Healthy Shorelines
What Happens on Land Affects our Water
Did you know that the state of your shoreline directly affects the quality of the water that you swim and play in on your own waterfront and elsewhere on the lake? Shorelines that are eroded, hardened or bordered with lawn allow soil, pollutants and nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen to wash into the water. Some of these substances stay in the water and some settle to the bottom. This damages water quality and fish habitat and fertilizes excessive growth of algae and aquatic plants.
Natural shorelines, containing a variety of native plants with their deep strong root systems, slow down natural runoff and trap nutrients, pollutants and eroding soil before they can reach the water. Natural and restored shorelines with a variety of native ground covers, wild flowers, shrubs and trees also:
protect your property
protect lake water quality
protect against erosion from waves, boat wakes and flooding
slow the growth of aquatic "weeds" and algae
provide important habitat for a wide range of land-based and aquatic wildlife
help keep geese off your property
supply important food sources for bees, Monarch butterflies and other pollinators
protect against the effects of climate change, extreme weather events and drought
save you work – with less or no lawn to cut, you’ll have more deck and dock time!
Shoreline Protection Advocacy Gets Results
For more than five years now, Environment Council (EC) has been advocating with local municipal governments to do more to protect shorelands from development impacts – and we are making progress.
In late 2020, we established a Shoreline Conservation Initiative committee to focus this effort with the townships surrounding Clear, Ston(e)y and White Lakes, and to build support for shoreline protection on other nearby lakes. The North Kawartha Shoreline Conservation Initiative emerged from this effort. As this group extended its advocacy into other townships, it became known as Shoreline Conservation: Peterborough County (SCPC), which works in partnership with Environment Council.
More on our progress, below.
Progress to Date
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Between them, EC and SCPC have delivered a dozen deputations to the Douro-Dummer, Trent Lakes, Selwyn, North Kawartha and Havelock-Belmont-Methuen (HBM) Township Councils. These presentations explain how natural and restored shorelands function to protect lake water quality, and urge the townships to undertake more proactive protection of their shorelands and lakes.
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EC and SCPC also monitor provincial and county policy impacting shorelands and water bodies. Together, EC and SCPC have made 10 submissions to the province and county on natural heritage protection.
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Education efforts include at least 20 presentations to ratepayers’ and lake associations, and use of social media. Support for stronger shoreland protection regulation is growing. This has been identified as a top priority by our lake associations for the last four years, and they have provided support letters for our deputations to Douro-Dummer and Selwyn Townships.
Working in Partnership
North Kawartha, Trent Lakes and HBM have all produced shoreline preservation brochures for distribution to waterfront owners, builders and other stakeholders. Following an EC/SCPC deputation on April 14, 2026, Selwyn Township agreed to do the same.
Trent Lakes has established an Environmental Advisory Committee with council and citizen representation, and staff are developing a protective by-law.
In early 2025, Douro-Dummer revised its Site Plan Control By-law to apply to all properties within 120 metres of a lake, wetland, river or stream valley – as recommended in an EC deputation a few months earlier.
Shoreline Facts
Wildlife Depends on the Ribbon of Life
Scientific evidence shows that the first 10 to 15 metres of shoreland and the shallow water next to it – known as the riparian zone or ribbon of life – is essential to the survival of almost all species.
Ninety percent of all lake and river life depends on shoreline areas for birth, feeding and survival. Seventy percent of land animals also depend on shorelines for survival at some point in their lives.
Hardening shorelines with concrete shore walls or large stone blocks interrupts this ribbon of life and doesn’t prevent erosion over the long term. Removing natural vegetation and replacing it with lawn destroys the food sources and protective cover that wildlife needs to survive.
How much natural shoreline is enough? Looking at the big picture, Environment Canada guidelines say that 75 percent of a lake, 30 metres back from the shore, should be left natural to keep local populations of wildlife from disappearing. When it comes to individual properties, research shows that a 10-metre buffer zone of natural vegetation at the shoreline is needed to protect wildlife habitat and lake water quality.
We recognize that many properties, and families’ needs for play areas, may not be able to accommodate this but it's important to keep natural or re-naturalize as much of this 10-metre band along the edge of the water as possible.
Getting Started
Here are a few simple steps:
If you have a lawn down to the edge of the water or close to it, stop cutting the first three to five metres back from the shore. Native plants will start to appear and you can gradually add more and increase the width of the buffer.
Keep any remaining lawn at least seven centimetres tall to slow runoff. Rainwater runs off short lawn grass about twice as fast as off larger plants.
