Welcome to the Michigan Shoreland Stewards Program video series.
The Shoreland Stewards Program was created to recognize inland lake property owners who
are maintaining their property in a way that reduces negative impacts that development
can have on inland lakes to ensure healthy lakes for future generations for both people
and fish and wildlife.
This is the first of 5 videos.
Together we’ll explore the 4 Zones of your property and teach you how to be a Shoreland
Steward.
Let’s get started Michigan, is known far and wide, for the Great
Lakes but did you know there are also over 11,000 inland lakes?
These lakes range in size from 5 acres to over 10,000 acres with Houghton Lake being
the largest.
That is a lot of lakes that need to be cared for!
Choosing to live along the shores of an inland lake also brings a responsibility to protect
water quality and share them with the fish and wildlife.
Michigan has different types of lakes that
provide important habitat for 154 different kinds of fish.
Sharing the lake means in many cases protecting aquatic plants because they provide fish with
places to hide, find food and lay their eggs.
Now more than ever, practicing good stewardship of our lakes is critical.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Lakes Assessment, habitat
loss is causing significant stress to the overall health of our nation’s inland lakes.
Michigan is no exception.
The 2012 Assessment showed that over 50% of Michigan’s inland lakes have poor lakeshore
habitat conditions.
Poor lakeshore habitat is the result of overdevelopment of lakeshores.
Removing too many plants and trees from both the land and the water harms fish and wildlife
and reduces water quality.
These changes make it harder for people who watch wildlife, fish, boat, or swim to enjoy
their lakes.
The MI Shoreland Stewards online survey provides
lakefront property owners an opportunity to rate their property and find out how they
are doing in helping to ensure happy homes for fish, frogs, turtles, birds and other
wildlife.
The survey asks questions that relate to healthy management practices in each of the four different
zones of a lakefront property.
These zones are the Lake, Shoreline, Buffer, and Upland Zones.
During the survey property owners learn what
they can do on their own property to protect their lake.
The survey offers information, pictures, and graphics pertaining to each question to assist
participants along the way.
At the end of the survey lakefront property owners can find out if their property qualifies
for a MI Shoreland Steward recognition award.
Properties that have a lot of trees and other
plants, no seawalls, and are not overbuilt will receive the highest level of recognition.
There are three different levels of recognition that can be awarded; a Gold, Silver or Bronze
Level.
Properties that qualify are awarded a custom certificate that can be printed at any time.
In addition to the certificate signs are available for purchase for those properties that qualify.
Place your sign at the lakeshore to show your friends and neighbors that you are a Shoreland
Steward.
Does your property qualify?
Take the survey to find out!
If you register on the website your results will be saved along with any suggestions for
improvement.
If your results were not what you expected review your suggested improvements, make changes
and take the survey again!
Lake groups can also sign up for this program to gain access to outreach materials.
Take it a step further and learn to Score
the Shore through the Michigan Clean Water Corps.
Volunteers learn how to assess their entire lake shoreline.
Scores are then generated and used to determine areas of the shoreline that are healthy and
where improvement is needed.
The Score the Shore assessment and the Shoreland Stewards Program can be used together to help
track how your lake is doing over time.
For more information on Score the Shore check out the website at micorps.net
On behalf of Michigan’s inland lakes and the people who cherish them, thank you for
your Stewardship.
For more information check out our website at www.mishorelandstewards.org