Property Management

Chenequa led the way with banning phosphorus in lawn fertilizer in 2007, 3 years before the state did so in 2010. This has led  to a progressive decrease in lake phosphorus levels from where they were in the 1970s. Remember all phosphorus and nitrogen fertilizers you use on your property will end up in the watershed and the lake as food for algae. Less is better, and no fertilizer is to be applied within 20 feet of the lake. This is WI state law to protect waterways. Though the “deep hole” readings form Pine Lake look good, in many ways your individual shorelines will be early indicators of water quality change.

Canopy: Study after study show the importance of canopy to the health of a watershed. This includes trees throughout your property. As discussed shoreline trees help stabilize banks with their roots, slow terminal rain velocity by as much as 60% and absorb water, excess nutrients or pollutants as they move to the lake. Trees overhanging the shore cool water temperature for fish spawn and amphibians. Any cutting of trees or shrubs within 75 feet of the lake frontage requires a shore cover removal permit from the Village Forester (Ordinance 6.9). Upland trees perform many of these  functions but decrease the volume and velocity of what reaches your shore. If you slow runoff on your property this allows for absorption, replenishing your groundwater. On low lying lots trees help prevent flooding.  Many of the trees in Chenequa are mature, some over 100 years old, and that kind of canopy is hard to replace. A 2 inch sapling with a 3 foot canopy will require decades to reach maturity and give you the benefits of an older tree. You don’t want a closed canopy however-understory shrubs, sedges and perennials require light. Older forests have canopy gaps to let in light. Another benefit of our mature trees is many act as a significant windbreak on your property and cool your house depending on where they are located. Many of us lost a significant number of ash and oak trees to disease-do replace and replant with species the foresters recommend. Maintaining older, and planting new trees becomes fundamentally a storm water practice that benefits the water quality at your shoreline and in the lake for all.

All the lakes of SE Wisconsin are becoming progressively “saltier” with rising chloride levels. Our chloride levels quadrupled between 1973 and 2006. Once chloride is in the soil and water it does not go away and cannot be mitigated. It releases heavy metals from soil, liberates phosphorus in lake water, preferentially stunts native aquatic plants and stunts fish and amphibian growth. Eurasian milfoil seems resistant to it. The largest contributor is municipal road salt followed by water softeners, septic fields, potash fertilizers. The Village and WI DOT are doing their part to decrease municipal salt use. Residents can have their water softener checked to make sure you are not using too much salt, minimize driveway/walkway salt use and remember Waukesha County requires your septic field be pumped every three years. The less fertilizer used the better.

Consider using permeable paving where you can. This decreases runoff and increases absorption into soil. Aiming downspouts into infiltration tanks or rain gardens is also good practice.

Management of invasive terrestrial plants can help the native plant community on your property flourish. Get to know the more common invasives like buckthorn, Japanese and tartarian honeysuckle, the knotweeds, oriental bittersweet, garlic mustard and burdock. Each responds to a slightly different form of eradication, which may best be done certain seasons, spring or fall.

Reduce your lawn: Turf grass is high maintenance as to water and fertilizer needs, mowing etc. It’s shallow rooting makes overland runoff worse compared to native plantings. In addition it serves little value in the food web of insects and pollinators. It is frequently filled with legacy fertilizer from years gone by that flush into the lake. Think about reducing your total square footage of lawn. Native plantings are much less maintenance once established.

Goose control: Geese love lawn and with a gradual grade will simply use your rip rap as stepping stones to your turf. They will not enter a planted buffer zone or natural shoreline whose native shrubs and perennials have been left in place. They don’t like habitat where they cannot see predators. Plant your buffer to obviate the need for goose fencing. A goose problem is fundamentally a lawn problem. Don’t provide these grazers with easy access to a safe open food source.

Turn off your lights! The Village has a lighting ordinance (5.24) to decrease outdoor light pollution, light trespass and the effects of light on aquatic and terrestrial species. All outdoor lighting fixtures are to be off 11 p.m. to sunrise except for the exceptions noted. Outdoor night light interferes with bird migration whose peak is August 15-30. Outdoor night light has deleterious effects on insects and nocturnal animals interfering with their normal night time behaviors such as hunting, foraging and reproduction. They may avoid lit areas entirely thus decreasing and fragmenting their own habitat. It may increase their risk to predation because of increased visibility. When directed at the lake, lights can draw and disorient frogs and other amphibians. It disrupts fish sleep and reproduction, they huddle and swim less. Smaller bait fish are drawn in and predators take advantage. Let the night be the night.