By Renee Larr

On June 13 at 9 a.m. the Hamilton County Soil & Water Conservation District in conjunction with the Hamilton County Urban Conservation Association, Hoosier Aquatic Management and the Indiana Native Plant and Wildflower Society will present a workshop called “Shoreline Enhancement Workshop” at Ridgefield Subdivision in Fishers.

“I work with a lot of property owners and individual land owners in the county making recommendations for conservation and improving their properties. Quite often that is for ponds and detention ponds. We have over 1,000 in the county so we stay pretty busy,” said Claire Lane, backyard conservation coordinator for HCSWCD.

Many of these ponds in Hamilton County can be problematic for homeowners due to issues such as erosion, algae blooms, Canadian Geese infestations and high maintenance costs. In order to help residents better understand the treatments available, the HCSWCD has partnered with Dan McCord, a resident of Ridgefield Subdivision.

“Dan is one of the leaders of the HOA for Ridgefield and he actually went through this experience about eight years ago and did some of these improvement there in Ridgefield. We’ll be having the event there to have a first-hand example of what it takes and what it looks like once the pond gets established,” said Lane.

A variety of treatments will be discussed. Residents can add native flowers and grasses along the banks to help stabilize shoreline.

“These native plants have root systems that go down anywhere from four to 12 feet in the ground so they really stabilize the soil so it doesn’t erode at the bank,” said Lane.

The native plants serve two purposes – to help with erosion and keep Canadian Geese away. The geese can’t see predators through the foliage so they won’t walk up onto the grass.

The workshop is free to attend and attendees can pre-register by contacting Dan McCord at [email protected] or Claire Lane at [email protected].