What is a countywide and what are there advantages?
Countywide lakes groups often form to build better relationships with local governments, to advocate for better local lake protection policies, or simply to create a forum for sharing ideas and resources among the many individual groups in a county. In some cases, countywide lakes groups are important advocates to encourage county governments to undertake lake classification projects and to support county-level lake specialist staff positions. County staff that can focus on lake management projects are essential in lake-rich counties.
Many countywide lakes groups also work with county land conservation or zoning departments to undertake local educational projects. Examples include:
- Lake-friendly waterfront living materials for new property owners,
- Shoreland restoration demonstration sites,
- Workshops and other events.
The coordinated efforts of countywide lakes groups and county governments play an important role in increasing the overall effectiveness of education and communication efforts designed to protect and restore our public waterways.
