Rampant lake reeds, branches and leaves washed ashore. How should the cottage beach be cleaned to make it usable?
Renovation of the cottage beach may be on many people’s minds at the start of summer, but what should be taken into account when cleaning the cottage beach after winter?
Limnology Liisa Hämäläinen The Finnish Water Foundation provides tips on how to care for the beach gently without disturbing the natural ecosystem.
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Is the renovation of the cottage beach mandatory?
Mökkiranta can be a diverse habitat for plants and animals. Stones, fallen tree trunks, branches and leaves have their place in nature’s delicate ecosystem.
If these things mentioned above do not interfere with the eye or recreational use such as swimming, there is no need to do anything.
It is said that “earth feeds water”. Leaves, leaf litter and other biological matter are important for different organisms, so they are allowed to remain in the water. Of course, you can remove these if you want, but you shouldn’t clean too much.
Riparian trees also protect the beach from erosion.
A good idea is to leave the cottage yard and beach in their natural state. A natural yard protects the water, when the land does not need to be modified or fertilized.
The lawn on the cottage beach should not be fertilized, so that the chemicals do not dissolve in the water. Varvikko or beach meadow is a good alternative to lawn.
How are algae and reeds discard when they interfere with swimming?
It may sometimes be necessary to mow the increased beach vegetation so that, for example, going swimming is possible.
In properly eutrophic waters, mowing is also a water treatment measure. For example, waterfowl can benefit from mowing an overgrown beach.
It is important to plan mowing carefully. Alternating open water and vegetation or mowed corridors among the vegetation is a better option than removing the entire vegetation. Excessive removal of aquatic plants can increase the amount of blue-green algae and cloud the water.
Mowing should be scheduled between July and August. In this case, the biomass of the plants is at its maximum and mowing no longer affects, for example, the nesting of birds living in reeds.
The mowed plant mass is collected out of the water. Aquatic plants grow back, so it is difficult to get a permanent result.
Aquatic plants basically improve water quality. The eutrophication of water bodies, on the other hand, is related to a larger whole, such as agriculture and forestry and climate change.
Everyone can make sure that their behavior does not burden the waterways: for example, don’t wash carpets in beach waters or run sauna washing water into the lake.
The forest owner can reduce the load on the water body, for example, by avoiding extensive clear-cutting.
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What must be taken into account when dredging?
Dredging is always a drastic measure that must be carefully considered. Mowing is a better option, because mowing does not disturb the bottom of the water body.
A longer pier can also be a solution instead of dredging. Even small dredging requires a notification to the ELY center and a neighbor’s permission.
The story was published in Maalla magazine 5/2024.
Source: kotiliesi.fi
