THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SHORELINE CONDITION AND LAKE HEALTH

or… Actions Count!

Do you want to get a better understanding of how critical lakeshore habitat is to the health and integrity of our lakes?……read below. As you can see, shoreline habitat loss is shown to lead to poor biological health. Poor biological health affects our water quality, the fisheries, wildlife populations, etc. Reduced water quality, fisheries, and wildlife populations result in a reduced-quality, on-the-water experience for all water users. A reduced-quality experience leads to declines in water users, and a decline in water users leads to……………….. Let us not forget that people are drawn to our area because our waters in Northern Wisconsin are some of the healthiest in the country. Let’s keep it that way!

EPA Updates on Lakeshore Protection & National Lakes Assessment Study

EPA’s Office of Water launched a new Web clearinghouse of Lake Shoreland Protection Resources, http://water.epa.gov/type/lakes/shoreland.cfm, which provides practitioners with links to key resources to protect and restore fragile lake shorelands and to promote better stewardship by lakeside property owners and others who recreate on lakes. The clearinghouse, which includes links to fact sheets, webcasts, videos, and other helpful resources for lakeshore protection, is part of an outreach campaign to educate the public and others about the key findings of the National Lakes Assessment (NLA). According to the NLA, poor lakeshore habitat and high levels of nutrients are leading stressors affecting the biological health of lakes. Among the key findings:56% of our lakes are in good biological condition.

More than one-third of our lakes exhibit poor shoreline condition; poor biological health is three times more in lakes with poor lakeshore habitat. Nearly 20% of lakes have high levels of nutrients. Lakes with excess nutrients are 2.5 times more likely to have poor biological health. Microcystin – an algal toxin that can harm humans, pets and wildlife – is present in about one-third of lakes across the country.

In 2007, EPA, the States, Tribes and others partners sampled more than 1,000 lakes as part of this first-ever, national assessment of the ecological condition of the nation’s lakes. For a print copy of the report (EPA publication number EPA 841- R-09-001) contact EPA’s publications warehouse at 1-800-490-9198. To download a copy of the report or the data used in developing the report, please visit http://www.epa.gov/lakessurvey/. (Contact: Carol Peterson, 202-566-1304 or peterson.carol@epa.gov)