Today, and for a while now, I'm worried about my little microcosm called Saginaw Bay, in Michigan. More specifically, the area between Point Au Gres, and Point Lookout. That, is my little world. I've been coming here, and living here, on and off since I was born, so for 40 years. My memory of early times is predictably fuzzy, but it gets better as I went along.
What I'm worried about specifically, is the shoreline. I've seen it change over the last 25 years. And I know, the great lakes shorelines do change over time, I've seen older pictures of Point Lookout, and the shape is quite different. What I'm talking about, is how the water levels are dropping in certain areas. I believe this is due to silt, and sand movement, which is being unnaturally effected by protruding breakwater walls. The two main culprits, are the breakwater at the mouth of the Au Gres River, and the shorter breakwater at the marina.
The beaches, and shoreline, are completely changed in the vicinity of these two locations. In some spots more than 100 yards of muck separates the old beach area, from where the water actually is. That strange European wetland grass has filled in on these areas as well.
The problem is succinctly illustrated when viewed from above, using Google Earth for example. You can observe the silt and sand filling in these areas, in a gentle arc, starting at the breakwaters. And you can clearly see, where the new shoreline is going to form, eventually. The beachfront homes are definitely going to be effected, as far as dollar value, and the 'living on the beach' experience, is certainly not as good when you have 100 yards of marshy muck out in front of your house.
I have certain questions on this. I'm not sure who engineered these two projects, the marina and river breakwater walls, but I can't understand the process. Who thought this was a good idea? Was there no impact study done? Is this flow of water, sand, and silt a new phenomenon? I don't think so.
I can see that within my lifetime, these areas will have found their natural level, and a completely new solid shoreline will have formed. It makes me sad.
And, to project a compound on the problem. When these areas fill in to where they naturally want to, in order to have protection for the marina and river mouth, the break-walls will have to be rebuilt and extended. Thereby starting the problem all over again.
I feel incredibly frustrated about this situation. It's messing up my little corner of the world.
UPDATE (Aug 2014) - The past winter was a pretty long and snow-filled one. This seems to have helped raise the lake water levels somewhat. This encourages me to think that maybe someday I'll see the higher lake levels I enjoy recalling from the late seventies and eighties.
I'm not sure if this falls into the legendary "20 year cycle" that the old people talk about often. Though that might be as much of a wives tale as the "Red at night, sailors delight" stuff.
I've also backed off of my theory that the changes I see being the sole result of the break-walls. I now reckon it to be a combination of things.
- Possible excess outflow down the Bluewater area.
- The natural water level cycles.
- Excessive selling of our water resources to other states and private companies (think bottled water).
- AND the aforementioned rant about the break-walls and silt.
Like most things in life, everything I see regarding lake levels is probably the result of many factors.
Cheers
What I'm worried about specifically, is the shoreline. I've seen it change over the last 25 years. And I know, the great lakes shorelines do change over time, I've seen older pictures of Point Lookout, and the shape is quite different. What I'm talking about, is how the water levels are dropping in certain areas. I believe this is due to silt, and sand movement, which is being unnaturally effected by protruding breakwater walls. The two main culprits, are the breakwater at the mouth of the Au Gres River, and the shorter breakwater at the marina.
The beaches, and shoreline, are completely changed in the vicinity of these two locations. In some spots more than 100 yards of muck separates the old beach area, from where the water actually is. That strange European wetland grass has filled in on these areas as well.
The problem is succinctly illustrated when viewed from above, using Google Earth for example. You can observe the silt and sand filling in these areas, in a gentle arc, starting at the breakwaters. And you can clearly see, where the new shoreline is going to form, eventually. The beachfront homes are definitely going to be effected, as far as dollar value, and the 'living on the beach' experience, is certainly not as good when you have 100 yards of marshy muck out in front of your house.
I have certain questions on this. I'm not sure who engineered these two projects, the marina and river breakwater walls, but I can't understand the process. Who thought this was a good idea? Was there no impact study done? Is this flow of water, sand, and silt a new phenomenon? I don't think so.
I can see that within my lifetime, these areas will have found their natural level, and a completely new solid shoreline will have formed. It makes me sad.
And, to project a compound on the problem. When these areas fill in to where they naturally want to, in order to have protection for the marina and river mouth, the break-walls will have to be rebuilt and extended. Thereby starting the problem all over again.
I feel incredibly frustrated about this situation. It's messing up my little corner of the world.
UPDATE (Aug 2014) - The past winter was a pretty long and snow-filled one. This seems to have helped raise the lake water levels somewhat. This encourages me to think that maybe someday I'll see the higher lake levels I enjoy recalling from the late seventies and eighties.
I'm not sure if this falls into the legendary "20 year cycle" that the old people talk about often. Though that might be as much of a wives tale as the "Red at night, sailors delight" stuff.
I've also backed off of my theory that the changes I see being the sole result of the break-walls. I now reckon it to be a combination of things.
- Possible excess outflow down the Bluewater area.
- The natural water level cycles.
- Excessive selling of our water resources to other states and private companies (think bottled water).
- AND the aforementioned rant about the break-walls and silt.
Like most things in life, everything I see regarding lake levels is probably the result of many factors.
Cheers
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