Lake Wise

What is Lake Wise?

Are you interested in enhancing wildlife habitat along your lakeshore property? Concerned about flooding or shoreline erosion? Looking for practical ways to better protect your property and your lake? Or perhaps you simply want to learn more about the land you steward.

Lake Wise is a free, voluntary, and non-regulatory program started in Vermont and now offered in New York that helps lakeshore property owners better understand their shoreline and identify opportunities to protect and improve lake health. Through one-on-one property assessments, AWI works directly with interested landowners to provide practical, customized recommendations that support clean water, healthy shorelines, and resilient lakes. Lake Wise is about education, stewardship, and practical solutions. By helping landowners make informed decisions, the program fosters a culture of lake stewardship that benefits entire communities.

Why is Lake Wise important?

Healthy lakes provide clean drinking water, support diverse fish and wildlife populations, offer endless recreational opportunities, and contribute significantly to local economies and quality of life.

However, lakes are closely connected to the land around them. Shoreline development, loss of native vegetation, erosion, and stormwater runoff can all impact water quality and lake health. The good news is that even small changes on individual properties can make a meaningful difference.

Through Lake Wise, AWI works with willing landowners - currently only in the Saranac, Great Chazy, and Ausable River watersheds - to assess shoreline conditions and provide recommendations for lake-friendly practices. These actions can help reduce erosion, improve habitat, increase resilience to flooding, and protect water quality for future generations.

Are you a lakeshore property owner in the Saranac, Great Chazy, or Ausable River watersheds?

AWI will be conducting free onsite Lake Wise assessments in the Saranac, Great Chazy, and Ausable River watersheds near the towns of North Elba, Santa Clara, Harrietstown, Black Brook, Brighton, Dannemora, Willsboro, and Chesterfield.

Explore a map of the region by launching the interactive map below.

Launch Map

Contact us for a Lake Wise assessment

If you own lakeside property in the Saranac, Great Chazy, and Ausable River watersheds, let’s talk!

Contact Us

Learn more about Lake Wise

Learn More

 FAQs

  • Contact AWI at info@adkwatershed.org and put Lake Wise in the subject line. We will follow up with the next steps!

  • Find your property by using this interactive map of the Lake Champlain Basin.

  • AWI will schedule a time that works for you to conduct an in-person assessment that may take 2-3 hours depending on the size of your property and access. During the assessment, we note types of vegetation, erosion impacts and what may be causing the erosion, access, and other parameters.

  • We will recommend changes to your property to improve your lakeside property and protect clean water.

  • In addition to learning about your lakeside property during the in-person assessment, we provide you with a written report on our findings. We suggest best practices to improve your lakeside property. If your property meets Lake Wise criteria you will be awarded a sign to proudly display.

  • Funding for Lake Wise comes from the Lake Champlain Basin Program (LCBP)/NEIWPCC with funding from the Environmental Protection Agency.