Meet our latest Lake Stewards!

Congrats to Tim and Kersten Thellin, off Schneiders Lake, our latest SRCLA Lake Stewards! After years of maintaining a beach on a non-swimmable portion of the lake (the bottom is very mucky), the Thellins were looking for other options to beautify their shoreline. After contacting Richard Gallea and learning about the Lake Steward program, they met with Greg Berg from the Stearns Conservation District to discuss a possible shoreline restoration.

Working with the county's guidelines, Greg and his team are available to assist with technical information, design, cost share (75%), and implementation. Once they had a plan from the county, they met with three contractors and ended up selecting Minnesota Native Landscapes. The plan was to complete the project in 2024, but excessive rain and some travel plans pushed the project to the spring of 2025. "The plantings are just starting to flourish, but so far we're very happy with how this is looking. Working with Greg has been great, and we had complete control over plant selection. I can't wait to see what this will look like once things start filling in.  Not only will we have a beautiful shoreline that will bloom throughout the season, but we’re doing our part to help minimize harmful runoff into the Chain, “ said Kersten.

SRCLA offers subsidies to shoreline owners for projects like native buffers, as does the Stearns Conservation District.

Please contact Rick Reimer, Land Use Lead, at rick.reimer64@gmail.com if you’d like to discuss options.