About Wisconsin's Healthy Lakes & Rivers
Healthy Lakes & Rivers includes 5 simple and inexpensive best practices that improve habitat and water quality on your shoreland property.
We encourage do-it-yourselfers to use these practices but have also created a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Healthy Lakes & Rivers grant for funding assistance. Local partners like qualified lake and river organizations and counties may apply for Healthy Lakes & Rivers funding on behalf of shoreland property owners, or they may choose to integrate the Healthy Lakes & Rivers initiative into their lake or river management, comprehensive planning, and shoreland zoning ordinance efforts.
Shoreland properties include land within 1,000 feet of a lake or 300 feet of a river.
Shoreland Property Owners
Interested in grant funding? Partner with an eligible grant applicant like a local unit of government or qualified lake or river organization for funding.
Learn more
PHOTO CONTEST to Celebrate 10 Years of Healthy Lakes & Rivers
Thank you to all who entered the HLR Photo Contest! Enjoy the winners below.
Taking first place in the HLR photo contest in the “Healthy Transformations” category are these two shots of Bill and Lyn Foley’s property on Beaver Dam Lake before installing a Healthy Lakes & Rivers 350 ft2 Native Shoreline Planting, and 10 years later.
“Ready for a Rain Day” (above) won first place in the HLR photo contest category “People Making Healthy Lakes & Rivers Together” and "Five Swallowtails Flew Into a Raingarden” (below) won first place in the category “Wildlife Enjoying Habitat.”
“Don't go breakin' my shore,” won most clever caption in the HLR photo contest.
Action Plan
Wisconsin’s Healthy Lakes & Rivers Action Plan builds off the success of the 2014-2017 Healthy Lakes pilot and subsequent growth. Healthy Lakes & Rivers remains a collaborative team effort that depends on private and public shoreland property owners, businesses, and the Wisconsin Lakes and Rivers Partnership to promote and install relatively simple and inexpensive best practices benefiting habitat and water quality. This goal-oriented plan also includes funding, promotion, and evaluation strategies.
Purpose & Goals
Our Purpose
To protect and restore the health of our lakes and rivers by increasing property owner participation in habitat restoration and runoff and erosion control projects.
Our Goals
Participate
Increase property owner participation in Healthy Lakes & Rivers.
Engage
Maintain existing and engage new property owners as ambassadors of the Healthy Lakes & Rivers philosophy.
Support
Increase the number of grant applications submitted by project coordinators and/or grant applicants.
Partner
Grow a business partner network to promote Healthy Lakes & Rivers and provide technical and installation assistance.
Our Team
Collaboration and participation were key in this team effort to create Wisconsin’s Healthy Lakes & Rivers Action Plan and our statewide initiative. We would like to thank the staff, agency, business, and citizen partners, including Advanced Lake Leaders, who provided feedback for our team and the many partners who completed a customer survey and provided valuable comments during the public review of proposed Department of Natural Resources guidance.
Emily Moore
Burnett County
Scott Van Egeren
Wisconsin DNR
Tracy Arnold
Portage County
Lauren Haydon
Wisconsin DNR
Brenda Nordin
Wisconsin DNR
Tyler Betry
Sheboygan County
Laura MacFarland
Wisconsin DNR
Ben Wojahn
Wisconsin Lakes
Amy Kowalski
Extension Lakes
UW-Stevens Point
Pat Brown
Barron County
Patrick Anderson
Wisconsin DNR
We would like to express our gratitude to the following contributors and information sources:
Tom Aartila
Raechelle Belli
Cheryl Clemens
Alex Delvoye
Karen Engelbretson
Patrick Goggin
John Haack
Dave Kafura
Jesha LaMarche
Maria LeFevre
Jane Malischke
Alison Mikulyuk
Eric Olson
Flory Olson
Tom Onofrey
Tim Parks
Carroll Schaal
Bret Shaw
Shelly Thomsen
Pamela Toshner
Scott Toshner
Victoria Ziegler
Bone Lake Management District
Maine Lake Smart Program
Michigan Shoreland Stewards Program
Vermont Lake Wise Program
Science of Healthy Lakes
The science of lake and river management has advanced significantly over the last few decades. We better understand natural science – how lakes and rivers function and the importance of shorelands to lake and river health, as well as the social science – how people and their attitudes and behaviors affect lakes and rivers.
Social Science