Support Lake Steward!

Across Minnesota, volunteer organizations like yours need help maintaining members, connecting with young leaders, and protecting water quality. The Lake Steward Program accomplishes these goals while also building a statewide community around shoreline protection and water quality. 56% of our waters are listed as impaired by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, so now is the time to act!

The Lake Steward Program connects neighbors to each other and local shoreline restoration resources. It encourages property owners to maintain natural shorelines through positive reinforcement and public recognition, organically and sustainably shifting norms away from degraded, highly-manicured shorelines. 

In 2025 the Lake Steward Program reached several large milestones. With the average lot being 150 feet, the program has now restored around 20 miles of shoreline! We also awarded the 700th Lake Steward sign, expanded the program to nearly 65 lakes, and started a new initiative in Minneapolis, working with neighborhood associations, called City of Lake Stewards.

What's the impact of 700 properties each year?

-	Developed shoreline	Natural shoreline	Annual reduction
Phosphorus leeched into waterways	140 lbs.	21 lbs.	119 lbs.
Algae from phosphorus leeching	70,000 lbs.	10,500 lbs.	59,500 lbs.

* Developed shorelines leech 0.2 lbs. of phosphorus per year. Natural shorelines only leech 0.03 lbs. of phosphorus per year. SOURCE

** 1 lb. of phosphorus produces 500 lbs. of algae. SOURCE

---

However, we need to raise $10,000 to ensure we can continue this great work for another year. We spend tens of thousands running our statewide programs each year, and need to ensure our they are fiscally sustainable before we make decisions for 2026.

Can you contribute $65 to support Lake Steward in 2026?

---

As part of the City of Lake Stewards Program, MLR hired four interns from local high schools to help evaluate properties. We also taught them about hydrology, urban planning, and leadership development using curriculum from Project W.E.T.

Here's a quote from Astora, a freshman at the University of Minnesota and one of our interns, about the City of Lake Stewards Program:

"The internship really helped me build awareness of my impact on the local ecosystem and made me feel like I could make a difference in my local community."

---

Lake Steward hasn't just been good for Minnesota's shorelines and water quality, it's been a tremendously successful tool for associations to gain members. One of our longtime Lake Steward evaluators on Lake Vermilion commented on this:

"Being a lake steward evaluator has been really fun. I have built relationships with the other evaluators I work with - great people I did not know before the program, but also with lake association members. In the last two years, at least four of the shoreline owners I evaluated decided to join the lake association and two became volunteer evaluators."

---

We need funding to continue delivering these results in 2026. Will you make a gift of $250 today to help us reach 100 lakes, hold four Project W.E.T. trainings, and grow urban lake and river stewardship?

Will you help us continue this impactful work?

---

With your support we will:

• Expand Lake Steward’s Reach: Increase participation to 20% of Minnesota’s lake associations (100 lakes). This will help associations like yours recruit members and protect shorelines, water clarity, and property values.
• Replicate our Youth Engagement Model: Utilize MLR’s role as a Project WET facilitator to hold four volunteer training sessions. You could learn the same curriculum we used in our City of Lake Stewards internship.
  
• Grow Urban Lake and River Stewardship: Refine and expand the City of Lake Stewards Program in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, creating a scalable blueprint for urban stewardship programs statewide.