Shoring Up Coastal Resiliency

How northern Michigan nonprofits are advocating for our shorelines

Michigan has almost 4,200 miles of coastline, more than any other state except for Alaska. And in recent years here in northern Michigan, the swing in lake levels has been particularly apparent, with high water causing major damage in 2020.

There have always been fluctuations in the lake levels, says Liz Kirkwood, executive director of Flow Water Advocates (formerly FLOW, For Love of Water). The difference is that the amplitude is increasing, and the unpredictability of highs and lows is also increasing.

“The Great Lakes is a very complex and extraordinary ecosystem that scientists have been monitoring for the past 100 plus years,” says Kirkwood, noting there is water level data all the way back to 1918. “When the lakes don’t freeze, it actually accelerates coastal erosion,” she explains. “Up north when there’s the frozen lake, it almost buttresses these steep cliffs. But when you don’t have a frozen lake, you have this constant power of the waves continually pummelling the lakeshore.”

Kirkwood says that because the intervals between high and low water levels used to be so long, you might not have been able to identify the impacts of the changing water levels in the same way that you can today. She points to the scenic overlook at Pierce Stocking Drive, where an observation platform had to be removed just this year. “Coastal resilience is about ensuring that our infrastructure is not in harm’s way,” she says.

Coastal Resiliency in Action

Helping prepare communities for coastal hazards often looks like advising different areas on their coastal resiliency strategy, says Heather Smith, waterkeeper for The Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay.

The nonprofit works to “support our communities to have more capacity to withstand and recover from water level fluctuations in the Great Lakes and more broadly our changing climate futures, which will have more coastal storms and flooding events,” says Smith. The Watershed Center’s priority is the long-term health of our coastal areas and our communities, and how they support communities varies widely depending on their location and coastal experience.

For example, Leelanau County is considering a deeper watershed setback along the Great Lakes, and The Watershed Center is supporting that process by providing examples from other communities, connecting them with technical and legal resources, attending planning commission meetings, reviewing drafts of the zoning ordinance, and meeting with planning staff.

“East Bay Township just redid their zoning ordinance, and we worked with them in a similar capacity, advocating for changes that would help them prepare and position themselves to withstand and recover from extreme events,” says Smith. (See the case study below for more details on this process!)

Education is also a major component of The Watershed Center’s work; in addition to the organization’s robust website, Smith and colleagues frequently give presentations and attend community meetings about coastal flooding, climate change, and lake levels, to help folks understand what’s happening and what can they do on their own shoreline property and as a community.

Build at Your Own Risk

According to our sister publication, The Ticker, in 2020 record high-water levels, which measured three feet above the long-term average, “inflicted nearly $1 million in damages in Traverse City, according to city staff estimates.” That included overwhelmed sewer systems, flooding in homes and businesses, erosion on public beaches, and more.

On Old Mission Peninsula, those high water levels led to an indefinite closure of a section of Bluff Road, and in Leland’s historic Fishtown, several key structures were damaged, including flooding of the beloved Village Cheese Shanty.

So what’s a property owner to do? Kirkwood and Smith say that building in coastal zones is regulated for a reason. “These are highly variable and dynamic ecosystems,” Kirkwood reminds us.

The first instinct, especially for a homeowner, would be to “harden” the shoreline with seawalls or rocks to protect their house, but such measures can cause more damage in the long run. The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) notes that “The hard reflection of waves bouncing off of vertical walls can result in increased turbidity, bottomland scouring, damage to adjacent properties, decreased water quality, and proliferation of aquatic invasive species.”

Additionally, projects being done within 500 feet of water or 100 feet of a wetland almost always require a soil erosion permit from Grand Traverse County. Any projects involving shoreline on inland lakes will also require permits from EGLE. Projects involving Lake Michigan shoreline—including shoreline along Grand Traverse Bay—demand permits from both EGLE and the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).

“Try to live with a little erosion as a property owner,” says Smith. “For people who are afraid of losing their beach, it will come back in a low water year. It might look different, but think about stepping back and letting the lake breathe.”

“Coastal resilience requires intensive scientific understanding and it also requires intensive planning and also compromise,” adds Kirkwood. “It’s a complicated dance that really benefits when there is open communication from all the different stakeholders.”

Other coastal resiliency strategies include ensuring that septic systems are regularly pumped, repaired, and replaced so that the water isn’t contaminated during flooding events; having certain setbacks from waterways; decreasing impervious surfaces; filtering and treating stormwater; planting trees (particularly in the aftermath the March 2025 ice storm); and preservation of wetlands, the latter of which is a very important strategy because of their ability to serve as buffers during flooding events, says Kirkwood.

“Those are some of the more classic coastal resiliency, green city things that communities are doing,” she says. “The other piece is making sure that the community is investing in their water infrastructure, making sure that the water rates remain affordable for folks, and working at the state and federal level to advocate and demand that the federal and state governments invest in water systems.”

Navigating the Landscape

Right now, The Watershed Center is trying to update its shoreline survey, which helps them to identify areas of concern (e.g., erosion, invasive species, lack of vegetation, and shoreline hardening). “This will help us identify areas of high quality habitat, where restoration efforts will be most beneficial. It can help us assess and prioritize where resources are spent, depending on those coastal conditions,” says Smith.

One of the biggest challenges to the work being done by The Watershed Center and Flow is funding. Government funding is always tricky, and recent efforts by the Trump administration have made things even trickier with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the government agency that is responsible for coastal resiliency, under threat.

“Now there are fewer dollars to help support local, smaller communities with less resources to prepare for the future,” explains Kirkwood.

Kirkwood also notes that recent cuts mean that “we also don’t have NOAA’s weather service and GLISSA—the other scientific arm—there are not enough scientists to help tell us about algal bloom in Lake Erie and other bodies. That’s also handicapping communities in the Great Lakes because you’re not going to have warning systems that will alert municipal water systems to shut down if there are harmful algal blooms.”

“These are illustrations of why the network of local, federal, and state partnerships are vital to build and sustain long-term coastal resilience,” Kirkwood continues.

Case Study: East Bay Township

“East Bay Township is a little different; we don’t have any critical dunes, and we don’t get a lot of storm surge—with the bay we are pretty protected,” says Claire Karner, director of planning & zoning for the township. “We got a big grant from a coastal zone management program to do coastal resiliency planning along the US-31 corridor and just wrapped up a nine-month intense planning process.”

The process was multifaceted, with the township trying to create a brand and identity for the East Bay business district through the lens of coastal resiliency. They worked closely with The Watershed Center, and the Land Information Access Association (LIAA), a nonprofit that does community planning across Michigan, also helped with some mapping.

The township hosted an open house that displayed maps from different years showing how the coastline has changed and how water levels have changed over time to help hotel owners and business owners understand how that impacts zoning. Ultimately that process resulted in increasing the setback requirement in East Bay.

“It’s not as much as it should be; we are constrained by existing hotel use,” says Karner.

Moving forward, East Bay Township is establishing a corridor improvement authority to implement the priorities that were identified in the planning process. One high priority project is to develop a public pier at 4 Mile Road.

“The public wants access to the water and a better connection between land and water,” Karner tells us. “The corridor was built and developed for tourists, but we can reclaim it for the locals.”

 

Photo by Holly Wright

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