'The grand canyon': Huge crater on Erie's shore underlines erosion threat

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With parts of the Lake Erie coast eroding at a pace of four metres or more a year – some of the highest rates in the Great Lakes – one group is appealing for federal funding to fight it.

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“We’re never going to solve coast erosion, but doing the technical work . . . associated with this project will help us to better understand what the threats we are facing in the future and how to make better policy, planning and municipal decisions,” said Sarah Emons, conservation director of Long Point Biosphere Region and co-lead of a working group of municipalities, conservation authorities and others formed last fall.

Emons said the group is seeking $2.9 million from Environment and Climate Change Canada to study how sand and gravel is transported down the coast. The project would include public engagement, workshops and a citizens’ advisory committee.

It also would include nature-based efforts to rebuild beaches to counteract erosion’s impacts, such as planting native vegetation and grasses to stabilize and build beaches, Emons said.

Geoscientist Peter Zuzek wrote a 2021 report for Environment Canada looking to identify barriers to adopting nature-based erosion solutions in the Great Lakes and increase coastal resilience.

Rates of erosion along the bluff shoreline from Port Glasgow to Long Point range from one to four metres a year or more, among the highest on the Great Lakes, he said.

One of the biggest examples on the north shore can be found east of Port Burwell, a lakeside village about 65 kilometres southeast of London, where a more than 300-metre crater called a gully sidewall has developed.

Locals call it as “the grand canyon.” A cave-in occurred in 2020 after the bluff receded 142 metres from the lake over nearly 40 years.

Erosion is so prevalent along Lake Erie’s shores because they’re comprised of “materials that are highly erodible,” Zuzek said.

“Material in the high bluff shorelines, a lot of it is sandy and silty. Lake Erie can generate some very large waves – the forces that cause erosion are quite severe,” he said. “It’s a product of geology and how big the lake is.”

The proposed study would also look at “approaches that could alter or modify, as well as dredging, to help sediment bypass (shoreline)  barriers.”

One shoreline barrier documented in the Zuzek’s 2021 report is a rock jetty in Port’s Burwell’s west beach.

The idea of modifications or alterations allowing sand to disperse into the harbour and down the lake to Long Point has caused controversy on the social media site Burwell Life, with some locals voicing their strong objections to the idea.

The idea of removing the jetty is a “mischaracterization of what we want to do,” Zuzek said. “We don’t have any legal authority to change harbours.”

The group doesn’t have anything proposed for any of the shoreline barriers, Emons said.

“We want to co-develop solutions with communities and other technical experts, and develop a coastal resilience action plan,” she said.

Coun. Tim Emerson, who represents Port Burwell, says Bayham council showed support for the project to learn more about the science behind Lake Erie’s shoreline and how sand moves down the lake and the harbour.

“Council decided to offer the letter of support to get the research for the project to see where the sand comes from and where it goes,” he said. “Hopefully the research gives us a better understanding of what is actually going on in the harbour and how sand moves along the lake.”

A funding announcement is expected later this year, Emons said.

HRivers@postmedia.com