Lake Michigan, Chicago. Photo source: © SAF — Coastal Care
Excerpts;
If a more permanent solution isn’t found to address Lake Michigan’s eroding shoreline and shrinking beaches, the leaders of coastal communities fear their economies and tourism may suffer — particularly in towns along the North Shore.
The sand loss is mostly a result of man-made structures that jut into the lake, like breakwaters that trap sediment from moving along the coast. The structures have been built over two centuries and have been effective at safeguarding certain beaches. However, they have also disturbed the natural southward drift of sand — the geological phenomenon that created the Indiana Dunes — and have starved other beaches…
Read Full Article, Chicago Tribune (08-31-2016)
Officials, residents, researchers look for answers to beach erosion, Chicago Tribune (08-21-2016)
Beaches shrinking as Lake Michigan rises to near-record level; Chicago Tribune (05-18-2016)
Rising water levels in Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, have contributed to significant erosion that has threatened local beaches and may damage other shoreline properties as forecasts anticipate this pattern to continue through the summer…
Changing Beaches, Changing Uses, Mystery Structures: Rosy Mound Park, Lake Michigan, U.S.A; By William Neal, Peter Wampler & Brock Hesselsweet (06-01-2016)
One of the general rules of beaches is that “no beach stays the same” neither over long reaches or very short stretches nor for very long time intervals. This rule is as true for fresh-water beaches as those of the salty seas. Rosy Mound Natural Area about 2 km south of Grand Haven, Michigan, on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan is a good example…
Sand, Rarer Than One Thinks: A UNEP report (GEA-March 2014)
Despite the colossal quantities of sand and gravel being used, our increasing dependence on them and the significant impact that their extraction has on the environment, this issue has been mostly ignored by policy makers and remains largely unknown by the general public.
In March 2014 The United Nations released its first Report about sand mining. “Sand Wars” film documentary by Denis Delestrac – first broadcasted on the european Arte Channel, May 28th, 2013, where it became the highest rated documentary for 2013 – expressly inspired the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to publish this 2014-Global Environmental Alert.
