Lake Michigan gives Port a tale of two beaches this summer

A lake that has risen relentlessly, swallowing beaches and threatening shorelines, has backed off at last, at least slightly.

The Lake Michigan water level last month was 18 inches lower than it was a year ago, although it is still 22 inches above average and is predicted to rise 2 to 3 inches by the end of June.

The respite from the incessant rise, which was most pronounced last year when the lake was at record levels for eight months, has resulted in the re-emergence of beaches,  including Port Washington’s south beach, which is now a fairly wide swath of sand that already this season is attracting crowds on warm days.

The city’s north beach, however, remains a victim of nature and will likely remain largely inaccessible for the summer.

The lower lake level has exposed the shoreline there as well, but instead of sand there is a field of rocks, some as large as bowling balls, that make walking it a challenge. 

“I wouldn’t walk it if I were a billy goat,”  Public Works Director Rob Vanden Noven said.

But navigating the rocks is only a problem if you can get to the beach.

A large section of bluff has collapsed and now covers the path from the walkway around the wastewater treatment plant to the beach. And for good measure, the lake has thrown a large pile of debris — mostly large trees — onto what was the entrance to the beach.

Normally, the city would remove earth and debris after a mudslide, but this is no normal mudslide, and doing so now could be dangerous and further undermine the stability of the bluff, Vanden Noven said. 

“It’s not that we don’t want to provide access to the beach, but doing so now may actually make it more dangerous for people,” he said. “Even if there were a beautiful beach to walk to, I’d probably bring in a geotech engineer to determine if it’s even possible to clear the path.”

Jon Crain, the city parks superintendent, agreed.

“To be honest, anything we touch there could be dangerous and might make matters worse,” he said. “For now, we’re focusing on south beach and making that look as good as possible.”

Another priority for the city is to budget money for a study of ways to stabilize its north bluff, preserve Upper Lake Park and construct a walkway to the beach that will provide access even when the lake rises again, Vanden Noven said.

In October 2020, the Board of Public Works reviewed an unsolicited proposal for a $52,000 geotechnical study of the north bluff from Miller Engineers Scientists of Sheboygan, which has done extensive bluff stabilization work in the area.

The study would look at not only bluff stabilization to protect Upper Lake Park but also ways to ensure the city has a usable north beach.

“Establishing a beach that would be usable even with high lake levels would be a plus for the City of Port Washington,” Vanden Noven said at the time. “The bluffs are going to get cut back one way or another, either by Mother Nature or by humans.”

Miller has proposed cutting back and vegetating the bare and unstable areas of the bluff along the southern two-third of the park and relocating about 700 feet of the roadway.

That, the firm said, will accommodate construction of a paved pedestrian walkway from the park to the beach.

The firm also proposes installing an 1,100 foot revetment at the toe of the southern portion of the bluff to prevent waves from eroding the stabilized hillside and using “beach nourishment” to help increase the sandy areas along the southern 600 feet of the existing beachfront.

Any study the city commissions will anticipate lake levels that, despite this spring’s  decrease, are sure to rise again.

Experts attribute the lower lake level to less winter runoff and an abnormally dry spring — the time of year when the Great Lakes typically rise. 

May was the sixth consecutive month of below average precipitation in the Great Lakes basin, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

“These drier conditions have resulted in lake levels that are much lower than the record highs of recent years,” John Allis, Great Lakes hydraulics and hydrology office chief for the Corps’ Detroit District, said. “However, some lakes are still above average and coastal flooding and erosion are still possible, especially during periods of active weather and increased wave action.”