As homeowners, we make plans for a wide variety of
activities in our lives from the evening meal to painting the house. One
plan that many people overlook is a stewardship plan for their shoreland
property. We all need to devote more time to deciding how we will use
the land we own and what that land will look like in the future. This is
especially true for shoreland properties as any kind of management
regime we enact can have dramatic impacts beyond one stretch of
shoreline.
It is for this reason that these modules have been developed to assist
shoreland owners with the formulation of a stewardship plan. The four
modules (links for each are at the bottom of this page) have been
organized along broad categories from the aquatic zone (Your
‘Littoral’ Front Yard) to shoreland vegetation (Go ‘Au Naturel’)
to wells and septic systems (Guarding Our Groundwater) to stormwater
management (Controlling Runoff and Erosion). Each module is divided into
four separate sections:
an introduction to the topic,
an assessment for your property,
possible solutions for your identified problems, and
a page for the creation of an action plan.
The introductory section of each module provides some background on the
topic and why it is important to the health of our families and our
lakes and rivers. The Assessment walks you through an investigation of
your property and how you manage it. The Finding Solutions section
identifies a number of alternative management strategies that you can
utilize to address problem areas in your assessment. The Action Plan
section provides an avenue to organize your planned management
activities by date and priority.
The final step in this process is to enact the solutions you have
identified. There are a number of resources you can tap to help make
your plan a reality, including your county conservationist and
UW-Extension Community, Natural Resources, Development (CNRED) Agent.
Additionally, there are local and statewide DNR and UW-Extension
specialists that can provide assistance. Just contact your county
conservationist to find out how to reach them.
The stewardship plan modules are the result of a great deal of work from
a few dedicated individuals including:
Guarding Our Groundwater: Bryan Pierce, Vilas County UW-Extension CNRED
Agent; George Kraft, Director of the Center for Watershed Science and
Education, UW-Stevens Point College of Natural Resources; Paul McGinley,
Research Scientist at the Center for Watershed Science and Education,
UW-Stevens Point College of Natural Resources
Go ‘Au Naturel’: Carolyn Scholl, Vilas County Lake Conservation
Specialist; Patrick Goggin, Vilas County Conservationist
Your ‘Littoral’ Front Yard: Jennifer Wudi, WDNR Lakes Management
Coordinator
Controlling Runoff and Erosion: Ezra Meyer and Susan Tesarik, Wisconsin
Association of Lakes
You will need the Adobe Reader to view these
files. If you do not have Adobe Reader, you can download the file
by following
this link.
|