Protecting our investments — protecting our lakes

Will Hoyer

As Wisconsin wraps up another vacation season, many vacationers from across the region have returned home with lasting memories of Wisconsin's beautiful lakes. Some people may even be considering making the lakes a permanent part of their lives by investing in lakefront real estate. Better water quality makes for a better investment so spending money to improve water quality is a long-term investment in the health of Wisconsin's communities.

Many studies have shown that clean water improves property values. A 2003 study of Minnesota lakes showed that a one meter increase in water clarity could result in increases in lakeshore property values of millions of dollars. A study of Vilas County lakes in Wisconsin showed that being able to see one foot further down in the average lake would increase property values by almost four percent. An examination of lakes in Maine showed similar findings where one meter greater clarities in lakes predicted property values to be three to seven percent higher.

As Wisconsin's shorelines become more and more developed the tendency is for water quality to decrease. More chemicals running into the lakes, less natural vegetation along shorelines, and less groundwater recharge are all typical of development and all can reduce water quality. Many people who are investing in new or second homes along lakes because they love being on the water do not realize that by building a home and landscaping in a "typical" suburban fashion they are hastening the decline of the lake they love.

Fortunately homes can be built or renovated and properties landscaped in ways that will protect people's investment as well as maintain the natural beauty that probably drew many people to the lake in the first place. The current zoning rules that govern development along Wisconsin's lakes were written back in the 1960s when the family cabin up north was just that — a cabin that maybe shared lakeshore space with a couple other family cabins. As homes have gotten bigger, their impacts have gotten bigger, too. Unfortunately the costs of those impacts are borne by everyone — lakefront homeowners, vacationers and those who have never had the good fortune to visit the lakes.

Updating shoreland development standards (NR 115) and implementing many best management practices will protect Wisconsin's lakes and protect property owners' investments. The DNR held hearings across the state in July and August on their proposed rule update and Clean Wisconsin submitted formal comments in support of stronger shoreland protections. Cleaner lakes and more beautiful shorelines are critical to a healthy long term financial future.