Project Area

Management Goals

Goal 1: Restore Ford Cove Great Lakes shoreline to a natural soft shoreline able to cope with wave action.
Objective 1.1: Remove 1 mile of hardened shoreline and replace it with natural features.
Goal 2. Restore Ford Cove to support a wide diversity of species and to improve aquatic habitat.
Objective 2.1. Improve nursery habitat, cover, and forage for fish, herps, waterfowl, and invertebrates through the restoration of various ecosystems: 5.5 acres coastal marsh, 8 acres nearshore habitat and 4 acres forested wetland.
Climate Change Impacts
For this project, the most important anticipated climate change impacts include:
- Increasingly variable year-to-year precipitation, strong storms and effects from combined sewer outflows (CSOs) in the area.
- Rapid and extreme fluctuations in lake levels: Higher lake levels, increased wave heights, more frequent breaching, as well as lower lake levels, and extended drought.
- Warming climate and altered precipitation patterns may contribute to reduced water quality and aquatic habitat (warmer lake temperatures, nutrient loading, bacteria).
- Changing habitat suitability for native vegetation and animal species (aquatic and terrestrial).
- Climate change may amplify existing stressors to the ecosystems such as contributing to the expansion of invasive species at the site.
Challenges and Opportunities
Challenges
Opportunities
Adaptation Actions
Ford Cove Shoreline and Coastal Wetland Restoration project participants used the Adaptation Workbook and the draft menu of Great Lakes Coastal Adaptation Strategies and Approaches to develop several adaptation actions for this project, including: