Benefits of living shorelines
Creating a living shoreline along your waterfront property is a beautiful way to enhance and protect both your home and your community! Living shorelines can:
- Reduce erosion – Plants and other natural materials along the shoreline absorb wind and wave energy and can reduce erosion rates. Plants can also absorb stormwater runoff as it flows downhill across the landscape, reducing the volume that makes it to the shoreline.
- Enhance water quality – Plants take up nutrients as they absorb stormwater, which helps to improve local water quality.
- Offer storm protection – Living shorelines are designed to trap sediments, stabilize coastal land, and provide storm resilience, creating a protective buffer from storms. Natural and constructed living shorelines can adapt and shift with changing conditions over time.
- Create wildlife habitat – Living shorelines provide great habitat for marine and terrestrial wildlife that depend on healthy coastal environments.
- Enhance recreation – Fishing, hunting, wildlife viewing, and other outdoor recreational opportunities all benefit from living shorelines that provide valuable habitat where wildlife can thrive.
- Add beauty – Choosing a living shoreline instead of a seawall can be a great way to enhance your property and enjoy the beauty of low maintenance native plants!
Types of living shorelines
Although living shorelines may include common elements, every project is unique. The selection of materials and methods must be made based on the level of energy that a site experiences. When assessing your site, it’s important to look at things like wind and waves, the distance across open water (called fetch), the shape of the shoreline, how water moves in the area, and how conditions change with the seasons. A contractor specialized in living shorelines can help coastal property owners select the most appropriate materials and methods for their particular project. Interact with the flip cards below for some existing project examples and associated material choices, categorized by energy level.
Low Energy
Low energy estuarine shorelines are usually found along protected waterways with low fetch (<1 mile) and low boat traffic. These shorelines can be stabilized by planting suitable native plants in the intertidal zone and nearshore uplands, or by edging with natural materials such as coconut fiber logs. A shallow slope along the wetland to upland profile provides a smooth transition from land to water. Maintaining an un-mowed vegetation buffer at least 10 feet wide above the Mean High Water Line (MHWL) is recommended along all waterfront properties.
Medium Energy
Medium energy estuarine shorelines are exposed to fetch greater than 1 mile and/or moderate wind and wave energy. These shorelines can include soft, natural elements as described for low energy shorelines in combination with low-profile hard structures such as sills or breakwaters. Hard structure materials include consolidated oyster shell, rock, recycled “clean” concrete, and prefabricated modules, which can be used in combination with each other depending on the site.
High Energy
High energy estuarine shorelines are exposed to heavy wind and wave energy from a long fetch or boat wakes. These shorelines may require a “hybrid living shoreline” approach that includes more hard than soft elements, such as a bulkhead or revetment softened with native plants installed at the toe (or bottom) of the slope. These materials will add habitat, filtration, and stabilization benefits while increasing biodiversity. This hybrid approach may be best served by constructing the hard sills or breakwaters first to reduce energy, then installing plants in the protected shoreward area.
Hurricane Disclaimer: Tropical storms and hurricanes create extreme conditions that are hard to plan for when designing shorelines. Living shorelines are built for everyday conditions, including seasonal storms, not for protecting property from storm surge. During a tropical storm, water can rise much higher than normal tides and push erosion farther inland. In general, the steeper the slope, the more erosion risk it has. Gentle, shallow slopes hold up better than steep ones.
Is a living shoreline right for you?
Use the infographic below to help determine if a living shoreline is right for your property. Visit Living Shorelines Near Me to see examples of projects constructed in your region.