Philip Hunsicker, 1000 Friends of Minnesota, 218-824-5095

Not all development is bad. When development is good, it is worth recognizing. The Lake-Friendly Development Awards recognize homeowners, contractors and local units of government that have developed or redeveloped lakeshore or riverfront properties in full compliance with shoreland zoning ordinances and ecologically sustainable principles. The hope is that these awards will encourage ecologically sensitive development trends along lakeshore and rivers.

Lake-friendly landscape award winners include Laurel Mezner who put down her beach rake and installed a 25-foot buffer on her property, and Todd and Tonya Person who restored approximately 135 by 35 feet of lakeshore on Gilbert Lake in Brainerd by installing a buffer of native plants. Also the Whitefish Area Property Owners Association and Rush Lake Association together with the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), University of Minnesota Extension Service, Crow Wing County Soil and Water Conservation District, Crow Wing County Parks Department and many volunteers installed a 1,635 foot erosion control research and demonstration project on two public islands on Rush Lake of the Whitefish Chain.

The lake-friendly home construction award went to ETOC Development, Inc., for a conservation design residential development called Fawn Ridge, located in Nisswa. With 16 clustered home sites on 42 acres, Fawn Ridge incorporated conservation design principles such as shared septic systems, common areas, community docks and a nature trail system. Streets were designed to allow natural runoff and minimize ground erosion. The clustered home sites allow acres of open space and to preserve natural surroundings. Buffers are maintained along the shoreline and next to wetlands. Conservation design neighborhoods like Fawn Ridge allow communities to achieve both their development and conservation objectives at the same time.

Two projects received awards for the category of “lakefriendly protection strategy.” The award recipients include the DNR Alternative Shoreland Management Standards for the 5-County North Central Region, led by Russ Schultz and Paul Radomski of the DNR, along with a citizen’s advisory committee. Also honored were the Kathio Garrison Mille Lacs Sanitary Sewer District and the Mille Lacs Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant for their lakefriendly protection strategy to preserve Mille Lacs Lake. The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Indians’ tribal government partnered with the City of Garrison and Kathio and Garrison Townships to preserve the water quality through a sanitary sewer district and a regional wastewater treatment plant. This partnership will ensure that wastewater does not pollute the general water supply or degrade the water quality of Lake Mille Lacs.

These awards are co-sponsored by 1000 Friends of Minnesota, the Brainerd Lakes Area Audubon Society, Minnesota Waters, the Crow Wing County Lakes and Rivers Alliance, the DNR, the Minnesota Chapter of the American Fisheries Society, The Nature Conservancy and A.W. Research Laboratories.

Posted in Care of Shoreland Property |