We are Crow Wing County's coalition of Lake and River Associations

​​Promoting leadership and education that result in healthy ecosystems for present and future generations.

The Latest News

CWEPA Grant Awarded to Central Lakes College for Environmental Landscaping Demonstration Garden
The Central Lakes College Department of Natural Resources has been awarded a CWEPA Grant in the amount of $3,000 to purchase native shrub and small tree species to develop a teaching and community demonstration site. The shrubs would be planted in natural arrangements, and “underplanted” with plugs of Pennsylvania Sedge harvested from our adjacent property, to create a natural community requiring no mowing, watering, or chemical treatment (similar to the prairie we planted about four years ago on the south lawn).  This approach to landscape design is less impactful to terrestrial and shoreline habitats, requires less water, herbicide, and other inputs as these species are adapted for existing conditions. The anticipated outcome is less water use, erosion, and chemical inputs to water bodies, as this approach becomes more normalized. 

The site will further the goal of establishing an "Environmental Landscaping" program at the college. The program would combine courses from the Natural Resources and Horticulture programs that would train students to incorporate native plant communities in landscape design and utilize native species.  The program would aim to change the paradigm that yards need to be carved out from the forest or prairie and replaced with nursery cultivars and specimens.  Instead, this approach to landscaping would assess the native plant communities already there and incorporate these into design, reducing watering, herbicide and pesticide use, limiting the spread of non-native/invasive species, and preserving native plant communities.

UPCOMING EVENTS

OCTOBER 11th - 4:00pm
Board Meeting
Roundhouse Brewery, Nisswa