2011 Shoreland Restoration Winners Announced!

photo credit:Do It Green! Minnesota www.doitgreen.org

We move to the lake for "nature." We "improve" the shoreline, remove shallow-water vegetation, mow the lawn down to the water line, and dump a bed of sand in the water for a beach.Then we put fertilizer and herbicides on the lawn.

• Lawn rain water now runs unimpeded off the lawn into the lake.  It carries chemicals from the driveway and lawn, grass clippings and sand sediment loaded with phosphorus, and pet wastes.

• Increases in algae make the water green, the fish diminish in number. Birds, frogs, insects, butterflies, and others that depend on a natural shore disappear.

• Geese find the open lawn attractive and become a nuisance.  The tiny individual insults are incremental.  After awhile they add up.

• Lake water quality gets worse.  Good water needs a natural shoreline.

• The lake that we moved to is no longer there.
  

• It might look the same, but the animals and fish that depend on it know the difference. They can't make a living there anymore, and many of them are diminished or gone.

WAPOA wants to encourage "better" (natural) shorelines.

A contest causes people to consider natural shorelines. The finished shoreline remains on display and continues to provide benefit to the lake and shoreline animals.

Five Projects Selected in 2011 Contest

After careful consideration the judges selected five projects for support. 

An award may include advice, help with design, plants, and help with planting.

WAPOA will be giving support at the highest level to Rich and Muggsy Ferber - Whitefish

Four other projects will be supported at a lower level (not in any particular order):

Jane Schulte   Mary Lake in Emily

Jim Schultz     Kimball

Darrell Schneider Crosslake

Tim and Liz Rullman   Lower Hay

See full article announcing awards just below the photos

Rich and Muggsy Ferber are the winners of the 2011 restoration contest. Here with Judge Eleanor Burkett of the University of Minnesota Extension Service.

Jane Schulte of Lake Mary with Judge Heather Baird of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

Jim Schultz of Kimball Lake with Judge Heather Baird of the MInnesota Department of Natural Resources.

Darrell Schneider, seated right, with Judge Eleanor Burkett, and Judge Phil Hunsicker of Envision Minnesota, standing

August 5, 2011

WAPOA Shoreland Restoration Awards Announced

By Martha Davidge

Richard and Margaret “Muggsy” Ferber won the top “in-kind” matching grant of $3,800. Their property is located on the north shore of Whitefish Lake. Their problem has been a high sandy bank that erodes easily.

They were the top winners of a WAPOA project designed to help people solve lake property problems such as water runoff or bank erosion, and those who would like to improve lake water quality by planting a vegetative buffer.

• Awarded $500 in native plants/materials were Tim and Liz Rollman of Lower Hay Lake.
• $400 was awarded to Colleen and Darryl Schneider of Crosslake.
• Other winners were Jim Schultz of Kimble Lake ($250) and Jane Schulte of Mary Lake ($200).

“We had some well thought-out plans and a lot of interest this year,” said Judy Wallschlaeger, WAPOA’s Shoreland Restoration Director. “Everyone said they learned so much. It really became a fun educational program.”

Once again this year, interested parties came to WAPOA’s Shoreland Restoration Social Night in June to see photos of completed restoration projects and visit with experts and vendors.

Attending that night to help answer questions (and later help entrants organize their ideas and judge the proposed projects) were Eleanor Burkett of the University of Minnesota Extension, Phil Hunsicker of ‘Envision Minnesota’ (formerly 1,000 Friends of Minnesota), and Beth Hippert of the Crow Wing County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD).

Their help and expertise has been invaluable.

Woodspirit Gardens and Sunshine Gardens were also represented as both businesses specialize in native plantings and work in tune with the natural world.

Both of these vendors also completed the 2011 Shoreland and Stormwater Workshops held this year by Mitch Brinks of the Crow Wing County’s Environmental Services.

 WAPOA, the Minnesota DNR, and Crow Wing County SWCD have also worked cooperatively on other projects.

• Work was completed on the Rezanka family property on Lower Hay Lake, winners of the 2010 WAPOA ‘contest.’ The project was designed and completed by Daniel Dix of Woodspirit Gardens with help from WAPOA volunteers. Consulting on the plan was Heather Baird of the Minnesota DNR and Beth Hippert of the Crow Wing SWCD. The project was designed to manage stormwater runoff (upland from the shoreline) at the family home. It included digging and installing dry creek beds that led to two separate rain gardens.

• WAPOA volunteers helped plant over 500 native plants and flowers during May at Peaceful Harbor Resort (Melinda Shores Road) on Rush Lake. This was a two-year program through the Crow Wing County SWCD that was initiated last year with a 25-foot no-mow zone.

• WAPOA volunteers were also on hand to assist with the Big Island restoration project.

ED NOTE: ORIGINAL ARTICLE WAS EDITED AND FORMATTED FOR ELECTRONIC DELIVERY

More about the Ferber's, protecting lake water and adding beauty by restoring the steep bank along their shoreline  CLICK HERE

FROM THE PAST

Information below is how last years contest worked:

 2010 Shoreland Contest Winner
By Muffie Davidge

  WAPOA has announced that that the winner of the 2010 Shoreland Restoration Contest is the Rezanka Family of Lower Hay Lake.

 The Rezankas will be the recipients of up to $5,000 in shoreland restoration labor and supplies to help control storm water runoff on their property.

  WAPOA’s 2010 Shoreland Restoration Contest was sponsored in part by a generous grant from The Anderson Family Foundation.

  Expert advice on shoreland management is ongoing from Heather Baird, Shoreline Habitat Specialist with  the Minnesota DNR; Shoreland Technician Beth Hippert of the Crow Wing County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD); and WAPOA’s own shoreland expert Dave Fischer.

All have been instrumental in evaluating the challenges that the Rezanka property poses and recommending ways to solve those challenges.

  The upland portion of the Rezanka property is where the restoration work will take place, rather than on an actual beach or the water's edge.

The family has already established a vegetative buffer on most of their beach. The construction of rain gardens and native vegetation plantings will replace the little grass that remains in tree-shaded areas of compacted upland soil.

These plantings will absorb runoff more quickly than grass or compacted soil and will help the Rezankas attain their goal of reducing storm water runoff entering the lake.

 The work will take place this fall and next spring.  A recent online newsletter article by Crow Wing County Water Plan Coordinator Mitch Brinks pointed out that storm water which does not infiltrate into the ground is the number one cause of our planet’s
pollution, because as water travels over land and other surfaces it picks up heat, sediment, phosphorus, pesticides and other chemicals, and these enter the waters.

  As a biologist and volunteer member of WAPOA’s water monitoring team, Kay Rezanka is acutely aware of what storm water runoff can do to negatively affect a lake’s water quality.

  Runoff can cloud water, cause algae blooms, reduce sunlight penetration in the water and cause depletion of oxygen in the water and have other devastating effects on a healthy lake.

  “We want to do our part in a simple and beautiful way to limit such negative impact from our property,” Rezanka said. “We are grateful to the generous sponsors for making the resources available for us to achieve this goal more quickly and effectively than we could on our own.

  Our project will help us to protect and preserve the lake for future generations to enjoy, just as the many generations of our family have.”

  "We also hope the benefits of this project will extend beyond the reaches of our own property by educating others within the Pine River Watershed about river and lake-friendly practices and inspiring people to make similar commitments for the good of the lakes,” she said.