SubCommittees

Deer Committee

Dredging

Fish/Wildlife

Flora Land/Aquatic

Lake Monitoring Committee

Paths/Greenways Lake

Trails

Mailing Address

Apple Canyon Lake Property Owners’ Association
14A157 Canyon Club Drive
Apple River, Illinois 61001
Phone (815) 492-2238
Fax (815) 492-2160

http://www.applecanyonlake.org/

Flora /Land Aquatic

Erosion and sedimentation are critical issues, especially in man-made lakes. There are ways to naturally slow down natures processes though.

Many of the values lake front property owners appreciate and enjoy about their Lake properties--natural scenic beauty, tranquility, privacy, and relaxation--are enhanced and preserved with good shoreline management.

Buffer Zones

Buffer zones on land or in the water  are used to block or screen out contaminants from getting into the lake. Contaminants can be  things like fertilizers or weed killers,   loose soil, grass clippings, leaves or other particles. Contaminants get carried into lake water when heavy rain or sprinkler irrigation runs off the land surface into the lake.

 Buffer zones can also reduce the impact of wave action from the lake on the shore itself and reduce erosion.

Plants that can be used in a vegetative buffer zone are native plants that like to live in a wetland area.

Trees may include alders, aspens, birches, willows, or cottonwoods. Shrubs may include red-twig dogwood, oceanspray, thimbleberry, wild rose and Douglas spirea. Low growing plants include a variety of ferns, sedges and rushes, cattails, wildflowers. We have listed numerous links to many great websites on the internet that show plans, plants, examples etc. See below

Buffer Strips

Why native plants?

Grass is the first photo up on the left. See how short the root system is? Notice how different native plants have significantly longer roots. This

allows for much better capture of nutrients, and prevents runoff easier.

Buffer strips, which are typically made up of native flowers and grasses, are invaluable to any lake ecosystem and are just a smaller version of a buffer zone.

Lakeshore homeowners should try to establish a minimum 10-20 foot wide buffer strip along their shorelines according to typical recommended guidelines.

Buffer strips  would benefit the lake in many ways.  Shoreland and upland plants provide food and cover for birds, amphibians, insects and mammals.  They also  stabilize  the lake-bank soils against wave action. The plants  hold soil in place against the eroding forces of water running over the ground. The biggest benefit is they absorb nutrients found in fertilizers, leaves, grass clippings that decay and animal waste, which can cause algae blooms and excessive plant growth in lakes.

Rip Rap

Phosphorus ban on fertilizer

Why worry about phosphorus? Phosphorus is a growth limiting nutrient for Algae

Come Take a closer look at what this really looks like under the microscope Microscopic Analyses

Sample point analyses #2

Sample Point analyses #3

Flowering plants and bushes

Flowering plants

More on flowering plants

More ACL Links

Algae  Pests or Natures helpers

What kind of algae are you growing

Microscopic Analyses

Lake algae Photos

Invasive Species

Links to other websites

Links can constantly change, so in case any links to outside websites do not work you can always go to the main website of their site and then find the pages directly through their home.

For example http://www.chicagowilderness.org/wildchi/landscape/index.cfm here is a website, in case the whole website did not work, you can always go            to  http://www.chicagowilderness.org just cut off all the extra text after the .org, .gov or .com of the specific website. Notice how we just shortened it.

http://www.chicagowilderness.org/wildchi/landscape/index.cfm

Landscaping with Native Plants

http://www.wisconsinlakes.org/AboutLakes/shorelandrestoration.htm

Shoreland Restoration

http://www.chicagowilderness.org/index.cfm

Chicago Wilderness is a regional nature reserve that includes more than 225,000 acres of protected natural areas. It stretches from southeastern Wisconsin, through northeastern Illinois and into northwestern Indiana. The protected areas of Chicago Wilderness are forest preserves, state parks, federal lands, county preserves, and privately owned lands. There are also many unprotected natural areas that offer refuge to native wildlife.

http://www.prairieworksinc.com/

Prairie Works is a source for ecological and landscape services in Northwest Illinois.

http://semircd.org/buffers/guide/basics.php

Lake and Stream Corridor Owners' Guide for Riparian Buffer Establishment

More Links 

http://plants.usda.gov/

The PLANTS Database provides standardized information about the vascular plants, mosses, liverworts, hornworts, and lichens of the U.S. and its territories.

http://plants.usda.gov/java/noxious?rptType=State&statefips=17

Illinois noxious weeds covered by law

http://www.sustland.umn.edu/related/water5.html

Shoreline Planting and Buffer zone

http://www.wisconsinlakes.org/

http://www.newfoundlakeregionassociation.org/buffer.htm

http://www.d.umn.edu/~seawww/quick/ns.html

Minnesota Shoreland Guide- naturalizing your shoreline