How to Get the Cost Share Program (Shoreline Buffer Restoration)
Marinette County Land and Water Conservation Division · Marinette County, northeast Wisconsin, WI
What you get
Marinette County cost-shares shoreline buffer restoration at 60 to 80 percent, with the rate rising as the buffer gets deeper, and a minimum buffer depth of 20 feet. This is a waterfront program, not a general front-yard one: it is for riparian landowners restoring native vegetation along a shoreline. No dollar cap is published for buffer restoration itself. A separate erosion control practice, such as rip-rap installed alongside the buffer, is cost-shared at 50 percent up to $2,000, and that $2,000 cap belongs to the erosion control practice only, not to the buffer work (Marinette County Land and Water Conservation Division cost share program page; last verified August 2026).
- Residential: 60% to 80% of cost for shoreline buffer restoration, depending on buffer depth
Are you eligible?
- Be a Marinette County Land and Water Conservation Division customer
- Property located in: Marinette, Peshtigo, Crivitz, Wausaukee, Niagara
- Riparian or developed-shoreline landowner in Marinette County (this program is for waterfront property, not general residential landscaping)
- Minimum buffer depth of 20 feet, with the cost-share rate scaling upward as buffer depth increases
- Erosion control work such as rip-rap requires an existing or concurrently installed natural buffer, and is capped separately at 50% up to $2,000
- Contact the Division before starting work to confirm your practice and rate
Before you start
Do not remove turf or begin work before you have written approval. This program requires pre-approval. Starting early can disqualify the project even if everything else is correct.
Found during the 2026-08-17 discovery sweep, from a carry-forward lead opened 2026-07-31, and confirmed twice: once by the state research agent and once by a dedicated adversarial reviewer that fetched the live page independently and specifically tried to reject it. It survived because the page carries no agricultural practice categories, no "cooperator" framing, no conservation-plan requirement, and an individual riparian landowner as applicant of record. Two honesty notes. The absence of a dollar cap on the buffer share is a confirmed absence rather than a failure to find one: the reviewer traced the $2,000 figure on the page to the sibling erosion control practice. And fundingStatus is deliberately left unset rather than recorded as open, because no application window or funding cycle is published and asserting one would be a guess. The cities array is illustrative of the county, not an eligibility test; eligibility is county residency plus waterfront.
What applying usually looks like
A general guide. Always confirm the exact steps on the official program page, since each provider runs its process a little differently.
- 1
Apply and get written approval first
Submit your application to Marinette County Land and Water Conservation Division and wait for written approval before you remove any turf or start work. Starting early is the most common reason a rebate is denied.
- 2
Do the conversion
Replace your lawn with the qualifying landscaping, following the eligibility requirements above.
- 3
Submit your claim
After the work is done, submit your claim on the official program page. Confirm the exact forms, receipts, and any photos they require there, since those vary by program.
The application checklist
How to apply for the Cost Share Program (Shoreline Buffer Restoration)
These are the steps this application actually takes. The Pollinator Patch app walks you through each one free, with reminders and a photo locker.
- 1
Check eligibility
Make sure you qualify with Marinette County Land and Water Conservation Division before you start.
- 2
Get pre-approval if required
Some programs require approval before any work begins. Check with Marinette County Land and Water Conservation Division and take before photos of the existing yard first.
- 3
Do the work
Complete the project, take before and after photos, and save every receipt.
- 4
Submit your application
Send Marinette County Land and Water Conservation Division the completed application with your photos and receipts, then watch for the confirmation.
In the app
Track this rebate free in the Pollinator Patch app
Free step-by-step guidance for the Cost Share Program (Shoreline Buffer Restoration), warnings before the mistakes that disqualify applications, and a photo locker that keeps your before and after photos, receipts, and notes together for the months a rebate takes.
Every program listed cites its official source, and each program page shows the date we last verified it against that source. Program details change throughout the year, so always confirm requirements, amounts, and eligibility directly with the program before starting work. Pollinator Patch is not affiliated with any rebate program and does not guarantee approval.
See a problem with a program? Report it
Programs change throughout the year. If something here is out of date or wrong, tell us and we'll check it against the provider.