort is not a sprint, it’s a marathon.”
When Van De Hey and other leaders considered saving the system it was badly in need of repair, funding, and management. In 2001, the state legislature approved a law creating the Fox River Navigational System Authority (FRNSA) and transferred operation of the system from the Army Corps of Engineers to the State of Wisconsin. A community-wide effort from FRNSA board members, local citizens and businesses resulted in raising $14.5 million to restore the system from 2000-2015.
Van De Hey was in a leadership role at every step of the process to restore the locks.
“We would have walked away from almost 200 years of history if we closed the lock system and shut it down. I realized the historic value and it became clearer that we had to do something to save this system,” he said.
His leadership for the locks was just one facet of his community service. A native of Kaukauna, he quickly became involved in his community after graduating from Kaukauna High School in 1963.
“My favorite job was being the mayor of the City of Kaukauna,” Van De Hey said. “You couldn’t buy a career like mine because it was so enjoyable, I’m a pretty fortunate guy.”
Fox Locks Executive Director Phil Ramlet praised his legacy of civic leadership. “Ron’s ability to bring diverse people and opinions to the table created a collaborative environment that got things done. He set the standards for community service and engagement and helped restore this historic and unique locks system,” Ramlet said.
“You have an obligation to do the right thing,” Van De Hey said. “It’s critical to stay involved and get active so people who follow us will look back years from now and be thankful for the structure and organization we created.”
2025 Navigation season starts with some enhancements
The 2025 navigation season for the locks starts May 17. Without the lock system, boaters on the Fox River would not be able to navigate the system of locks that cover 39 miles and drops in elevation 168 feet—a vertical drop equal in height to the total drop of Niagara Falls.
Over recent seasons, non-motorized boat traffic on the system has grown and kayakers and canoers are discovering how easy it is to travel the river. As a result, the FRNSA is upgrading all portages on the system.
The kayak portages have been funded by grants from several community organizations including the David L. and Rita E. Nelson Family Fund within the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region, Fox Cities Greenways, and the Fox Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau. Completed portages include upstream and downstream portages at Little Chute and Appleton Locks 1 & 2 and the upstream side of Appleton Lock 3.
“When we saw an increase in kayakers, we realized it was time to address the temporary portages at many of the locks to make them safer and easier to use,” Ramlet said. “Even though these locks only operate on weekends, non-motorized boaters can portage around the locks at any time and paddle the river at their leisure.”
The organization is still seeking additional donations to complete the portage construction which is estimated at $500,000 and the portages will be phased in over a period of three to five years. Donations may be made online at this link: https://foxlocks.org/support-the-locks/
Additional updates for the 2025 season:
The Menasha lock will remain closed in the 2025 boating season. FRNSA’s goal is to reopen this lock, but not without a solution that prevents the invasive round goby from entering the waters of Lake Winnebago. All plans to erect barriers at the lock were voted down by the board due to cost.
“In the last ten years, the round goby has become abundant in the Fox River and Little Lake Butte des Morts,” Ramlet said. “There is no guarantee that building a barrier at the Menasha lock would keep the invasive species out of Lake Winnebago. It is possible that we could invest in this system only to have the goby invade Lake Winnebago and render the barrier system obsolete.” For more information on this project, visit this link.
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BACKGROUND ON THE FOX LOCKS: The Fox River Navigational System Authority (FRNSA) manages the 17 locks on the Fox River. Of the 17 locks, 16 have been restored to full working order and are a recreational, historic, and economic asset to northeast Wisconsin. All 17 locks are on the National Register of Historic Places and are the only fully restored, hand-operated, functional lock system in the nation. From 2005-2015 the Fox River Navigational System Authority (FRNSA) restored 16 of the 17 locks on the system at an investment of $14.5 million.
The Fox River is navigable from the Bay of Green Bay to Rapide Croche in a 19.3 mile stretch and again from the lock at Rapide Croche to Menasha in a 17.7 mile section. Both the Menasha lock and the Rapide Croche lock are closed to prevent the spread of invasive species into the Lake Winnebago system.
For more information visit www.foxlocks.org.
