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Originally Posted by Seaplane Pilot
From the DES/Wetlands website:
"EROSION IS A SERIOUS PROBLEM"
Erosion is the process by which soil is carried by water or wind. When water carries soil into a waterbody, it not only fills in the waterbody but contributes nutrients that algae and aquatic weeds need to grow. When vegetation is removed or ground is disturbed, erosion accelerates, overloading the waterbody with nutrients and sediment. This can often contribute to excessive algae and aquatic weed growth, reducing the clarity and quality of the water.
I agree that DES does not care about the problems of property owners. However, according to their mission statement and various Rules and Acts, they do care about water quality and particularly erosion. What difference does it make if soils, vegetation and nutrients are entering the lake via runoff or via huge waves that are slamming into the shoreline and also up on to the horizontal plane of land? Water is running back into the lake in both cases, carrying the same particles. If you saw the amount of soil, etc., that is in the water after these waves hit, you would not believe your eyes.
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I think the erosion the DES is most concerned with is rain water carrying stuff from "long" distances. It's not the erosion, per se, they worry about, it's the non-lake stuff that's carried into the lake that bothers them. I'm not saying waves don't cause erosion, I'm saying low lying brush, duff, and pine needles help to stop runoff from carrying sediment into the lake. Perhaps the same brush, duff and pine needles would stop waves from doing the same. If you remove this stuff and replace it with a lawn, or even just rake up the pine needles to keep them from being tracked into the house, you are exacerbating the problem. If left alone, the shore will eventually go back to it's natural, wave resistant state. Look around the lake at fairly untouched areas. The shore has a nice barrier of rocks up to the height of typical waves(and by "typical" I mean whatever is there, big, man-made waves are typical) and a firm layer of duff with brush growing in it right down to the edge of the rocks. Take the rocks away and clear out the brush to put in a beach or a lawn, and you make a spot for rain water to funnel all kinds of nasty stuff right into the lake. Waves are a given on a lake, man made or not, they do happen. The DES thinks man made lawns and beaches are a bigger "problem" than waves and that's why the DES would rather pursue the idea of responsible shore living than preventing waves.
If one were to leave the shore alone for 25 years while boats continue to operate on the lake, I bet the sediment you see when wakes wash ashore would be pretty much gone. Waves will make the shore to erode until ithe waves reach something solid (rocks), the old sediments will eventually settle to the bottom and new waves will beat against the new, solid shoreline rather than the artificial, soft shoreline. With a solid shoreline, the waves have nothing to stir up. The downside is that the lakeshore will expand and shore front property will be underwater in areas that are destined to erode away.