Lakeshore Stewardship Initiatives

An ongoing project of the Rainy Lake Conservancy...

is to provide lakeshore stewardship materials and educational opportunities not only to Conservancy members but also to students and landowners in the Rainy Lake area. What does it mean to educate people in lakeshore stewardship? How do people learn to be good stewards of lakes and shorelines? One way is to get people out into nature. A personal experience watching a dragonfly hatch can be a powerful motivator to keep a stream healthy. A hike that exposes people to warblers in the spring goes a long way toward encouraging people to maintain habitat in which birds can thrive. An opportunity to remove purple loosestrife from a beautiful bay is a way to learn caution about introducing seeds and plants into water and on land. Talking with students in school classrooms is another way Conservancy members reach the minds of younger people with simple hows and whys of lakeshore stewardship and land conservation. Cleaning up a trashed-out beach, taking a kid fishing, showing good sense about where you empty your bait buckets and live wells; each is a way of practicing good stewardship.