Shoreland Protection Rules

[RLW]

Originally Posted by Audiofn

What I need to do is install some "rip rap" along the waterfront. I did find some info that does say that I need to apply for a permit. My slope is steep enough that they will allow for the permit (steeper then 33%) if they want to give it to me. I was suprised to read that if you are under 33% you need to plant vegitation to hold back the embankment. I would think that would introduce more problems for the water with the introduction of odd vegitation?

If I'm correct the Shoreline Protection group has a listing of the different types of trees, low growing bushes and other types of vegetation one can plant in different type of conditions. I will try and locate where that section maybe located.

[Pineedles]

I'm curious as to what most people, who are experiencing shoreline erosion, have as far as a shoreline composition. Our shoreline is lined with huge granite boulders of various shapes and sizes and frankly looking at pictures taken over 100 years ago there has been no erosion. The concrete dock put in about the same time is in pretty bad shape but that's more exposure to the ice. I'm not sure what the original shoreline was made up of but unless they evenly spread out the rocks they excavated to build the house, they must be just naturally lining the shore; and I would assume would be on most shorelines on the lake unless people moved them.

[Lakegeezer]

Originally Posted by Pineedles

I'm curious as to what most people, who are experiencing shoreline erosion, have as far as a shoreline composition.

You bring up a good point Pineedles. While the lake has pushed my beach area back 3 feet over the past 18 years, the beach represents only 11 feet width of the 200 ft frontage. The rest is boulders and seems to be doing OK. I wasn't around when the lot was created in the mid 50's; but stories from the true geezers in the neighborhood are about bulldozers in the water, moving rocks and creating beaches. Man-made structures being eroded by mad-made wake may be the natural course of things.

[Gavia immer]

Originally Posted by Pineedles

Our shoreline is lined with huge granite boulders of various shapes and sizes and frankly looking at pictures taken over 100 years ago there has been no erosion.

I'd need to check with DES, but geologically speaking, it's only recently that the lake has been managed to limit damage from winter's ice. For 10,000 unmanaged years, the lake's level has seen many extremes.

I can see where thousands of years of high winter ice allowed the pressure of ice expansion to move boulders into an ancient shoreline. It would be the most extreme of those expansions that made the shoreline of "just" 100 years ago.

Ancient forest fires, modern clear cutting, and the subsidence that resulted has allowed much sand and soil to be washed through that border of boulders. The land erosion you are witnessing would be wave action pulling nutrient-rich soil out from behind those original boulders. Runoff from impervious surfaces speeds the erosion.

Depending on exposure and rock ledge borders, shorelines that have limited wave action often have the steepest slopes. Winni's lakefront lots and shallows would generally be even steeper if it wasn't for erosion. That said, I'd ask "shore things" to correct any of my assumptions.

[Orion]

Originally Posted by Gavia immer

I'd need to check with DES, but geologically speaking, it's only recently that the lake has been managed to limit damage from winter's ice. For 10,000 unmanaged years, the lake's level has seen many extremes.

I believe before the dam was built, the lake probably maintained a more consistent level, within a foot or so of the natural spillway. There were, of course, a few major geological events (such as earth surface shifts that changed the lake's outflow from Alton to Laconia) but aside from that, the levels were consistent for a long time. The dam allows a much wider range of level control, to include winter drawdown.

Originally Posted by Gavia immer

I can see where thousands of years of high winter ice allowed the pressure of ice expansion to move boulders into an ancient shoreline. It would be the most extreme of those expansions that made the shoreline of "just" 100 years ago.

Actually, the opposite is true. The natural wave action around the lake eroded the soil between and around the rocks exposing the granite. Where there are larger wave forces, the shoreline is more rocky. This also one of the reasons why the lake tends to be so clear since there is less suspended sediment from erosion. Ice does move the rocks around a bit, but if anything, it would tend to continue breaking up the shorline (over millenia) and decompose the rocks into sand into the lake.