Abstract
There has been a constant battle with land owners and shoreline erosion. In the past, the main defense against erosion has been the construction of hardened structures. However, these structures eventually fail, require expensive maintenance, and change the ecosystem of the shoreline. This study will compare hardened shorelines to a newer alternative, called a living shoreline, as well as a natural shoreline as the control. A living shoreline is a method that often combines native vegetation and a wave dampener. The purpose of this research is to compare the functionality of natural marsh, living shorelines, and hardened shorelines at preventing erosion and maintaining a healthy ecosystem under different wave energies/exposure. The field data was collected with wave gages, YSIs, sediment cores, and vegetation quadrats. Google Earth was used to calculate erosion rates and fetch. We expect to find that living shorelines will function better at sites with lower wave energy than sites with higher wave energy. We expect that sediment and vegetation at living shorelines will resemble the sediment found in the natural marsh more so than in the hardened shoreline. The combination of vegetation and a wave dampener at a living shoreline will decrease the impact of erosion. This data on different exposure and wave energies will help managers and land owners to decide the best method to protect their property from erosion while maintaining a healthy ecosystem.
