LAKE GENEVA, Wis. — The Geneva Lake Conservancy is helping Walworth County homeowners and business owners make their yards more environmentally friendly with its Conservation@Home and Conservation@Work programs.
David Tersteeg spends part of his day ripping out thistle and other weeds. Two years ago, Tersteeg got help from the Geneva Lake Conservancy.
He said they worked with him to grow native plants on the septic mound in his backyard.
“Usually, you see these mounds covered in grass,” said Tersteeg. “People are mowing them and they die because it’s mostly sand. We got a list of plants that like that type of environment. They like the southern facing sun. They are okay in sand. They even have some septic type mixes that you put in.”
Tersteeg said it’s been nice to see so many flowers bloom during the year.
“We wanted to do it to basically have less grass to save money on fertilizer, and to get away from any type of pesticides or herbicides,” said Tersteeg.
Carol Elkins is a conservation program specialist for the conservancy.
Elkins said they created these programs to educate homeowners and property owners about the best plants that help the ecosystem.
She said they have done this at more than 220 sites around the county since 2020.
“Acre by acre we are actually improving the ecosystem here,” she said. “Lawn turf is really a dead zone for wildlife and so when we convert that like something that we are showing here, we are actually creating habitat for lots of different species.”
Tersteeg said the best part of practicing conservation at home is how his family has responded.
“The benefit for us is just to the north is our patio and our three-season room so the family comes out here at night, we’ll have lunch,” said Tersteeg. “We’ll have dinner. They can watch nature basically unfold so you see the birds come in. You see all of the insects come in. At night, you’re making s’mores and the bats are coming in.”
Those are the moments that Tersteeg cherishes the most. He said he hopes others will take a chance on giving some of their yard back to nature.
The Geneva Lake Conservancy has also launched its “Keep it Blue“ program.
The goal is to encourage homeowners in the Geneva and Delevan Lake watershed to stop using fertilizers and herbicides for their lawn care to reduce phosphorus in the watershed.