What are appropriate ways to address the erosion of local shorelines that avoid unintended consequences?
Background
Lake Michigan shoreline erosion is an ongoing issue along the coastlines of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Lake Michigan is subject to natural erosion processes driven by wave action, wind, currents, and weathering. However, climate change has accelerated erosion rates along the Lake Michigan shoreline. High water levels put homes along the shore at greater risk causing erosion, flooding and property damages. But low water levels could have an impact on commercial shipping and water recreation. Urbanization and coastal development to alter the natural sediment processes and reduce the resilience of coastal ecosystems.
Lake Michigan’s shoreline is surrounded by beachside homes. The ability to have a home directly on the water with amazing views, a private beach, and privacy from neighbors are some of the reasons why people choose to build their homes on the shore. Most lakefront homeowners are scrambling to add seawalls, slopes of rock to block the waves, but the barriers can accelerate erosion downstream by blocking sand from naturally replenishing beaches.
The water levels rising in Lake Michigan are causing more erosion than the natural amount. Over the past decades, the water levels of the Great Lakes have undergone dramatic fluctuations, exhibiting a range exceeding 2 meters. Michigan tech did a study on future water levels projections. “Their projections pointed to an increase in over-lake precipitation and basin runoff, prompting an increase in water level. According to the average of their simulation ensemble, by 2040–2049, the average annual water levels of Lake Michigan are projected to increase by 0.19, 0.44, and 0.28 meters.”
Current Status
In 2007, a university in Wisconsin, Concordia, made a 2,700ft long wall to rock wall to buffer waves and protect their 130ft bluff. This project cost around $12 million and successfully protected the university’s shoreline from erosion. However it causes unforeseen consequences.
In 2016, David Spector bought a house that had a 120 foot bluff from the shoreline. Ten years ago, the house stood 50ft away from the bluff edge. In 2022 it now stood 10ft away from the bluff edge. This leading cause of this acceleration of erosion was by the buffer wall strengthening the waves downstream. The rate of erosion increased from 9 inches a year to 7 feet a year, recorded from the beginning of 2007 to the present.
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources started a pair of projects along the Lake Michigan shoreline, particularly along the Illinois Beach State Park in the north of the state. The beach had reached up to 100 feet of erosion in a year, leading the state to innovate solutions to the erosion problem, using the help of outside organizations such as Healthy Port Futures.
One of these projects is a pilot project, currently in a monitoring stage. The project placed 10,000 tons of stone rubble off of the shoreline of the Illinois Beach State Park. The rubble was placed in 3 long ridges, which serve to lessen the impact of waves, particularly storm waves, to lower the speed of erosion at the beaches. This particular project is intended to be a cheaper and faster alternative to the larger project. This project was estimated to cost 1.5 million dollars.
Our group was able to make contact with a member of the team behind this project, Healthy Port Futures. Her name is Tess Ruswick, and she provided us with lots of new information on the project that we couldn’t have found elsewhere. According to her, the project has been in the monitoring stage for a few years, and currently is nearing completion, with only one year remaining of the stage. So far, the monitoring phase has shown the project to be able to do its job without causing negative impacts outside of the protected area. There is a theoretical threat to recreation, as the underwater ridges may be able to damage the undersides of boats and jetskis if people do not realize they are present, however Tess assured us that there have been no such incidents so far. There is another potential threat, as a type of threatening algae grows between the cracks of the rocks in the ridge, which can be harmful to the shore when it dies. So far it hasn’t been a major threat, and the team will take this factor into consideration after the pilot version of this project is complete.
So far, the project is believed to be effective, and also viable to bring to other areas of the shore. The US Army Corps is looking into making similar projects on the Indiana shoreline. The US Army Corps has also done similar projects in the past, including one project in particular that they did in the 90s. This project was used to model the current project, which similarly involved putting rocks near the shoreline. This project, however, was put too deep in the water, and the Army Corps believed it would be effective in shallower waters, which this project built their ideas upon.
Analysis
The best course of action to ensure the safety of our shorelines, while avoiding other environmental risks, is to use projects similar to the one done at the Illinois Beach State Park. Projects such as seawalls can pose great threats to the environment, and it is in our best interest to avoid projects of that nature to avoid unintended consequences.
