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BY GRACE SCHNEIDER
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY McHALE LANDSCAPE DESIGN
Guest author and landscape architect Grace Schneider of McHale Landscape Design takes us behind the scenes of a recent project.
Addressing shoreline erosion is especially urgent for Maryland and other Mid-Atlantic states where the land surface is sinking because of geological processes, even as seas are rising because of climate change.
There is a peacefulness experienced while listening to gentle waves lapping against the shoreline with salt marsh grasses swaying in motion, birds dipping in and out, fish swimming, and crabs scurrying. Today, we use many techniques to re-create these ecosystems in a “living shoreline,” thus helping to prevent severe erosion of your waterfront property and encouraging natural habitats. These include planting native grasses such as Spartina and installing structural or organic materials such as sand fill, stone, or coir fiber logs.
Erosion and loss of land can be caused by many sources, including powerboat wakes, natural wave motion, overland drainage, or a combination of all. Have you noticed erosion along your shoreline or community beach? If so, installing a living shoreline may be the solution. In fact, in many cases, living shorelines are more resilient to the forces of wind, waves, rain, and overland stormwater than hard bulkheads.
Maryland has been protecting our shorelines for over 30 years, yet the term “living shoreline” first surfaced in the 1970s and 1980s. Environmentalists realized that the traditional hard shorelines composed of bulkheads, wood retaining walls, and stone revetments redirect energy rather than reduce it, increasing erosion. If left unchecked, a cosmic web of shore life may begin to unravel as depleted soil levels coupled with the disappearance of downed trees and small beaches reduce habitat. Rising water levels drown sea grasses that stabilize and build up the seabed. These grasses filter pollutants and nurture juvenile blue crabs, horseshoe crabs, turtles, finfish, and other seminal intertidal species. Realizing this, the State of Maryland enacted legislation called the Living Shoreline Protection Act in 2008. In 2013, the state passed legislation called New Tidal Wetland Regulations for Living Shorelines, formalizing the 2008 law. Today, shoreline repair must consist of “marsh creation” or similar stabilization measures unless a waiver is obtained.
Living shorelines are not suited for a steep hillside; rather, they best serve sheltered areas such as creeks with low energy waves and low banks. However, some waterfront properties need additional protection. If situated on open water, some may need stone armor to protect from powerful, high wave energy. In this case, homeowners may get a waiver allowing them to use alternate protection if the area is subject to excess erosion from very steep banks, high tides, extensive wave energy, or if the surrounding waterway is too narrow.
A word of caution: every shoreline is different. There is no such thing as “one size fits all.” Each project calls for its own techniques, structural solutions, and number of plantings. Sometimes, a hybrid approach is used. A living shoreline can work in conjunction with stone sills or stone revetments that break the power of the waves, reducing their energy before they hit the shoreline and protecting tender grasses as they grow.
This was the case with a client on the Patuxent River in Calvert County, whose steep shoreline failed after a storm. In the Fall of 2022, high winds blowing in from the south for two days weakened the slope around the pier, causing it to fall into the river.
To repair the shoreline and pier, the homeowner engaged McHale Landscape and an engineering firm, who submitted plans to the Maryland Department of Environment (MDE) in 2021. The firm proposed creating a hard shoreline by armoring the shoreline with a stone revetment. However, MDE required the installation of a living shoreline with stone sills to protect the live grasses and underwater life. This essentially doubled the cost since two projects were being installed in one application. In 2023, plans were approved, and installation began.
This slope was exceptionally steep. To ensure success, McHale’s crew planted approximately 5,000 square feet in the critical area buffer zone, located 100 feet from the water’s edge. At the beach level, we focused on native marsh plantings, installing approximately 3,000 one-quart Spartina alterniflora, which can live underwater. Our team worked at low tide and, wearing waders, planted approximately 5,000 one-quart Spartina patens. On the slope and in the area just above, we planted approximately 50 three-gallon shrubs, 600 one-gallon perennials, and about 800 one-quart grasses and ground cover.
Last but not least, we planted “forest mitigation plantings” or more trees since the existing forest coverage was less than 15% of the entire lot. We planted 18 2″ Red Maples and 12 2″ Pin Oaks. Every project, every job, and every shoreline is unique. In this case, although it was a long and arduous road requiring over 11,000 plantings, results are attractive, benefit the Bay, and, best of all, protect the homeowner’s shoreline.
Innovative systems work with nature to preserve not just your property but the health of the Chesapeake Bay. Experience tells us that living shorelines are not only more resilient to the forces of nature, they last much longer, too. Lesson learned: it is better to be proactive than reactive and take care of your shoreline before it is an emergency.
LANDSCAPE DESIGN: McHale Landscape Design, mchalelandscape.com, Upper Marlboro, Maryland
Suggested Reading:
“Living Shorelines” An Historical Perspective from Chesapeake Bay, Living Shoreline Summit 2013. dnr.maryland.gov/ccs/Documents/training/hardaway.pdf
Grace Schneider has been a landscape designer with McHale Landscape Design since 2011. She loves nature, landscape design, and integrating the challenges of stormwater management, which includes living shorelines.