Living Shorelines vs Hard Armoring on Lake Michigan: An Honest Comparison
Ask two contractors about living shorelines on Lake Michigan and you will get two absolute answers, neither of them useful. One will tell you plants cannot hold a Great Lakes bank, ever. The other will tell you every seawall is an environmental mistake and vegetation is the answer everywhere.
Both are wrong, and the reason is exposure. Lake Michigan is not one shoreline. A protected cove inside a harbor and an open west-facing bluff twenty miles up the coast experience completely different physics, and the right answer changes with them.
What a Living Shoreline Actually Is
The term gets used loosely, so start with the definition. A living shoreline stabilizes a bank using graded slopes, native vegetation and its root structure, and natural materials such as stone, coir logs, and biodegradable fabric, instead of a vertical face that stops water hard.
The important thing to understand is that almost no real installation is plants alone. Practical designs are layered. A stone toe or a low rock sill takes the wave energy at the waterline. Above it, graded slope and deep-rooted native plantings bind the soil, absorb runoff from the uphill side, and keep the surface from raveling. Coir logs and erosion fabric hold everything together while the roots establish, then break down.
That layering is why the honest comparison is not plants versus stone. It is how much hard material the site requires, and where.
Why EGLE Leans This Direction
Michigan's Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy is explicit about it. In its guidance on shoreline protection, EGLE recommends the use of natural shoreline treatments, or bioengineering, and states that new shoreline hardening should be avoided where alternative approaches can be used to protect property from erosion.
The reasoning behind that policy is the same physics every shoreline contractor already knows. A vertical wall reflects wave energy rather than absorbing it, and that reflected energy scours the lake bed at the base of the wall and often accelerates erosion on the neighboring unarmored property. Hardening also removes the shallow transitional zone where nearly all nearshore habitat lives.
One important boundary: a good deal of EGLE's published bioengineering guidance, including the minor project provisions covering things like reducing seawall length and maintaining a planted buffer strip, is written for inland lakes. Great Lakes frontage is a different regulatory and physical animal. Do not assume an inland lake standard applies to your Lake Michigan lot, which is a distinction we cover in the Lake Michigan seawall permit guide.
Where a Nature-Based Design Holds, and Where It Does Not
| Site condition | Realistic outlook for a living shoreline |
|---|---|
| Sheltered bay, harbor, or river mouth with short fetch | Strong candidate. Wave energy is low enough for a stone toe and planted slope to hold. |
| Low bank, gentle grade, minimal drop to water | Good candidate. There is room to lay back the slope, which is what these designs need. |
| Moderate exposure, stable bank, no active failure | Hybrid territory. Engineered stone at the toe, vegetation above. |
| Open west or northwest exposure, long fetch | Poor as a primary defense. Storm wave energy exceeds what vegetation and light stone can absorb. |
| Active bluff with slumping or exposed soil face | Not a vegetation problem. This is a geotechnical stability and groundwater problem first. |
| Heavy shore ice every winter | High risk. Ice shove sets plantings back to zero and can move light stone. |
| High water years with an eroding toe | Needs engineered toe protection regardless of what happens above it. |
The two entries worth dwelling on are ice and bluffs, because they are the ones that catch owners out.
Ice does not care how well the plants established
Shore ice on Lake Michigan does not just sit there. It builds, shifts with wind and wave, and rides up the bank, taking whatever is in its path. A planted slope that looked established in October can be scraped back to bare soil by March. We covered the mechanics in our notes on ice shove and winter damage, and the same forces that bend steel sheet pile make short work of coir logs.
A failing bluff is not a shoreline problem
When a bluff is slumping, the water at the toe is usually only half the story. Groundwater moving through the soil profile, surface drainage dumped over the crest, and the loss of toe support all combine. Planting the face of an actively failing bluff is treating a symptom. The sequence has to be drainage and slope stability first, toe protection second, vegetation third, which is the approach in our guide to bluff stabilization on Lake Michigan.
The Hybrid Middle, Which Is Where Most Projects Land
In practice, the useful question is not which philosophy you subscribe to. It is how far up the bank the hard material needs to go.