The project at IBSP in comparison to the project at Concordia shows a vast difference in environmental impact. Concordia’s project did a good job at protecting themselves, while sacrificing the shorelines around them with accelerated erosion. The project at IBSP is not without flaws, however these flaws are small and can be worked around if similar projects are made in the future.
There is no flawless solution to the problems on our shores, but the evidence is clearly in favor of projects such as IBSP. There are many other solutions that could be looked into, and as Tess told us, this project is just one of many viable solutions that can be employed to fight erosion on our shores. The solution may not be effective everywhere, and the choice of solution should vary depending on the conditions of the area you’re trying to solve. Not all projects should perfectly mimic IBSP, but we should take the method into account and the ways they modeled and monitored it to ensure the effectiveness and security of the method.
Works Cited
“Future Rise of the Great Lakes Water Levels Under Climate Change | Great Lakes Research Center | Michigan Tech.” Michigan Technological University, https://www.mtu.edu/greatlakes/research-highlights/climate-change-great-lakes/. Accessed 21 March 2024.
Healthy Port Futures. “Illinois Beach State Park – Healthy Port Futures.” Healthy Port Futures, https://healthyportfutures.com/project/illinois-beach-state-park/. Accessed 21 March 2024.
Koran, Mario. “Concordia University Wisconsin's massive seawall frustrates downstream neighbors.” PBS Wisconsin, 29 August 2022, https://pbswisconsin.org/news-item/concordia-university-wisconsins-massive-seawall-frustrates-downstream-neighbors/. Accessed 21 March 2024.
“State tackling harmful Lake Michigan shoreline erosion at Illinois Beach State Park.” Illinois.gov, 12 January 2023, https://www.illinois.gov/news/press-release.25902.html. Accessed 21 March 2024.
“Wisconsin shoreline residents fight Lake Michigan erosion with walls.” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 21 December 2021, https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/wisconsin/2021/12/21/wisconsin-shoreline-residents-fight-lake-michigan-erosion-walls/6388561001/. Accessed 21 March 2024.
Lake Michigan shoreline erosion is an ongoing issue along the coastlines of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Lake Michigan is subject to natural erosion processes driven by wave action, wind, currents, and weathering. However, climate change has accelerated erosion rates along the Lake Michigan shoreline. High water levels put homes along the shore at greater risk causing erosion, flooding and property damages. But low water levels could have an impact on commercial shipping and water recreation. Urbanization and coastal development to alter the natural sediment processes and reduce the resilience of coastal ecosystems.
Lake Michigan’s shoreline is surrounded by beachside homes. The ability to have a home directly on the water with amazing views, a private beach, and privacy from neighbors are some of the reasons why people choose to build their homes on the shore. Most lakefront homeowners are scrambling to add seawalls, slopes of rock to block the waves, but the barriers can accelerate erosion downstream by blocking sand from naturally replenishing beaches.
The water levels rising in Lake Michigan are causing more erosion than the natural amount. Over the past decades, the water levels of the Great Lakes have undergone dramatic fluctuations, exhibiting a range exceeding 2 meters. Michigan tech did a study on future water levels projections. “Their projections pointed to an increase in over-lake precipitation and basin runoff, prompting an increase in water level. According to the average of their simulation ensemble, by 2040–2049, the average annual water levels of Lake Michigan are projected to increase by 0.19, 0.44, and 0.28 meters.”
Current Status
In 2007, a university in Wisconsin, Concordia, made a 2,700ft long wall to rock wall to buffer waves and protect their 130ft bluff. This project cost around $12 million and successfully protected the university’s shoreline from erosion. However it causes unforeseen consequences.
In 2016, David Spector bought a house that had a 120 foot bluff from the shoreline. Ten years ago, the house stood 50ft away from the bluff edge. In 2022 it now stood 10ft away from the bluff edge. This leading cause of this acceleration of erosion was by the buffer wall strengthening the waves downstream. The rate of erosion increased from 9 inches a year to 7 feet a year, recorded from the beginning of 2007 to the present.
