Posted on November 9, 2021
Wisconsin sees a surge in barriers to slow lakefront erosion. But such structures are temporary and may harm downstream beaches.
For the past few months the Peninsula Pulse has been working in support of the team at Wisconsin Watch on a series of articles examining how a climate “tug of war” is driving extreme shifts in Lake Michigan’s water levels. This is the second in the Imperiled Shores series. This story was produced as part of the NEW (Northeast Wisconsin) News Lab. The nonprofit Wisconsin Watch collaborates with Wisconsin Public Radio, PBS Wisconsin, other news media and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Bo and Mindy Ellis needed to act to keep their house from sliding into Lake Michigan.
With their home 8 feet above the waves and 20 feet from the shore of Whitefish Bay in Door County, Wisconsin, the couple watched last year as the lake’s waters rose, whittling away the shoreline.
Crashing waves undermined a protective stone revetment. A creek cutting across their property compounded the erosion. The beach used to gradually incline into the water. Now it sharply drops.
“The high water was present for such a long time that I realized I needed to do something,” Bo Ellis said.
But as other northeast Wisconsinites watched their beachfronts shrink in 2020, they overwhelmed contractors with bookings, requiring the Ellises to wait seven months for a professional to fortify their barrier. The cost: more than $37,000. The waters have since eased, but the Ellises know they will rise again.
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