A well-designed hybrid puts engineered armor where the water actually works and vegetation everywhere above it. On many Lake Michigan lots that means a properly sized riprap revetment at the toe and lower slope, with a graded, planted upper bank that handles runoff and holds the surface. On lots with an existing wall, it can mean adding stone at the base to stop reflected scour while softening and planting the bank behind it.
Hybrids tend to permit well, because they demonstrate you considered the alternative EGLE prefers and applied hard material only where the exposure requires it. That is a stronger application than a bare request for a vertical wall.
Cost and Maintenance Reality
Owners often hear that nature-based approaches are cheaper. Sometimes the installation is. The full picture is more complicated, and we would rather you hear it now.
- Establishment is a multi-year commitment. Plantings need watering, replacement, and weed control for two to three seasons before the root structure does real work.
- Grading is not free. Laying back a slope means moving soil, and on a tight lot it means losing yard.
- The stone is still stone. The toe of a hybrid is engineered armor with the same sizing and filter requirements as any revetment.
- A failed design is the most expensive option. A soft treatment installed on frontage that needed hard protection buys you one winter and then a second project.
- Hard walls have maintenance too. Tiebacks, cap repair, and toe scour do not fix themselves, as we lay out in repair versus replacement.
How to Decide on Your Own Lot
- Measure your fetch. Look at the open water distance to your west and northwest. Long fetch means storm waves, and storm waves set the design.
- Look at the neighbors, especially the unarmored ones. A bank holding grass and trees next door tells you more than any brochure.
- Watch where the water sits in a high year. Lake Michigan levels swing on a multi-year cycle, and your design has to survive the high end of it, not the average.
- Find out where your groundwater goes. Seeps on the bank face change the answer entirely.
- Get the assessment before you get attached to an approach. The site decides this, not preference.
Start with our shoreline inspection checklist if you want to walk your own frontage before calling anyone.
What We Recommend
We build steel and vinyl sheet pile walls, and we still tell owners on sheltered frontage to consider a softer design, because the wrong solution is expensive for everyone. We also tell owners on open bluff frontage that a nature-based design alone will not hold their bank, no matter how appealing it looks in a brochure, and pretending otherwise would be malpractice.
Bring us the site and we will tell you which one you have. Free consultation, no obligation, and an honest answer either way. See our shoreline protection services or request a consultation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a living shoreline?
A living shoreline uses native vegetation, graded slopes, and natural materials such as stone, coir logs, and root systems to hold a bank in place, instead of a vertical wall that stops water at a hard face. Most designs are hybrids: a low stone toe or rock sill takes the wave energy, and planted upper slope handles runoff, root binding, and habitat.
Does Michigan EGLE prefer living shorelines to seawalls?
Yes, as a policy preference. EGLE recommends natural shoreline treatments and bioengineering for shoreline protection, and states that new shoreline hardening should be avoided where alternative approaches can protect the property from erosion. That preference shapes how a permit application is reviewed, so it is worth understanding before you design anything.
Will a living shoreline work on open Lake Michigan frontage?
Often not on its own. Open, high-fetch Lake Michigan frontage produces wave energy and winter ice loads that plant-based systems alone cannot absorb, particularly on an eroding bluff. Sheltered bays, river mouths, harbors, and low-bank lots have the best odds. Exposed west-facing lots with an active bluff almost always need engineered stone or sheet pile as the primary defense.
Is a living shoreline cheaper than a seawall?
Sometimes at installation, rarely across the whole project. Grading, imported soil, stone toe, plant material, coir products, and two or three seasons of establishment care add up, and a design that fails in its first winter costs more than either option. Judge it on suitability for your exposure first and cost second.
Do I still need a permit for a natural shoreline project?
Yes. Work below the ordinary high water mark on Lake Michigan goes through the EGLE and Army Corps Joint Permit Application regardless of whether the material is stone, steel, or plants. Nature-based designs often move through review more smoothly because they align with agency preference, but they are not exempt.
Can I combine a living shoreline with an existing seawall?
Frequently, and it is the most practical option for many owners. Common hybrids include placing stone at the toe of an aging wall to stop reflected scour, softening and planting the upper bank behind the wall, and replacing failed wall sections with graded, vegetated slope where the exposure allows. You keep the hard defense where it is needed and reduce it where it is not.