Lakes provide habitat for wildlife, recreation opportunities, and natural beauty. Yet, our everyday landscaping choices can negatively impact these vital bodies of water.
Lake-friendly landscaping provides many benefits, and purposeful design can ensure you don't need to compromise access to the water or lakeside recreation opportunities.

What Is Lake-Friendly Landscaping?
Lake-friendly landscaping focuses on reducing pollution and preserving the health of our lakes. It involves making mindful choices in how we design and maintain our outdoor spaces to minimize runoff, limit chemical use, and support natural habitats.

Top Tips for Lake-Friendly Landscaping
1. Minimize Lawn Area: Lawns often need a lot of water and fertilizer, which can lead to nutrient-laden runoff. Reducing lawn space and incorporating groundcovers or mulched areas can help decrease runoff and save time on maintenance.

2. Install a Native Plant Buffer: Native plants are adapted to our local environment, requiring less water, fertilizers, and pesticides. A buffer of native grasses, flowers, shrubs, and trees can serve as a natural filter, trapping pollutants and preventing them from reaching the water. Native plant root systems also help reduce soil erosion, both along the shoreline and upslope, preventing excess nutrients from washing into lakes. If you prefer a more formal garden appearance, cluster plants of the same species throughout the area to create a planned look. Frame your lake view by planting taller species along the property boundaries and shorter species toward the center. 

3. Manage Stormwater Runoff: Be intentional about where runoff from your property is routed. Directing runoff to rain gardens, permeable areas, or rain barrels will reduce the volume of runoff carrying pollutants directly to the lake.

4. Educate and Involve the Community: Spread the good news; share these practices with neighbors and participate in local conservation efforts. Community-wide adoption of lake-friendly landscaping can have a significant positive impact.

To learn more about lake friendly landscaping contact Mitch Haustein, Stormwater & Shoreland Specialist, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Approximately 1,500 feet of severely eroding riverbank in the City of Anoka's Mississippi River Community Park was stabilized in late 2021. The project included tree clearing, bank reshaping, riprap, erosion control blanket, seeding, and planting a variety of native plant species. Since installation, the site has been subjected to multiple years of high water levels. Both the riprap on the lower elevations of the bank and the vegetation on the upper elevations have successfully stabilized the site. 

ACD staff recently boated the Rum River to review potential riverbank stabilization and in-stream habitat sites, which provided an opportunity to assess a few previously installed stabilization projects. Each site was stabilized with hard armoring at the bottom of the slope (where vegetation will not grow due to frequent water level fluctuation) and native vegetation on the upper banks. The sites have remained stable, and vegetation has established to provide riparian habitat value within the Rum River Corridor.

 For more information contact Mitch Haustein, Shoreline and Stormwater Specialist, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Rain Guardian pretreatment chambers were on display at the 2024 Operations and Maintenance of Stormwater Systems Conference in Austin, TX. The Rain Guardian booth provided conference attendees with an effective solution for bioretention system pretreatment. Conference attendees included stormwater managers, municipal and county government employees, engineers, contractors, and designers. This is the first time Rain Guardians have been on display at a conference in Texas, and many attendees expressed an interest in Rain Guardian products.

See www.RainGuardian.biz for additional information or contact Mitch Haustein, Stormwater & Shoreline Specialist, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

ACD staff provide technical assistance for a wide-variety of projects each year. Many of the requests for assistance come directly from landowners interested in improving natural resources on their individual properties. Technical assistance is also provided for projects in collaboration with county, city, and watershed entity partners. The table below summarizes 2023 technical assistance provided by ACD staff. 

Assistance usually begins with a site consultation. Consultations typically include a conversation with the landowner, desktop review of the site using GIS mapping software and available data sets, and a site visit to discuss options. If the landowner is interested in pursuing a project, ACD can provide design and installation oversight services. Maintenance guidance is also provided for previously installed projects.

For more information contact Mitch Haustein, Stormwater & Shoreline Specialist, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..