08/16/2024
In NW Wisconsin, a county finds paying homeowners to keep shorelines natural pays off
Docks and watercraft on a lake
Purple pickerel rush lines the shoreline along Warmer Lake in Burnett County, Wis., on July 3.Ben Hovland | MPR News
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In NW Wisconsin, a county finds paying homeowners to keep shorelines natural pays off
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Losing natural shorelines to development is a major environmental problem. In Burnett County, Wis., officials found success paying cash to property owners to keep shorelines pristine. One Twin Cities watershed has taken notice.
Mike and Sally Kindell bought a home six years ago on Warner Lake in Burnett County, lured largely by the lakeโs clean, clear water.
It doesnโt suffer the late-summer algae blooms that turn the water green and slimy on lakes across Wisconsin and Minnesota. One big reason why: It still boasts plenty of undeveloped, wooded lakeshore that helps filter runoff and nutrient pollution.
โThe lake is really what was appealing to us,โ Sally Kindell said. โWe certainly did research the quality of the water, and that was really important to us.โ
While protecting the lake aligns with their values, the Kindells have another reason for keeping their property deliberately natural. Theyโre part of a program in Burnett County that pays homeowners to protect their lakeshore, the only one of its kind in Wisconsin.
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Landowners who enroll in the shoreline incentive program agree to follow the countyโs lakeshore zoning rules. If their property doesnโt meet the rules, theyโre required to restore it.
In exchange for enrolling, landowners get an initial payment of $250, plus a $50 check every year. The county also will pay up to 70 percent of the cost of restoring a shoreline with native plants.
Two people walk up stairs from a lake shore
Sally and Mike Kindell are enrolled in Burnett Countyโs Shoreline Incentive Program, pictured on their Warner Lake property in Burnett County, Wis., on July 3.Ben Hovland | MPR News
While the payments are relatively modest โ Burnett County puts the total annual cost at $35,000 to $40,000 a year โ officials say the incentive has preserved more than 50 miles of shoreline and helped cultivate a culture of stewardship, by engaging property owners to care about their lakeโs health.
โI would just say it's just as much an educational tool as it is a reward tool,โ said Burnett County conservationist Dave Ferris, who helped create the program in 2000. โLuckily, the county board has been very supportive of that. It helps a lot, and solves a lot of problems down the road.โ
Lake advocates cite the 24-year-old Burnett County program as a model that could be replicated in Minnesota, where nearly half of the stateโs natural shorelines have been lost to suburban-style development. Over the past few decades, property owners have cleared trees, built larger homes and converted natural shorelines to manicured lawns or rock riprap.
Burnett Countyโs success has caught the attention of some in the Twin Cities region. The Comfort Lake-Forest Lake Watershed District northeast of St. Paul launched a pilot program last year that pays property owners up to $300 a year to keep their lakeshore natural.
โBasically, it's our effort to incentivize good property management that's beneficial for the watershed, while also rewarding those who are already doing that work for us,โ said Aidan Read, land management specialist with the watershed district.
The program is now in its first full year. Lake associations have been helping spread the word and thereโs been a lot of interest, Read said. โWe've been very, very busy this year, which has been great.โ