Think about how you use your waterfront, and whether there are parts of it not used, or rarely used. Begin to naturalize these areas.
To help protect the water, make sure no fertilizer, pesticides or herbicides are used, and that no gas or oil is spilled.
To find out more about the importance of natural shorelines and how to naturalize yours, see:
The Shore Primer, Ontario edition The Shore Primer
A Shoreline Owner’s Guide to Healthy Waterfronts https://foca.on.ca/shoreline-owners-guide-to-healthy-waterfronts/
And North Kawartha Township's terrific new publication: Protecting and Restoring Healthy Shorelines
All images (below) show our volunteers at work on the Camp Kawartha shoreline restoration project and at a lucky homeowner's Natural Edge-sponsored waterfront transformation. (Photos by Tina Warren)
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What not to do
Replacing your shoreline's natural vegetation with grass and adding hardscaping robs wildlife of its essential habitat and allows run-off of potentially toxic substances into the lake.
Living on the Edge, Naturally
EC partners with Kawartha Lake Stewards Association to deliver the Watersheds Canada Natural Edge program to Ston(e)y, Clear and White Lakes.
Six waterfront owners on Ston(e)y and White Lakes are giving their shorelines a Natural Edge through this Watersheds Canada shoreline restoration program.
The program is being delivered to our lakes by the Kawartha Lake Stewards Association (KLSA), assisted by Environment Council. The current program is largely funded by an RBC Tech for Nature grant, with contributions from the owners whose waterfronts are being restored.
In mid-August, 2021, Natural Edge program manager Chloe Lajoie made site visits to three shoreline properties on Upper Stoney and White Lake and then designed planting plans for each, featuring native trees, shrubs and wildflowers.
These illustrated plans were readily agreed to by the owners, in time for planting of their shorelines on October 2. With Chloe's guidance, owners, neighbours and KLSA and Environment Council volunteers all dug in to help.
These owners and their families can now look forward to having more colourful, stable shorelines that will help protect water quality and wildlife, while discouraging geese.
Three more site assessments were carried out on Stony Lake in the fall. Planting plans were developed and approved.
In June, homeowners and volunteers planted native plants and shrubs on two of the three sites. Planting at the third property has been postponed until fall due to the aftermath of the derecho.
Camp Kawartha
Project Recap
Two large sections of the Camp Kawartha shoreline on Clear Lake have been restored to work in harmony with the lake, through a project partnership initiated by the Environment Council for Clear, Ston(e)y and White Lakes.
The two-year project to revitalize damaged sections of the Camp's shoreline was completed in August 2020, when more than 20 enthusiastic volunteers gathered to plant an eroded woodland slope just above the shoreline. Members of the lake community, local environmental studies students and other youths planted more than 250 native shrubs, perennial wildflowers, grasses and ferns in the woodland clearing.
Phase one of the project took shape in August 2019 when 30 volunteers converged on what had been an eroded weedy slope around the Camp's pumphouse. They planted almost 1300 native shrubs and perennial wildflowers in the 20 by 15-metre area.
As the native plants with their strong, spreading root systems mature, they are stabilizing the shoreline slopes and reducing erosion. This helps protect lake water quality by trapping sediment and nutrients in storm water runoff -- reducing sedimentation of fish habitat and slowing the growth of invasive aquatic plants and algae.
Plants for the two sections of shoreline were selected to provide shelter and natural food sources for land-based animals, birds, bees and butterflies, and for their attractiveness and resilience to climate change.
The landscape and planting plans were designed by Helen Batten, Basterfield & Associates Landscape Architects. B&A also designed interpretive signage for the two restored areas. Douglas Kennedy, Green Side Up Environmental Services, installed the planting beds, paths and erosion control features and oversaw the planting.
Camp staff also pitched in, raising significant donations for the project, and helping with site prep, planting days and ongoing care of the site. The revitalized areas are now part of the Camp's outdoor environmental education programs for kids.
Through presentations and guided tours, the Environment Council is using the restored areas to show lake residents the benefits of natural shorelines and how to get started on making their own waterfronts healthier.
Camp Kawartha and Environment Council send a big thank you to their volunteers and the generous donors who made this project such a success: The Stony Lake Heritage Foundation, the Ontario Wildlife Foundation, Basterfield & Associates Landscape Architects Inc., Carol and Ralph Ingleton and the Community Foundation of Greater Peterborough, the Arscott Family Foundation, Ann and Ross Dobbin, and Penny and Robert Little.
