The water publications on this page are available for download in pdf format. Many of these water publications, along with the children's books, are available for purchase through the Extension Lakes bookstore.
Waterfront Property Owners
Value of Shoreland Zoning
Learn how Shoreland Zoning helps protect water quality, fishing, and home values. View or download this PDF graphical handout.
View or download the handout.
Value of shoreland zoning graphic references
Value of Shoreland Zoning Video - This short animated video demonstrates how Shoreland Zoning helps protect water quality, fishing, and home values.
Choosing the Right Waterfront Property 
If you are thinking about buying waterfront property in Wisconsin, this guide is meant for you. A little time invested in learning about waterfront living will pay back sizable dividends in matching your expectations to the realities. This guide provides:
- Ideas to consider before you start your property search
- Considerations to help you decide on the right lake or river
- Factors to help you choose just the right property
Protecting Your Waterfront Investment, 10 Shoreland Stewardship Practices
Healthy watersheds make healthy lakes and higher property values. Created for people who live on a waterfront lot or plan to buy one, this publication describes a menu of opportunities to protect your property investment.
Protecting Your Waterfront Investment - 2021 PDF Booklet
A Second Life for Trees in Lakes: As Useful in Water as They Were on Land
Remarkably, after a tree falls in the lake, it might last another 300 to 600 years in the water. Fish use submerged trees in a variety of ways. Many species spawn on, adjacent to or under trees that provide cover which help some species protect their incubating brood. Newly hatched smallmouth bass will often inhabit submerged trees.
Large submerged trees can host entire fish communities. In Wisconsin, fifteen species of fish inhabited a single white pine tree in Katherine Lake Property owners can increase fish habitat by leaving trees that fall in the water in place.
Available book formats:
Impervious Surfaces: How They Impact Fish, Wildlife and Waterfront Property Values
How do impervious (hard) surfaces impact lakes and streams? This publication was developed for waterfront property owners and local officials to help answer this question. It does not discuss all of the potential impacts of impervious surfaces; rather it primarily focuses on impacts to: waterfront property values, fishing, and wildlife.
Healthy fish, abundant wildlife, and clear, clean water all depend on the decisions that we make on our waterfront properties. Learn about how impervious (hard) surfaces impact fish, wildlife and waterfront property values.
Impervious Surfaces Materials:
- Impacts of Impervious Surfaces on Fish, Wildlife, and Waterfront Property Values -
Video
Shoreland Development Density and Impervious Surfaces
This 19 page publication describes how shoreland development density and impervious surfaces affect the quality of our lakes and streams.
The Water's Edge
This introduction to life at the water's edge reveals the
advantages of a natural, wildlife-friendly shore, and describes how you can
restore, create, or maintain a natural shore without needing to give up your
lawn and dock. In short, you can have your lawn, your dock, and wildlife too
The Water's Edge PDF Booklet
3 Simple Steps to Create a Lawn That's Healthy for Kids, Pets, Wildlife and Water Quality
How we manage our lawns affects the health of our children, pets, wildlife and water quality. This one page information sheet outlines three simple steps for creating a lawn that’s healthy for all.
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