State grant aims to restore eroding shoreline on the Chain of Lakes

The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board won a $819,000 state grant to restore and enhance roughly 2.6 miles of eroding, turf-dominated shoreline along the city's lakes, including Lake of the Isles on the Chain of Lakes.

The money comes from the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund, awarded through the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources for the project "Shoreline Restoration and Enhancement at Minneapolis Lakes," which the Legislature approved in 2025. The Park Board's Adam Arvidson is listed as project manager. The grant's work plan describes the target stretches as turf-dominated, eroding, low-habitat-value lakeshore.

Mowed turf running to the waterline holds soil weakly, so banks slump and erode. It offers little habitat, and it lets stormwater carry nutrients, sediment and lawn chemicals straight into the lake. The fix is to replace turf with deep-rooted native vegetation that holds the bank, filters runoff and supports wildlife, the kind of planted edge already visible on stretches of Lake of the Isles.

The grant fits the direction the Park Board set in its adopted vision plans, including the Cedar Lake and Lake of the Isles plan, which call for naturalized shorelines and better water quality. The work will roll out in segments as design and construction proceed; the board posts project information at minneapolisparks.org.

LowryHillNews follows the chain's shoreline work. Notice erosion, a new planting or a damaged bank on a lake you use? Send us a tip.