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources started a pair of projects along the Lake Michigan shoreline, particularly along the Illinois Beach State Park in the north of the state. The beach had reached up to 100 feet of erosion in a year, leading the state to innovate solutions to the erosion problem, using the help of outside organizations such as Healthy Port Futures.
One of these projects is a pilot project, currently in a monitoring stage. The project placed 10,000 tons of stone rubble off of the shoreline of the Illinois Beach State Park. The rubble was placed in 3 long ridges, which serve to lessen the impact of waves, particularly storm waves, to lower the speed of erosion at the beaches. This particular project is intended to be a cheaper and faster alternative to the larger project. This project was estimated to cost 1.5 million dollars.
Our group was able to make contact with a member of the team behind this project, Healthy Port Futures. Her name is Tess Ruswick, and she provided us with lots of new information on the project that we couldn’t have found elsewhere. According to her, the project has been in the monitoring stage for a few years, and currently is nearing completion, with only one year remaining of the stage. So far, the monitoring phase has shown the project to be able to do its job without causing negative impacts outside of the protected area. There is a theoretical threat to recreation, as the underwater ridges may be able to damage the undersides of boats and jetskis if people do not realize they are present, however Tess assured us that there have been no such incidents so far. There is another potential threat, as a type of threatening algae grows between the cracks of the rocks in the ridge, which can be harmful to the shore when it dies. So far it hasn’t been a major threat, and the team will take this factor into consideration after the pilot version of this project is complete.
So far, the project is believed to be effective, and also viable to bring to other areas of the shore. The US Army Corps is looking into making similar projects on the Indiana shoreline. The US Army Corps has also done similar projects in the past, including one project in particular that they did in the 90s. This project was used to model the current project, which similarly involved putting rocks near the shoreline. This project, however, was put too deep in the water, and the Army Corps believed it would be effective in shallower waters, which this project built their ideas upon.
Analysis
The best course of action to ensure the safety of our shorelines, while avoiding other environmental risks, is to use projects similar to the one done at the Illinois Beach State Park. Projects such as seawalls can pose great threats to the environment, and it is in our best interest to avoid projects of that nature to avoid unintended consequences.
The project at IBSP in comparison to the project at Concordia shows a vast difference in environmental impact. Concordia’s project did a good job at protecting themselves, while sacrificing the shorelines around them with accelerated erosion. The project at IBSP is not without flaws, however these flaws are small and can be worked around if similar projects are made in the future.
There is no flawless solution to the problems on our shores, but the evidence is clearly in favor of projects such as IBSP. There are many other solutions that could be looked into, and as Tess told us, this project is just one of many viable solutions that can be employed to fight erosion on our shores. The solution may not be effective everywhere, and the choice of solution should vary depending on the conditions of the area you’re trying to solve. Not all projects should perfectly mimic IBSP, but we should take the method into account and the ways they modeled and monitored it to ensure the effectiveness and security of the method.
Works Cited
“Future Rise of the Great Lakes Water Levels Under Climate Change | Great Lakes Research Center | Michigan Tech.” Michigan Technological University, https://www.mtu.edu/greatlakes/research-highlights/climate-change-great-lakes/. Accessed 21 March 2024.
Healthy Port Futures. “Illinois Beach State Park – Healthy Port Futures.” Healthy Port Futures, https://healthyportfutures.com/project/illinois-beach-state-park/. Accessed 21 March 2024.
Koran, Mario. “Concordia University Wisconsin's massive seawall frustrates downstream neighbors.” PBS Wisconsin, 29 August 2022, https://pbswisconsin.org/news-item/concordia-university-wisconsins-massive-seawall-frustrates-downstream-neighbors/. Accessed 21 March 2024.
“State tackling harmful Lake Michigan shoreline erosion at Illinois Beach State Park.” Illinois.gov, 12 January 2023, https://www.illinois.gov/news/press-release.25902.html. Accessed 21 March 2024.
“Wisconsin shoreline residents fight Lake Michigan erosion with walls.” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 21 December 2021, https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/wisconsin/2021/12/21/wisconsin-shoreline-residents-fight-lake-michigan-erosion-walls/6388561001/. Accessed 21 March 2024.