Shoreline - Options for Naturalizing

A natural shoreline is a healthy shoreline, providing benefits for water quality, wildlife, and people.

If you own shoreland property that hasn't been developed yet, you can plan ahead to maintain a natural, healthy shoreline. You can still have access to the water and views of the lake without removing all the existing vegetation. By minimizing the area you clear for docks and beaches you will preserve nearshore vegetation that provides important shoreline protection. "Shoreland Editing" means you selectively remove some branches, shrubs, and trees to create lake views.

Shoreline revegetation is most likely to succeed in areas that are sheltered, with little or moderate wave action; do not experience significant changes in water level during the growing season; and are not very steep. If your property has mucky or silty soil along the shoreline, seeds from plants that lived there in the past may still exist in the bottom sediments. If you allow them to grow, these native plants can help re-establish a more natural shoreline.

Therefore, one option for revegetation is to do nothing. If you stop mowing, weeding, and raking your shoreland area, many native plants will likely reestablish. Plants such as spike rush, sedges, and arrowhead have become established on some shorelines that were not planted when people simply stopped cutting and raking.

Another option is to plant your shoreline. There are 4 basic steps involved in planting a shoreline. Listen to script number 845 - Steps for Restoring Your Shoreline - to learn more about how to plant one.