Which Beach Do You Want?

Ohioans have seen many of their beaches disappear over the last 60 years.  I wish I could promise that we can get them back permanently with just a little common sense.  However, shoreline and watershed management is only part of the problem. 

Much of the problem started with unanticipated lake level changes over the past seven decades. At present there is a real and current threat of changes to the St. Clair River which, contrary to government claims, may affect Lake Erie levels.  If levels drop too far on Lake Erie, the marinas and boaters will be in trouble.  If levels rise too far, the beaches are, once again, history.

The following photos are recent shots from the "protected" beach at East Harbor State Park with non-existant sand and the beach which my neighbors and I restored with American Beach Grass at Cedar Point.  In the coming weeks, I'll explain how each location got to the shape it is in today. 

Historic records for each site exist for each site dating to the 1820's.  The mystery of how these two locations could be so radically different is an interesting story. 



East Harbor "Beach"




Cedar Point Beach



 In future posts, we will compare the early history of Cedar Point and East Harbor and explore what we can learn about how the environment was 150 years ago and how it has changed.

For those of you who care more about other areas of Ohio's shoreline, or other lakes, I promise to mix in information about those as well as we go on.  One of my favorite public beaches in Ohio is Lakeview Park in Lorain.  Since the DeLuca's Place in the Park reopens next week, it will be a great time for a visit.  You can check out the beach at http://www.metroparks.cc/lakeview-park.php  I was there last week and the winter has done a number with blowing sand.  We'll deal with that in a later post.

If you need a guide to get around Ohio's Lakeshore, I strongly suggest you pick up a copy of Ohio's Lake Erie Public Access Guidebook.  It is available on-line at the ODNR Coastal Management Website and FREE copies can be picked up at locations listed on the website.
  http://dnr.ohio.gov/Default.aspx?alias=www.dnr.state.oh.us/coastal

If you want to do a little extra credit homework, pick up a copy of Ginger Strand's book entitled Inventing Niagara.  It will give you a preview of where we are going - and she's a much better writer than I am.  There's a New York Times article about the book at: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/books/review/Sullivan-t.html

While you're at it, be sure to support your public libraries.  Much of the information which I have uncovered would have been lost forever without Ohio's wonderful library systems.