Why should you restore you shoreline? Besides the many cases where the shoreline is slowly migrating into the lake? Shoreline erosion is the largest in-lake producer of sediment and by default phosphorus and most other nutrients. While shoreline erosion is a naturally occurring phenomena, human presence has accelerated the condition in most situations. Shorelines become unprotected or eroded for a number of reasons:
- Individual residential access, piers, docks, etc
- Installation of beaches, public or private
- Improper vegetative buffers (overabundance of turf grass)
- Persistent wake action
- Persistent wind and wave energy due to prevailing fetch orientation
- Man-made alteration of lake high water levels to accommodate boaters
- Persistent ice damage
While lake policy can help minimize the impact of some of these concerns it is often easier said than implemented. To repair a shoreline, it is necessary to evaluate the site and consider options to accommodate the shoreline. Options may be based on a number of possibilities such as cost, environmental impact, permitting conditions, or time considerations. Based on individual project scope, additional resources may be available.*
*Based on your location, cost sharing opportunities, grants, and additional resources may be obtainable, i.e. Wisconsin’s Healthy Lakes Initiative or Surface Water Grants Program.
Wisconsin Lakes.net 