We are excited to announce the winners of our 2026 Natural Shoreline Awards. Sponsored by the East Metro Water Resource Education Program (EMWREP) and Lower St. Croix Watershed Partnership, these awards recognize Minnesotans who are protecting lake, stream, and wetland habitat in Chisago, Isanti, Ramsey and Washington Counties. This year we are recognizing five award winners:
Single-family residential
- Joe and Michele Hangge on Big Marine Lake (Carnelian-Marine-St. Croix Watershed District, Washington Co)
- Dawn and Jay Jaehnke on Green Lake (Chisago Co)
- Scott and Jane Weiss on North Center Lake (Chisago Co)
Publicly owned park or public water access
- Wildwood Park in Mahtomedi (Rice Creek Watershed District, Washington Co)
- Lake Phalen in St. Paul and Maplewood (Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District, Ramsey Co)
Learn about this year’s winners below and at www.lsc1w1p.org/awards.
Joe and Michele Hangge on Big Marine Lake in Scandia (Carnelian-Marine-St. Croix Watershed District, Washington Co)
Only one year after planting, Joe and Michele Hangge’s native shoreline on Big Marine Lake has become a living landscape with fish, frogs, birds, and insects, as well as two very happy dogs.
“She is such a water-lover,” laughs Michele as her dog Ivy splashes around happily in the lake. “She would seriously spend the whole day there if I let her.”
When the couple bought their lake home in Scandia four years ago, however, a native planting project wasn’t in their plans.
“Joe’s parents had owned the home since 1986,” Michele explains, “and when we moved in we still had this vision of a sandy beach.” After their shoreline was damaged by ice heaves three years in a row, however, they realized that they might need to take a different approach. “It takes me a long time to make a decision,” Michele says, “But that spring there was so much heaving and it was ugly. We’d been talking with staff at the Carnelian-Marine-St. Croix Watershed District and when Tom Langer came out that year he joked that sometimes Mother Nature makes the decision for you.”
Continue reading…
Dawn and Jay Jaehnke on Green Lake in Chisago County
When Jay and Dawn Jaehnke purchased their Green Lake property in 2018, they were looking forward to being closer to their children and grandchildren. The couple had moved from La Crosse, Wisconsin, and the beautiful Chisago Chain of Lakes and homes fit the bill.
But the shoreline they inherited presented some challenges. Previous owners had extensively altered the area near the water, including excavating the slope, installing a retaining wall, filling the shoreline and extending it farther into the lake. Turf and riprap completed the picture.
Over time, the lake has began reclaiming some of that altered shoreline, creating a three to four-foot tall berm as waves and ice heaves pushed up the shore. Behind it, however, the lawn remained saturated and swampy.
The Jaehnkes knew they needed a different approach to enjoy their shoreline.
Continue reading…
Scott and Jane Weiss on North Center Lake in Chisago County
The Weiss family has been part of North Center Lake for generations. Scott Weiss’s family purchased their property in the 1950s, beginning a family tradition that has continued for more than 70 years.
When Scott and his wife, Jane, took over the property, they inherited a shoreline that had already been riprapped to protect it from erosion. Their property juts out into the lake, leaving it particularly exposed to wind, waves, ice heaves and even wakes from passing boats.
The riprap had helped protect the shoreline, but Jane, an avid gardener, began wondering if there might be another way to help reduce erosion concerns.
Could plants help protect the shoreline, too?
Wildwood Park in Mahtomedi, Washington County (Rice Creek Watershed District)
Sometimes good things come in small packages.
At Wildwood Park in Mahtomedi, there is a baseball field, a playground, and a fishing pier on a secluded lake, surrounded by massive oak trees. Near the water’s edge, bumblebees buzz happily among bee balm, dotted blazingstar, black-eyed susans, and great blue lobelia. The lake is dappled with lilies with giant white flowers, like a Monet painting come to life.
Only 21 acres in size, Lost Lake is little more than a dot on the map near the southern tip of White Bear Lake. It is a region with a storied past that features a legendary fight with a giant bear, steamships, gangsters, famous authors, legal battles, and even an amusement park. Most recently, the City of Mahtomedi has been working with Washington Conservation District (WCD) and the Rice Creek Watershed District (RCWD) to reduce stormwater runoff, restore native habitat along the Lost Lake shoreline, and improve the health of community woodlands.
Lake Phalen in St. Paul and Maplewood, Ramsey County (Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District)
Some of the staff currently leading this work include (left to right): Seth Kopf (RWMWD Natural Resources Intern), Adam Robbins (St. Paul Natural Resources Supervisor), Caitlin Patrick (RWMWD Natural Resources Intern), Emily Dunlap (St. Paul Natural Resources Coordinator), Paul Erdmann (RWMWD Natural Resources Program Manager), and Pat Williamson (RWMWD Natural Resources Specialist).
With nearly two miles of restored shoreline, statuesque oak woodlands, and multiple ways for the public to access and enjoy the lake, the Lake Phalen shoreline in St. Paul is a showcase example for any city in Minnesota to aspire to. It is also one of the largest and most successful shoreline restorations in the upper Midwest.
“When you think about the number of conservation professionals who got their start working on Lake Phalen, it truly is an outdoor classroom,” says Paul Erdmann, who serves as Natural Resources Program Manager at Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District (RWMWD). Shoreline restoration on Lake Phalen was also the impetus for additional habitat restoration along Keller Creek and in Keller Park and the Keller Golf Course. “We’re all about corridors and connectivity,” explains Erdmann. “That’s always very important to us.”
Though RWMWD and the City of St. Paul have been working to restore Phalen’s shoreline since 2001, the lake’s story goes back much further than that.
About the program
The Natural Shoreline Award Program recognizes beautiful lakeshore, riverfront and streamside properties that incorporate native flowers, shrubs, trees and plants. Award-winning properties can be located in Chisago, Isanti, Ramsey or Washington Counties. The program is co-sponsored by the East Metro Water Education Program (EMWREP) and Lower St. Croix Watershed Partnership.
Research by the Natural Shorelines Partnership finds that Minnesota has lost 40-50% of its natural shorelines over the past 100 years, and continues to lose shoreline habitat at a rate of 1-2% per decade. As a result, we are seeing less diversity in wildlife, less aquatic invertebrates, and fewer, smaller fish, even in lakes and rivers with relatively good water quality.
The goal of the Natural Shoreline Award Program is to recognize Minnesotans who are stewarding their lakeshore, riverfront and streamside properties by maintaining existing upland, shoreline and aquatic habitat or replacing rock rip-rap, turf grass, and retaining walls with native flowers, shrubs, trees and plants.
Thank you to our 2026 award winners for dedicating your time, money, and effort toward protecting our waters for generations to come!
For questions, contact:
- Angie Hong (EMWREP): angie.hong@mnwcd.org or 651-796-2210
- Barbara Heitkamp (Lower St. Croix): bheitkamp@mnwcd.org or 651-796-2218
East Metro Water 