News Photo by Julie Riddle Strolling along Starlite Beach on Monday, the Maile family, of Ann Arbor — from left, Alisa, Michael, Patrick, Timothy, Andrew, Madeline, Joshua, and Mary Maile and dog Bosco — said they enjoy a trip to the beach when they visit relatives in the Alpena area.

ALPENA — An educated public can better take care of the shoreline that constitutes one of Northeast Michigan’s greatest treasures, state officials say.

This evening, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers scientist will trod through Alpena sand, teaching whoever will listen about the processes that create — and continually change — the Great Lakes shoreline.

Dr. Jim Selegean, who has long studied Great Lakes coastal issues and its shrinking beaches, will lead a talk specific to Alpena’s shore, teaching listeners where their sand came from, where it’s going, and why that matters.

Residents and community leaders willing to learn why and how their shorelines change are better equipped to make decisions for their community, said Ronda Wuycheck, coastal management program manager for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, partnering with the Corps for tonight’s beach event.

Wuycheck called Alpena a strong partner with EGLE in protecting the Great Lakes shoreline, hoping the beach walk might inspire more people to learn about their coast in their back yard.

“No one person can go it alone” to respond to a force as mighty as the Great Lakes, Wuycheck said. “But individual actions do add up.”

Alisa Maile, walking on Starlite beach with her family on Monday during a visit to Alpena from their home in Ann Arbor, said well-managed shorelines help the region’s economy by attracting visitors.

“People don’t have access to a lot of natural places to visit in some parts of the state,” Maile said. “Having this all be protected is really important.”

Beaches along the Lake Huron coast provide recreation and beauty for both residents and visitors, but the erosive powers of the lake can wash those beaches away without informed choices by people who live in lakeside communities, Selegean said, preparing for his Alpena visit.

Five or six years ago, the coastal engineer started walking beaches in shoreline communities to help people understand the changes wrought by rising lake levels after a period of abnormally low water levels.

“Things started eroding that people had never seen before” during the years leading up to record-setting high water levels in Lake Michigan-Huron in 2020, Selegean said.

As a coastal engineer, he studies wave actions and shoreline changes to help the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers build effective shoreline infrastructure, such as the breakwall in the Alpena harbor.

Each stretch of shoreline in the Great Lakes has a character of its own and its own set of challenges, he said.

While Lake Erie-area residents have to contend with little sand and poor water quality, he said, Lake Michigan’s shore is marked by expensive housing close to shore and protective walls that block natural sediment movement.

The Lake Huron shoreline, rich with wave-resistant bedrock, is relatively stable and experiences less damaging erosion than the Lake Michigan side of the state, Selegean said.

Even so, recent high Lake Huron waters — combined with warmer-than-usual water temperatures that meant less shoreline ice cover to protect the shore during winter — have eroded away the sediment shoreline-dwellers rely upon to undergird their buildings, parking lots, roads, and parks.

Some efforts to repair that damage actually make the long-term impact worse, interrupting the sediment supply that replenishes the sand tugged away by storms, Selegean said.

Beach walks in other communities have attracted environmental and political community leaders as well as residents. Many walk away surprised by what they learned about their beaches, the coastal engineer said.

Scientists don’t know how changing climate patterns might impact Great Lake water levels in coming years. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has to create structures to withstand the stronger and higher waves that could lie in the lakes’ future, should water levels continue high and temperatures remain warm, Selegean said.

Communities would be wise to plan for such possibilities, too, said Melissa Letosky, coastal coordinator with EGLE, who will share an overview of the agency’s coastal management program at the beach walk.

Though one of a series of eight such walks planned around the Great Lakes this summer, the Alpena event will offer a look specifically at the sand under attendees’ feet and a localized piece of education that could help attendees make Northeast Michigan shorelines better, Letosky said.

“They’re going to become experts on Alpena’s beaches,” Letosky said. “It’s really exciting.”

Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693 or jriddle@thealpenanews.com. Follow her on Twitter @jriddleX.

Alpena beach walk

When: 7 p.m., tonight

Where: Starlite Beach

The event is free for anyone to attend