https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/waters/watermgmt_section/shoreland/property-owners.html
The decisions you make on your property have a direct impact on the health of your lake or river. The single most important thing you can do is maintain and/or restore natural vegetation along your shoreline. Natural vegetation:
- Holds soil in place protecting shorelines from increasingly intensive rain events and rising water levels
- Slows runoff and stores moisture
- Filters out nutrients, which along with rising lake temperatures, accelerates algae blooms
- Provides habitat so species can survive in a changing climate
- Increases property values by keeping lakes clean
As a landowner, your first point of contact for all development-related questions should be with your local permitting and zoning authority – whether city, county, or township. Answers to the questions below are provided in the context of the statewide minimum standards. Your local ordinance may be more restrictive than the statewide minimum standards. Your local zoning official will be able to inform you of other regulations that may apply to your project.
Watch this animated video (link is external) about lakeshore restoration and stewardship created in collaboration with the Anoka County Water Resource Outreach Collaborative and several local Lake Associations.
Potato Lake Association 