Beach-grooming law could be detrimental to shorelines

I completely missed this important article from last week. Beach-grooming law could be detrimental to shorelines. While the Save Our Shoreline organization wants additional abilities to groom there is rising reluctance among some lawmakers allow it.

The Legislature passed the law in response to complaints from Saginaw Bay property owners who said low water levels had left unsightly and smelly patches of weeds on the exposed lake bottom.

The law lets shoreline owners do such minor beach-grooming as leveling sand or mowing weeds without a permit, and it creates pilot areas in Saginaw and Grand Traverse bays where more extensive work, including mechanical tilling, is permitted with a letter of approval from the Department of Environmental Quality.

David Powers of Bay City, representing a group called Save Our Shoreline, said the DEQ has blocked some property owners from beach work that should have been allowed.

Wilcox said Lakes Michigan and Huron seem to rise and fall in cycles of about 30 years. The recurring low-water periods allow the coastal wetlands to rebuild themselves, he said.

Donald Uzarski, of Grand Valley State University's Annis Water Resources Institute, said coastal wetlands filter out nutrients that would otherwise run into the lake, while the plants' roots hold onto sand that would otherwise be blown inland.

Dennis Albert, of the Michigan Natural Features Inventory at Michigan State University, told the committee that wetland plants generally won't grow in true beach areas, such as the windswept shores of Lake Michigan.

"Most of the Michigan shore of Lake Michigan is, no argument, a beach," Albert said. "High water, low water, it doesn't matter."

But, he said, in protected bays the sand often lies above old, fertile lake beds that harbor seeds and roots, just waiting to be exposed by low-water cycles. Albert and Uzarski are taking part in a study this summer to determine whether beach grooming along residential property has harmed the lakes.

"I thought when we passed this legislation it was a good compromise," said Sen. Ray Basham, D-Taylor. "Had I heard this discussion a year ago, it would have probably influenced my decision."

Added Sen. Gerald Van Woerkom, R-Muskegon: "I was surprised and troubled by what I heard today."

Committee members took no action on Tuesday. Chairperson Patricia Birkholz, R-Saugatuck, said she'll likely await the study before revisiting the issue.

Ownership and grooming control of the beach area continues to be a hot issue to follow.