Living Shorelines
A living shoreline project at Roanoke Island Festival Park in Manteo.
Living shorelines are more natural alternatives to erosion control than hard structures like rock walls and wooden bulkheads. They use strategically placed native plants, stone, sand fill and other organic material to minimize erosion while also enhancing habitat for fish and other wildlife. The N.C. Coastal Federation has used the concept successful in projects all along our coast.
Erosion and the Estuary
Wooden or plastic bulkheads are the customary way of dealing with erosion.
North Carolina has more than 4,600 miles of shoreline along our sounds, coastal rivers and creeks and marshes. These are dynamic environments that offer shelter and habitat for numerous species of fish, birds and other wildlife.
Our estuarine shoreline is also very susceptible to erosion, a natural ongoing process. Landowners usually build rock walls or wooden bulkheads to protect their property. Such hard structures usually lead to the permanent destruction of marshes, sandy beaches and forested buffers. On average, at least 30 miles of our estuarine shoreline is hardened. This trend will continue as more shoreline is developed and a warming climate accelerates seas-level rise.
Benefits of Living Shorelines
- Create a natural buffer that absorbs wave energy and reduces erosion.
- Maintain natural shoreline dynamics.
- Can be used in a variety of places, including bays, estuaries, lagoons, sheltered shorelines and tidally influenced streams and rivers.
- Can be less expensive than structures such as bulkheads and seawalls.
- Preserve, create, or maintains habitat for aquatic plants and animals.
- Restore critical feeding and nursery habitat for fish.
- Trap and retains land runoff containing nutrients and pollutants.
- Provide aesthetic value, enhanced views, a sense of place and privacy to the property owner.
Unlike traditional shoreline habitat restoration, design elements are incorporated into living shorelines that provide an appropriate level of shoreline protection to safeguard property owners’ investments, while at the same time protecting or restoring coastal marshes, and the natural gradation between the tidal zone and upland buffers.
Rock serves as a breakwater at a living shoreline at the N.C. Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores, above, while bags of oyster shells was used for a project at Morris Landing in Onslow County.
Living Shoreline Projects
To demonstrate the effectiveness of living shoreline projects, the N.C. Coastal Federation in 1999 began a pilot program to share the costs of such projects along the state’s estuaries. Through grant support from sources such as NOAA's Community-based Restoration Program, Restore America's Estuaries, the N.C. Clean Water Management Trust Fund and others, the federation has participated in the completion of over 30 living shoreline projects and provided technical support to numerous property owners and public partners throughout the estuarine region. [ Living Shoreline Map ]
To Learn More
^ Top
|
