Lookout Point SWP staff

the rip-rap boulders. Left in its current condition, this section of shoreline is still actively eroding with each storm event. Phase two of the project is designed to restore a more natural shoreline, restore coastal habitats and restore public access to Lake Superior. Working closely with the Marquette Community Development Department and the Marquette Engineering Department, the Superior Watershed Partnership received a $2.5 million Coastal Resiliency grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in cooperation with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF).

Baird Engineering, an international coastal design firm, was selected to work with the city and SWP on developing a living shoreline approach that restores natural features, allows people to reach the water again, and still provides protection from storm events and coastal erosion. Throughout the Great Lakes, there has been a dramatic shift away from the old armoring approach and a move towards incorporating more resilient, more natural coastal restoration solutions. A recent article in Bridge magazine was titled “Michigan’s Coast is Being Armored, Making Erosion Worse.” Another article in Stateline magazine titled “Rising Waters Threaten Great Lakes Communities” recommended that communities “retreat and allow a living shoreline”; Marquette is doing both. They have already moved the road (retreat), and the next step is to restore a more natural, living shoreline instead of the historic boulder armoring. The Marquette living shoreline design is bio-engineered to replicate a natural cobble beach often found on Lake Superior. The cobble beach will be comprised of small quarried rock four-to-eight inches in diameter that people can easily walk over or carry a kayak across. In addition, the project design includes a small sand beach cove, sand dunes and several restored coastal wetlands.

The Keweenaw Bay Indian

The Superior Watershed Partnership’s coastal resiliency project will replace the massive rip rap boulders with smaller rocks to make the shoreline useable. A present view of the shoreline facing south near the Presque Isle power plant in Marquette shows rocks and boulders piled haphazardly along the shore. Below, an artistic rendition of how the restored, usable shoreline will look.

Community (KBIC) provided recommendations for many traditional native species of plants, shrubs and trees that will be incorporated throughout the site. The project improves both aquatic and terrestrial habitat conditions, including improved habitat for several species of fish, amphibians, migrating birds, monarch butterflies, bees and other pollinators.

The site also includes a series of ADA-accessible hiking trails, boardwalks and lookout platforms. Lastly, the mile-long project will provide numerous community benefits, including but not limited to: increased recreation opportunities, increased nature tourism, increased economic development and other quality-of-life benefits. At a time when many Great Lakes coastal communities are looking for more natural solutions to traditional erosion control methods, the Marquette living shoreline project is being viewed as a model for possible replication. Thanks to a nomination submitted by Assistant City Manager Sean Hobbins, the project design recently won the Wege Sustainability Best Practices Award. In addition, the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Cities Initiative (GLSLCI) shared information on the award with over 120 member cities in both the United States and Canada.

Marquette also received a grant through the Michigan Coastal Management Program in support of the project. It’s also worth noting that the NOAA/NFWF Coastal Resiliency Program is a new national grant program that has already funded over 30 ground-breaking projects throughout the country, but only two were selected in the Great Lakes; Marquette is one of those. Lastly, there has been widespread, bi-partisan political support for the project at the local, state and federal level. The final phase of the project is scheduled to begin in the spring of 2022.

(Artistic renditions of the cobble beach/ living shoreline are approximations and were created by Baird Engineering. Visit the Superior Watershed Partnership and Land Conservancy at superiorwatersheds. org)