This panel is part of the Supporting Sediment Transport organized session.
When Great Lakes’ shorelines are able to function naturally and dynamically, they can provide multiple ecosystem benefits to the Great Lakes Basin and surrounding communities – including protection from the impacts of storms, fluctuating water levels and eroding lands – benefits that are increasingly important with changes in climate. Longshore sediment transport refers to the cumulative movement of sand, gravel, and cobble (i.e. coarse sediments) along the shoreline by the combined action of shore-parallel currents, wind, and waves. This mobilization of new sand and gravel from naturally occurring coastal erosion provides nearshore sediment-dependent protective features such as beaches, barrier bars, and dunes with the materials they need to persist and rebuild. These natural features host critical coastal habitat, provide the protected conditions that support wetlands and embayments, and provide flood protection and attenuation to surrounding properties and communities. Without these raw materials, these protective natural features and their associated wetlands disappear, impacting resiliency for coastal communities and ecosystems, as well as recreational opportunities.
Shoreline hardening is the primary method of addressing erosion on Great Lakes shorelines currently used by landowners and coastal managers. Hardening shorelines decreases the amount of sediment flowing along our shores, changes the hydrodynamics, and often increases the degree of erosion experienced by adjacent and down drift properties. Property owners who are experiencing more erosion from reduced sediment availability due to updrift shoreline hardening, find themselves in a position of either hardening their shoreline too, or losing their property investment due to increased erosion.
Join us for a moderated discussion with our session presenters, experts on the many facets of coastal management, to consider how we might come together to address this complex and challenging problem and what questions we still need to answer before we can count on resilient Great Lakes shorelines.
