Landowners on the Canadian shores of Lake Huron are being encouraged to plant natural vegetation on their beachfront property.
If beachfront property owners planted native trees and plants on the bluffs, the vegetation could act as a buffer preventing shoreline erosion and polluted runoff into Lake Huron. Photo: Lake Huron Centre for Coastal Conservation.
Planting trees and other native plants on the bluffs can help prevent shoreline erosion, stormwater runoff, habitat loss and climate change, according to the Lake Huron Centre for Coastal Conservation.
The first step was putting together a guide for lakeshore landowners explaining how they can protect the bluff ecosystem, said Geoff Peach, coastal resources manager for the Centre.
“The Bluff Ecosystem Stewardship Guide can provide some advice on how to deal with common environmental issues,” Peach said. “It’s about to go to print, and then will be distributed to landowners along Lake Huron’s bluffs in southern Ontario.”
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, natural lakeshores with abundant trees, shrubs, and native grasses are “living shorelines” that use deep, strong plant roots to stabilize soil.
Natural lakeshores can also create natural buffers that absorb wave energy and filter polluted runoff.
The Centre also hopes to create demonstration buffers to further educate about which plants should make up a natural shoreline.
“We’re now in the process of applying for funding,” Peach said. “These will be demonstration sites that people can go to in order to visualize how buffers are designed and to learn about what native plants are appropriate in this environment.
“It follows the information provided in the guide, and the demos would provide actual examples for people wanting to understand how they could be applied to their own properties,” he said.
The Centre has already been granted approval for the project from the town of Goderich, which would provide the land for the buffers, Peach said.
With enough funding, the Centre hopes to begin constructing the buffers in Ontario’s Sunset Drive Park and Bingham Park this fall.