Freshwater Shoreline Management involves assessing and protecting lakes, rivers, and other

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...

shore A shore or a shoreline is the fringe of land at the edge of a large body of water, such as an ocean, sea, or lake. In physical oceanography, a shore is the wider fringe that is geologically modified by the action of the body of water past a ...

lines from excessive development or other

anthropogenic Anthropogenic ("human" + "generating") is an adjective that may refer to: * Anthropogeny, the study of the origins of humanity Counterintuitively, anthropogenic may also refer to things that have been generated by humans, as follows: * Human im ...

disturbances. Shoreline management involves the long-term monitoring of

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

and shoreline revitalization projects. Freshwater shoreline management is frequently run by local

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...

authorities through state, provincial, and federal lake partner programs. These programs have been used as a method of tracking shoreline change over time, determining areas of concern, and educating shoreline property owners.

History

The concept of Freshwater Shoreline Management evolved from ideas developed for the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM), which emerged from the 1992

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Conference on Environment and Development. In Canada, a

coastal zone The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...

management plan was completed by 1996 using the ICZM framework. Freshwater management programs utilized the coastal zone management plan to create freshwater management plans to address the growing concerns for the environment that had been aired since the 1960s in Canadian society.

Anthropogenic effects Human impact on the environment (or anthropogenic impact) refers to changes to biophysical environments and to ecosystems, biodiversity, and natural resources caused directly or indirectly by humans. Modifying the environment to fit the needs ...

on watersheds were increasing globally in the 1900s, with nutrient loading of

phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element with the symbol P and atomic number 15. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms, white phosphorus and red phosphorus, but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Ear ...

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...

, and

sulfur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...

causing

eutrophication Eutrophication is the process by which an entire body of water, or parts of it, becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. It has also been defined as "nutrient-induced increase in phytopla ...

and

acidification Acidification may refer to: * Ocean acidification, decrease in the pH of the Earth's oceans * Freshwater acidification, atmospheric depositions and soil leaching of SOx and NOx * Soil acidification, buildup of hydrogen cations, which reduces the ...

of water bodies. These effects are primarily caused by the human development of shorelines,

agricultural runoff Agricultural pollution refers to biotic and abiotic byproducts of farming practices that result in contamination or degradation of the environment and surrounding ecosystems, and/or cause injury to humans and their economic interests. The pol ...

of chemicals and fertilizers, human litter, and

sewage Sewage (or domestic sewage, domestic wastewater, municipal wastewater) is a type of wastewater that is produced by a community of people. It is typically transported through a sewer system. Sewage consists of wastewater discharged from residenc ...

/wastewater. To manage these impacts, local and regional organizations began conducting watershed monitoring programs to detect long-term environmental changes and establish their causes.

Usage

Anthropogenic effects on lakes, such as freshwater usage, shoreline development, recreational use, agriculture, and

retaining walls Retaining walls are relatively rigid walls used for supporting soil laterally so that it can be retained at different levels on the two sides. Retaining walls are structures designed to restrain soil to a slope that it would not naturally keep to ...

, can negatively impact aquatic and terrestrial organisms that rely on the shoreline of a lake for habitat. The anthropogenic effects can also cause

and acidification of lakes, which impacts organisms within the water itself and can also cause harm to human health. It can have the added effect of decreasing property values and tourism in the lake communities due to some beaches being unsafe to swim in because of pollutants. Since it may be modified to match the needs of the watershed and be applied to the current land use nearby, freshwater shoreline management is useful for community-based monitoring. The ''Lake Ontario Shoreline Management Plan'' is an example of how communities can use freshwater shoreline management. Programs such as this were developed by

authorities and citizens alongside regional and provincial governments to perform shoreline mapping and assessment, public consultation/education, and implement long-term monitoring of the watershed and shoreline. The Muskoka Watershed Council has also performed shoreline assessments using the ''Love Your Lakes Program'' to survey the shoreline of Lake Bella in the

Muskoka District The District Municipality of Muskoka, more generally referred to as the District of Muskoka or Muskoka, is a regional municipality in Central Ontario, Canada. Muskoka extends from Georgian Bay in the west, to the northern tip of Lake Couchiching ...

. It showed that the natural shoreline decreased from 96% in 2002 to 80% in 2007, impacting the overall

water quality Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through tr ...

as it allows for increased nutrient runoff, negatively impacting

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

as it decreases habitat for fish, insects, and birds. This program has increased local education on lake health and stewardship of revitalizing shorelines.

Climate Change Impacts

Climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

has been found to affect freshwater shoreline communities. Effects such as increased warming of the water bodies, increased storm runoff, the quickening of yearly

ice melt Snow removal or snow clearing is the job of removing snow after a snowfall to make travel easier and safer. This is done by both individual households and by governments and institutions. De-icing and anti-icing De-icing is defined as removal ...

and limited amounts of winter ice, and increased wave height during storms, which increases the potential of

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...

, were all found to potentially affect lake shorelines. Shoreline management has been identified as a method to mitigate climate change impacts such as potential

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

ing and nutrient loading from frequent and higher-intensity storms. That can occur as shorelines naturalize, which can increase filtration and decrease sediment and nutrient runoff.

Example: Love Your Lakes Program

The Love Your Lakes Program is an example of a Shoreline Assessment and Revitalization program used in Canada. It was developed under the Canadian Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MECC) Lake Partner Program as a joint effort between Watersheds Canada, MECC, and the

Canadian Wildlife Federation The Canadian Wildlife Federation () is a Canadian non-profit organization dedicated to wildlife conservation. History and mission The Canadian Wildlife Federation was founded in 1961 and chartered in 1962. The Canadian Wildlife Federation is de ...

. The program allows lake owners and organizations to apply to have their shorelines assessed and discusses methods that individuals and the community can use to revitalize their shorelines. Naturalization, using

native plant In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") during history. The term is equ ...

species along the shoreline to create a buffer, is often recommended as this limits erosion from wake action and can decrease nutrient runoff from lawn maintenance or farming activities. To date, almost 200 lakes have been assessed by the program. This has led to increased community awareness and shoreline naturalization, which has transformed up to 300 shoreline properties.

References

{{Reflist Coastal geography Coastal engineering Environmental impact in the United States Environmental impact in Canada