Lake George Shoreland Restoration Project
St. Cloud, Minnesota

Partnerships are important when it comes to making application of conservation on the land a reality.  Such is the case with the Restoration Project on the shores of Lake George in St. Cloud, Minnesota. The Lake George Shoreland Restoration Project in Stearns County, Minnesota is an excellent example of conservation partners working together to make conservation take place.  Lake George in St. Cloud, Minnesota has seen many changes in the past two years.  It has gone from a steep, gravel and lawn grass shoreline to a natural habitat of trees, shrubs, native grasses and wildflowers.

The restoration project was designed and established by Greg Berg, a Shoreland Specialist from the Stearns County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD), the Central MN Joint Powers Engineering Staff, and approximately 400 St. Cloud Tech environmental science students over the past two years.  The project received $24,219 through the MN DNR Shoreland Habitat Restoration Program.  The students helped plant over 110 trees and 17,000 native grasses and forbs along the lake; both in the water as aquatics and on the upland portion.  The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) also helped with the planting and project coordination. 

The project began seeing change in the spring of 2002 where the southern and western shoreline of the lake was restored to natural habitat.  In the summer of 2003, additional plant species were added to the southern area after many did not survive due to heavy rains and flooding.  An erosion blanket was added to the site to further stabilize the damaged shoreline area.  In addition annual rye grass was utilized for stabilization on Lake George.  The area was also planted with native plants to help stabilize the soil and shoreline area.

Lee Zabinski, NRCS Technician, Waite Park, Minnesota and students work at installing an erosion blanket and shoreline plantings.

Melanie Boike, NRCS Soil Conservationist, weeding the area planted in the spring of 2002.

The north section of  Lake George was re-graded and sloped with topsoil to prepare the area for planting.  The area was then seeded with annual rye grass, native grass, and wildflowers.  After the seeding took place, the site was covered with an erosion blanket and planted by the students.  Restoring the area back to a native plant community helps create a buffer zone to filter out sediment and other pollutants from entering the lake in an effort to improve water quality.  This project will not only stop the erosion, but it also is aesthetically pleasing to the area, adding a variety of color, a natural look to the land, and an improved habitat for wildlife.  The site provided an outdoor classroom during the project implementation and in the future for students. 

Additional information on the Lake George Shoreland Restoration Project can be obtained from Steve Sellnow, District Conservationist in Waite Park, Minnesota.  Steven.sellnow@mn.usda.gov or by calling Steve at 320/251-7800.