What Can You Do

Water resources play an important role in our everyday life, contributing to our economy, recreational activities, education, and lifestyle. While the sage management of these important resources is the overall mission of the Comfort Lake - Forest Lake Watershed District (CLFLWD), the overall success (good water quality and reduced flooding) depends on everyone and every activity within the boundaries of the watershed.

There are many opportunities to participate in the work of the CLFLWD. Some citizens serve on the District's Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC), others become volunteer lake monitors, while others attend the Board of Managers' monthly meetings to provide comments and learn what's happening in the District.

The District also works with citizens and businesses on individual projects ranging from shoreland stabilization, to meeting with lake associations, to runoff management projects.

Comfort Lake - Forest Lake Watershed District staff are available to answer questions and provide information about area water resources and conservation issues.

It Is Everyone's Responsibility to Manage Our Water Resources

What you do in your house and yard directly affects your water resources (lakes, streams and groundwater). You CAN make a difference by learning how to:

Maintain your septic system properly.

• If you have a septic system, have it pumped out at least every three years. This will allow your septic tank to operate efficiently.
• Be careful not to flush or pour into your drains anything that will kill the bacteria that live in your septic tank. Healthy colonies of bacteria in your septic tank are necessary for the process that treats your wastewater and reduces the nutrient inputs to the groundwater.
• Don't use garbage disposals; they contribute unnecessary solids and grease to your septic system. Use a compost pile instead.
• Don't use toilets as trash cans.

Conserve water whenever possible. Irrigate in the early morning or early evening.

• Use soaker hoses or drip irrigation versus sprinklers.
• Use organic mulch around plants.
• Select plants that have low requirements for water, fertilizers, and pesticides.
• Water lawns during off-peak hours and use a timer to shut off the water.
• Sweep walkways rather than using a hose to wash them down.

Plant trees.

Not only are trees beautiful, but they provide numerous environmental benefits.

• Trees reduce soil erosion and control run-off from your yard. Reducing erosion and preventing run-off will reduce not only the amount of sediments entering the streams, creeks, rivers, and the Bay, but also the amount of nutrients and toxic chemicals entering the watershed.
• Trees provide beneficial habitat and food for many creatures that live in the watershed.
• Trees clean our drinking water by filtering polluted run-off (which makes our water safer and 40 times cleaner).
• Trees clean and cool our air and return pure oxygen - and - as they grow, absorb carbon dioxide (which slows global climate change).
• Trees buffer noise.

Plan for the long term.

• Plant trees and shrubs far enough apart to ensure adequate space when fully grown.
• Consider future uses of the property.
• Inventory your property.

Create diversity.

• Plant a variety of plant species.
• Arrange plants in groups that resemble natural settings.
• Provide and improve habitats for wildlife, such as small mammals, song birds, and butterflies.

Use beneficial plants.

• Select native plants that require less watering, fertilizers, pesticides, and overall maintenance.
• Choose native plants that attract beneficial insects, such as lady bugs and praying mantis.
• Select plants that repel pests.
• Plant perennials which will return each year.

Practice conservation landscaping.

• Use beneficial plants that require less fertilizer, water, and maintenance.
• Decrease the amount of mowed areas with shrubs, trees, gardens, or meadows.

Use fertilizer wisely.

• Mulch or compost grass clippings and leaves - keep them out of the streets, and out of our lakes!
• Use zero-phosphorus lawn fertilizer, and keep fertilizer off sidewalks, streets, and shorelines.
• Maintain a healthy lawn - mow grass to a height of 2-3 inches, seed in the spring and fall, and aerate and de-thatch in the fall.
• If you fertilize once a year, do so in the fall
• Use native plants in landscaping and along shorelines and remove invasive, non-native plants.

Reduce stormwater run-off from your property.

• Make sure gutters and sprinklers drain into grass or gravel areas to reduce run-off and to increase absorption of rainwater.
• Spread mulch on bare ground to help prevent erosion and runoff.
• Aerating your lawn or planting "rain gardens" in low areas will allow infiltration of stormwater and reduce the volume of run-off reaching our lakes and streams.

Use pesticides carefully.

Use safer alternatives for controlling pests. Many pest control products use nontoxic chemicals and are just as effective. If you must buy toxic products, choose the least toxic product you can find and never buy or use more than you need.

Practice integrated pest management (IPM) to control pests.

IPM is the integration of various management strategies - including biological, cultural, and chemical methods - into a comprehensive program of pest control for the home landscape. This includes:

• Checking plants regularly to look for signs of problems.
• Treating only infected plants or lawn areas.
• Identifying beneficial insects that provide natural pest control.

Start a compost pile.

If you have room, start a compost pile in a corner of your yard. Place compost pile at least 50 feet from any body of water.

By using a compost pile instead of a garbage disposal, you will reduce your nutrient inputs to the watershed. You also will be creating beneficial soil conditioner that will reduce the fertilizer and watering requirements for the plants in your landscape.

Shoreline and Wetlands protection.

• Leave it natural. Leave a natural 15 to 25 foot buffer along lakes, streams and wetlands. This will reduce and filter runoff, deter geese, and keep chemical use away from the receiving water.
• Protect and preserve existing wetlands on your property.

Establish Sound Land Use.

Get involved in local land use decisions to promote environmentally sensitive development. Attend planning commission meetings and help educate local leaders about the economic, social and environmental costs of poor land use decisions.

Get Involved!

• Get involved with your local community watershed district, lake association, sportsmen's/women's group, or community group and let them know you care about the quality of our water resources and what we all can do to help protect them.
• Participate in activities that help protect and restore you local streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands, and the land that surrounds them.
• Learn more about local efforts to protect and improve our water resources:
  • Take a shoreland management class from the University of Minnesota Extension Service.
  • Explore related web sites and printed materials.
  • Volunteer to monitor a local lake or stream.
  • Invite watershed District staff to provide a presentation at a meeting of your community organization.