By: Long Lake Stewardship Committee and Nepahwin Lake Watershed Stewardship Group
In our collective desire to enjoy access to our City of Greater Sudbury urban lakes, waterfronts have been manicured and hardscaped leading to the decline of lake water quality.
Many of our urban lakes are suffering, with increased phosphorus levels, shoreline erosion and algal blooms. There are simple solutions to harness nature’s ability to restore balance; one being to recreate a natural shoreline….and that is what two local Lake Stewardship Groups have done this past summer, with the support of microgrant funding from Love Your Lake, a stewardship program coordinated by the Canadian Wildlife Federation and Watersheds Canada. In previous years, both Long Lake and Nepahwin Lake had a shoreline assessment completed by the local Lake Water Quality Coordinator which provided data for a Lake Shoreline Assessment Summary Report produced by Love Your Lake.
Long Lake has 52.9 kilometres of shoreline and approximately 440 residential properties. The 2019 Love Your Lake Summary Report revealed that 336 properties would benefit from shoreline naturalization. The Long Lake Stewardship Committee held a Boost Your Buffer native plant giveaway campaign in 2021 and 2022 which provided 80 property owners opportunity to increase the vegetative buffer zone on their properties. With the added assistance of the Love Your Lake microgrant funding in 2024, the lake stewardship group was able to purchase more plants to distribute to interested property owners bringing the total plants given away over three years to nearly 900!
Chair of the Long Lake Stewardship Committee, Scott Darling, states, “It is very gratifying to see so many of our residents keen to improve the health of their shorelines and therefore the health of Long Lake. Much appreciation goes to the Love Your Lake program who provided the opportunity to apply for grants for shoreline naturalization.”
Nepahwin Lake has ~11 km of shoreline, much of it having been developed in the past four decades. Nepahwin Lake Watershed Stewardship Group partnered with the Idylwylde Golf and Country Club to identify segments of the golf course shoreline that would benefit from enhanced restoration. As an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses certificant, the golf and country club already nurtures its natural assets through maintaining groves of native trees, pollinator gardens, Tree Swallow nesting boxes and an annual investment in shoreline remediation.
“With much of our shoreline built on fill, it has been a long and continuing process to restore the golf course natural shoreline,” says Jay Sisko, Grounds Supervisor.
“By identifying sensitive degraded areas of shoreline and purchasing native plants, the grant helped amplify the Idylwylde’s ongoing shoreline restoration work,” says Mandy Hey, Co-Chair of the Nepahwin Lake Watershed Stewardship Group.
Avid golfer, Bill Querney states, “I’m as passionate about Nepahwin Lake’s water quality as I am about golf. I’m proud to be a member of the Idylwylde as it aims to balance top-tier fairways with stewardship of its natural assets. “
Idylwylde Golf and Country Club’s Jay Sisko, Greens Superintendent and Adrianna Delisle, Gardener put shovels in the ground to help restore native plants to golf course shoreline.
“We’re happy to be able to provide funding through the Love Your Lake microgrant program to help improve the health of Canada’s shorelines,” says Terri-Lee Reid Conservation Researcher with the Canadian Wildlife Federation. “Natural shorelines benefit both wildlife and people!”