Shoreline Buffer Demonstration Site Installed at Columbia Park

Help us maintain these beautiful shoreline plantings! 3 workdays are scheduled for 2024: May 10, July 12, and September 6. Email the Winnebago Waterways coordinator at shoreline@fwwa.org to let us know you’ll be joining (to receive details and weather updates).

Visitors to Columbia Park in Fond du Lac County can now stop by three native plant beds to enjoy beautiful native plants!

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance partnered with the Fond du Lac County Land and Water Conservation Department (LWCD) to install three native plant buffers along the shoreline of Lake Winnebago at Columbia Park in Fond du Lac County. The goal of this project is to increase the adoption and installation of native shoreline plantings around the Winnebago System. This is our first shoreline demonstration site and we are excited to watch it grow!

Shoreline property owners are eligible to receive reimbursement of up to $1000 to install this type of best management practice through a Wisconsin DNR Healthy Lakes and Rivers grant by partnering with Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance.

The demonstration site is a great way to check out what this shoreline best management practice looks like, what the requirements are for the Healthy Lakes and Rivers Grant, and what shoreline property owners can expect from the process of planning, installing, and maintaining the native plant beds.

Under a Healthy Lakes and Rivers grant, native plantings must:

• Total 350 contiguous square feet,
• Be at least 10 feet wide in any direction,
• Be adjacent to the shore,

A Healthy Lakes native planting project can augment an existing area of vegetation provided it is at least partially within 35 feet of the shoreline.

The demonstration site at Columbia Park meets all of these requirements, and is intended to give shoreline property owners a good idea of what to expect from their native plantings, while also educating visitors about how native plantings can improve wildlife habitat, natural beauty, and decrease runoff into Lake Winnebago.

Three different Healthy Lakes and Rivers plant list options are showcased at the Columbia Park Demonstration site. One is a Bird and Butterfly bed, intended to attract pollinators. The second is a low-growing option, where visitors can enjoy both a clear view of the water and beautiful native plants. The final bed is a Woodland plant bed, intended to re-vegetate a shady area.

The demonstration site was prepared with help from Fond du Lac County Parks and LWCD by sod cutting to clear the areas where the beds were installed. Then, topsoil, a weed barrier fabric, and mulch were added to provide a good foundation for the plants. Finally, dedicated volunteers and staff from Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance and Fond du Lac County LWCD planted over 500 plants. Since the beds were installed this summer, visitors in 2022 can see how the best management practice looks in its first year. The plantings will change quite a bit over the next two to three years as the plants continue to grow and fill in the space, so be sure to plan a repeat visit. We are also planning to install educational signage at the site. Thanks to all the hard work, the result is a beautiful area that will help the shoreline for years to come. We invite you to stop by and check it out!

If you have any questions or are interested in installing a Healthy Lakes native plant bed on your shoreline property, please contact Katie Reed at katherine@fwwa.org or 920-851-6472.