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Native plants can help with runoff:
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| By: Patty Stevesand, Chetek |
August 19, 2009 |
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As a cabin owner for 12 years on Lake Chetek, I read with interest the information on the quality of our lakes. Over the past four years I have swapped out lawn for native plants at our home.
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Initially I did this by not watering our lawn, and where it died, I tilled it up and planted native plants. These plants are lovely, low maintenance and promote the health of birds and butterflies by being a source of food.
The article on the front page of The Chetek Alert discussed Don Freeman's "25-foot deep weed patch." By calling native plants weeds, it immediately sends the wrong signal to lakeshore owners who might be willing to take a look at some options for shoreline restoration. I have not seen Mr. Freeman's property so I don't know if it looks weedy, but I can tell you that if you feel it does, you can still help our lakes by selecting plants that have more appeal to you.
There are excellent books and online resources to help you choose plants. And Wisconsin is home to some nice native plant nurseries. There are many native plants that will not block the view of the lake, will help runoff with their long roots and will benefit wildlife. It would be easy to have these plants for five or six feet next to the shoreline.
There are some other options as well. Our cabin is on a level lot, though there is still runoff that comes from the street. If I planted the first four to six feet of our lot on the roadside, some of the runoff would be diverted by the deep native plant roots long before it reached the shoreline. The plants I would choose for my roadside lot would be: nodding pink oonion, sweet black eyed susan, butterfly weed, wild bergamot and purple coneflower. All of these are attractive plants. I would not plant non-native plants such as lilies, which do not have the deep roots we need to divert rainwater.
For those of us who have level shorelines and small frontage (ours is 55 feet), what about planting a five- or six-foot buffer of lovely ferns? Perhaps you could anchor one end of your lot with some joe-pye, which gets tall (around five or six feet) but is lovely and supplies much needed nectar for butterflies. And, if you must, leave a few feet unplanted for access to the lake by foot. The plan doesn't have to be all or nothing.
There are other sources of phosphorus besides lawn fertilizer runoff. Detergents, shampoos and runoff from farmlands, to name three. We can all spend just a little more on our detergent choices and have an immediate impact. I would also be interested in how our local farms are contributing to this problem and how they can help solve it.
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©The Chetek Alert 2009
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