Careful placement of homes among healthy stands of vegetation allows for a natural setting, provides shelter for animals, and promotes the infiltration of rainwater.  Let nature guide the design, taking your cues for siting and orienting indoor and outdoor spaces from the natural world around you.  Sitting homes away from slopes allows for more suitable use of these areas and decreases the likelihood of erosion.  Land disturbance and building projects in steep areas can cause excessive erosion.  The ideal site provides drainage, wind protection, and convenient access.

Limiting the amount of clearing on your lot will help prevent erosion.  Removing all vegetation from an area for building houses destroys animal habitat and may cause excess runoff.  If you have bare patches of ground, erosion can be reduced by choosing appropriate plant cover, preferably a native species.   Sediment that enters the lake can harm fish and destroy habitats used as spawning areas.

In rural areas such as Lake Keowee, the built landscape (houses and gardens) provide an accent to the larger natural setting.  Proper planning will help your homesite be an asset to the overall community.

Remember that good site design begins first "on paper."  It is much less costly (for you and for the environment) to make your mistakes on paper than on the land.  Spend plenty of time on upfront planning for your lake front property.  It will more than pay off in the end.  Choose a competent landscape architect or engineer to help you.

Native plants offer a pleasing landscape and require less management – less watering and fertilizing.  Using plant materials can provide natural screening and privacy for outdoor gatherings.  A more natural approach to gardening and lawn care adds real beauty to your lake front property and help control erosion and filter runoff from adjacent hard surfaces. 

Limit the amount of lawn to what your family actually needs for play and recreation.  Consider rock gardens or shrubs and trees that will also provide habitat for insect-eating birds.  Choose natural insecticides and use them only when really needed.

It is best to avoid fertilizers within 75 feet of the lake.  Instead, consider organic, non-chemical fertilizers for lawn and plants to protect chemical runoff from entering the lake.  If you use a lawn service, request natural management practices instead of chemical methods. 

You can reduce your water requirements by using drip irrigation or soaker hoses and mulching plant beds.  Encourage birds and insects that will reduce pests, build the soil, and pollinate plants!

If you’ve already removed natural vegetation close to the shoreline, see the Resources in this web site to locate appropriate native specials to restore your shoreline to a more natural state.  Choose from the many shrubs, grasses and trees that are native to our region and will flourish on your property.

For more gardening tips click here.

Animals and their owners can enjoy the out-of-doors together while keeping it safe and clean for others. Free roaming pets often leave behind undesirable wastes that can restrict swimming and cause sickness if ingested. Make sure you clean up after your pet and dispose of waste in the trash or toilet.

As entertaining as it is, it is also important not to feed waterfowl. Doing so will eliminate a source of waste that pollutes the lake when ducks or geese congregate in numbers.

Placement of homes away from wetlands, with suitable buffer areas, protects the habitat of nearby wildlife. Filling wetlands to increase buildable land area destroys habitat for plants and animals.

Allowing trees and shrubs to grow in natural buffer areas along the lake provides shading in shallow waters and habitat for animals. Intensive maintenance of lawns down to the shoreline decreases shade and increases temperature, and the chance of pesticides and fertilizers entering the lake.

Proper use, storage, and disposal of all materials are key to protecting our resources. Remember to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Improperly disposed of, some common household materials can end up in the lake. Try to choose the least toxic alternative to common household chemical. Make sure you read labels and never pour chemicals down drains, storm drains or onto the ground. If you have a project near the shoreline, be especially sure you are using materials that are not toxic.