MPR News with Angela Davis

Protecting Minnesota’s vanishing natural shorelines

A small waves breaks on a lake shore
Plants grow on the Gull Lake shoreline on Dorothy Whitmer’s property in East Gull Lake on June 3.
Ben Hovland | MPR News

According to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, we’ve lost about half of the state’s natural shorelines. And researchers say natural shoreline continues to disappear at an alarming rate.  

When we lose natural lakeshore, it affects the lakes we love. Mowed shorelines allow seven to nine times more pollutants to enter the lake than one with native plants.’ 

MPR News Host Angela Davis and her guests explore what we can do to prevent shoreline erosion, improve water quality and create more habitat for wildlife.

Two women sitting in a broadcast studio
MPR News host Angela Davis (left) talks with Jeff Forester (right), executive director of Minnesota Lakes and Rivers Advocates, in an MPR News studio in St. Paul on Aug. 14.
Nikhil Kumaran | MPR
  • Dorothy Whitmer, co-chair of the Lake Steward Committee of the Gull Chain of Lakes Association in north central Minnesota

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