
A first step towards restoration is identifying the unique conditions present on your shore land property to assess what type of restoration will be most appropriate.
Natural Shoreline
A natural shoreline already has good densities of native trees, shrubs, and groundcovers like grasses, sedges, wildflowers and ferns growing. If your shoreline is like this, it is best to protect and maintain the vegetation already present. Try to limit any clearing or trimming of vegetation and allow nature to take its course.
Passive Restoration
Passive restoration, or natural recovery, is accomplished by limiting disturbance and allowing shoreline areas to regenerate with native vegetation on their own. It involves putting away the lawn mower so plants have a chance to grow. Passive restoration works well only when native vegetation is already present. If the area you'd like to restore has been converted to turf grass, there will not be enough of a native seed bank to allow passive restoration to occur. Additionally, when turf grass is already present and established, native vegetation will have a difficult time competing for resources. Sod needs to be removed before a restoration can take place.
Active Restoration
Active restoration involves removing any invasive or non-native plants, like turf grass, and replacing them with native trees, shrubs, and groundcovers, either in the form of seed mixes or plant plugs. This form of restoration involves quite a bit of upfront work and maintenance from weeding to watering, but results will occur much more quickly.
Site Inventory:
If Active Recovery works best on your shoreline, the natural features present, such as sunlight and moisture, will help inform which native plants will do well. The following list contains a few useful steps to map out your property, beginning the restoration process:
- Locate any areas where land is eroding and needs to be stabilized. Try to identify cause of erosion; is it coming from the lake (waves) or from upland (water runoff)?
- Identify native plants already growing on your property or in nearby undisturbed areas
- Identify site specific environmental conditions: soil, slope, light, moisture
- Research native plants that will grow well in the environmental conditions you identified above
- Measure area to be restored along shoreline. Ideally it will extend at least 35 feet landwards of the OHWM (Ordinary High Water Mark)
- Decide on goals for restoration (Ex. Attracting wildlife, screening house from view, stabilizing eroding banks, etc.)