The article follows the case of UWM professor Paul Florsheim, who is fighting Shorewood’s issuance of a trespassing citation for walking across a stretch of Lake Michigan beach between the water’s edge and the Ordinary High Water Mark that he has frequented for more than fifty years.
On January 28, 2026, Shorewood Municipal Court found Paul Florsheim guilty of trespassing, based on her interpretation of a 1923 Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling, Doemel v. Jantz, which found that the public must keep their feet wet when walking along the shore of the inland lake, Lake Winnebago. If Florsheim appeals, his first stop will be the Milwaukee County Circuit Court. Center for Water Policy Director, Professor, and Lynde B. Uihlein Endowed Chair Melissa Scanlan comments that Wisconsin courts have never decided this issue for the shores of the Great Lakes, unlike Michigan and Indiana, which have supreme court decisions that protect the public trust right to walk on the beaches of the Great Lakes.
Read the full story on Wisconsin Public Radio: Shorewood trespassing citation could decide future of beach access in Wisconsin
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Photo Credit: Evan Casey/WPR