By Paul J Sniadecki, MLSA Board Director
Each year The North American Lake Management Society (NALMS founded in 1980) awards individuals or teams for design, facilitation, or performance of exceptional education and outreach activities supporting community understanding and appreciation of lake and reservoir management.
NALMS recently recognized the MI Shoreland Stewards Program as earning the award for 2018. The MI Shoreland Stewards Program is a multi-faceted approach to engaging and empowering lake property owners to protect and restore their lakefront property. The program can also be utilized by lake groups to help promote healthy lake front property management, and provide special recognition to their property owners by registering their lake group on the website. An icon will appear on the MiSS website http://www.mishorelandstewards.org for their lake group, so they can access promotional materials and see the results of surveys from their lake. They can also use this in conjunction with a whole lake shoreline assessment to track the status of their lake’s shoreline over time. These programs have created significant interest regarding inland lakeshore protection.
MLSA and the MNSP provide financial and other support to the on-going operation of the Shoreland Stewards Program.