WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Healthy Lakes and Rivers is sponsored by theWisconsin Department of Natural Resources in cooperation with theUniversity of Wisconsin – Extension Lakes Program.
• The WDNR provides grants to lakes associations and individual homeowners who want to restore their shoreline to protect our lakes. The program provides funding and information that will be useful for do-it-yourselfers.
• Score My Shore is a shoreline evaluation tool you can use to see where you are with your lake property

PROMOTING LAKE AND RIVER HEALTH

The goal of the Healthy Lakes & Healthy Rivers program is “to protect and restore the health of our lakes and rivers by increasing property owner participation in habitat restoration and runoff and erosion control projects.”  (From Healthy Lakes & Healthy Rivers website –https://healthylakeswi.com/)

Wisconsin’s Healthy Lakes & Rivers Action Plan is “a collaborative team effort that depends on private and public shoreland property owners, businesses, and the Wisconsin Lakes Partnership to promote and install relatively simple and inexpensive best practices benefiting habitat and water quality. This goal-oriented plan also includes funding, promotion, and evaluation strategies.”

DNR SURFACE WATER GRANTS

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is interested in supporting Natural Shorelines initiatives and providing DNR funded, locally administered grants on a cost share basis.

The MKLPA is working with the WDNR and with interested homeowners who want to restore their shoreline. The program provides funding and information that also will be useful for do-it-yourselfers.

The surface water grant program provides cost-sharing grants for surface water protection and restoration. Funding is available for education, ecological assessments, planning, implementation, and aquatic invasive species prevention and control.

(LINK: https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/aid/SurfaceWater.html)

The program promotes 5 best practice strategies:

• 350 ft2Native Plantings: Plantings of native wildflowers, grasses, shrubs and trees.
• Fish Sticks: Submerged woody habitat structures.
• Diversion: Practices to move or redirect run-off.
• Rock Infiltration: Pits or trenches filled with rock to store and infiltrate run-off.
• Rain Gardens: Landscaped depressions to collect and filter run-off.

To learn more about the Healthy Lakes & Healthy Rivers Program, visit their website:https://healthylakeswi.com/

RESULTS

To see recent results of the Healthy Lakes & Healthy Rivers Program, visit this page:https://healthylakeswi.com/results/

SCORE MY SHORE

Score My Shore is a shoreland evaluation tool that will get you thinking about physical aspects of your property as they relate to maintaining a healthy shoreline and limiting runoff and erosion.  A series of multiple-choice questions will ask you about your property and about some of the ways you maintain it.  The process will help you “score” your property and identify possible restoration and erosion and runoff control projects.

Score My Shore is part of the Healthy lakes & Healthy Rivers Program, sponsored by the Wisconsin DNR.  Accompanying links on theScoreMy Shorewebsite will give you access to additional information and assistance.

Using this tool is voluntary and can be completed anonymously.  If you wish you may register with a password and choose whether to share your information.

Responses will not be used for any regulatory purposes, whether you share your information or complete the form anonymously.