Daily Herald opinion: Beach stabilization work in Lake County protects an important ecological site
State and suburban officials gathered Monday in Lake County to celebrate the completion of a rather remarkable project, one that aims to safeguard Illinois’ only undeveloped swath of Lake Michigan shoreline.
The 4,160-acre Illinois Beach State Park in Zion includes about 6.5 miles of shore, approximately 10% of Illinois’ Lake Michigan lakefront.
It’s a precious place, one designated a Wetland of International Importance, in fact.
But it has been eroding more than 100 feet per year. And that erosion, in turn, threatened an important recreational site and put habitats for endangered species at risk.
Gov. JB Pritzker said Monday that the erosion had serious and concerning consequences for the site. “There was a very real possibility,” he said, “that we could lose it forever.”
Restoring that shoreline and protecting it for future generations was the goal of the Illinois State Beach Park Shoreline Stabilization project. Paid for by $73 million of the Rebuild Illinois capital plan, the work involved creative and innovative solutions that we have hailed in the past.
They included creating 22 offshore breakwater structures designed to protect the beach from the pounding waves of Lake Michigan. Some of the structures, a recent Capitol News Illinois story pointed out, feature built-in nests for migratory birds, including the endangered piping plover and common tern.
Sand — 35,000 truckloads of it — was used to restore the shoreline, along with 4,000 tons of cobblestone and other materials. Reclaimed concrete blocks and native plants underwater will help nurture aqua gardens and provide additional habitats for species including yellow perch and mudpuppies.
The project received national recognition for innovation, including its use of repurposed materials, so it’s easy to understand the excitement surrounding its mission and its recent completion.
Throughout the process, suburban and state officials stressed the importance of the work at the Illinois Beach State Park.
“The erosion threatened the unique landscape habitat beyond the beach that makes this one specific place in the world so ecologically special,” Illinois Department of National Resources Director Natalie Phelps Finnie said Monday.
Illinois Beach is the last remaining ridge shoreline in the state. It draws humans and animals alike with its dunes, marshes and forests. Preserving that is important work — both for the families who visit to hike, camp, fish and enjoy its rugged beauty and for the varied land and lake creatures who seek food and shelter there.
We should all take pride in what that stretch of suburban lakefront has to offer and the care Illinois is taking to protect it.