A Wisconsin wetland is receiving much needed coastal protection, according to NBC 26.
A 2,500-foot rock wall is being built along Lake Winneconne's shores to hopefully slow erosion that has been eating into the land area for decades. In the area where the wall is being built, 33 acres of wetland have been lost since 1941. The wall is being built close to the shoreline's historic borders in an attempt to restore the same wetland.
While the breakwall is preventing water from getting inland, it's also stopping pollutants from getting out. Phosphorus runoff can lead to algae blooms, which soak up oxygen in the water, and strangle out other life in a process called eutrophication. These breakwalls can stop that phosphorus from getting out into the lake.
"So on the bottom, you have that in the sediment, and that gets churned up with the wind and wave action, and by having these breakwalls in place, those plants hold that sediment in place and help take up some of that legacy phosphorus," said Chad Casper, director of Winnebago County Land and Water Conservation, to NBC 26.
Casper is also confident that the enclosure will provide a haven for a healthy new ecosystem for fish and plants.
The new breakwall joins 7 miles of existing breakwalls in the lake system, which have collectively restored 500 acres of wetland. This new section will use 11,000 tons of rock moved by 600 truckloads at a cost of $860,000. Taxpayers and private funders are covering the bill.
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Growing atmospheric pollution is exacerbating erratic and extreme rainfall patterns, which can lead to these flooding conditions. Building breakwalls is a way to adapt to the changes in weather trends. But attacking the problem at the source requires cutting the emissions causing those trends in the first place.
Luckily, that kind of mitigation is much cheaper to implement than after-the-fact adaptation.
While the breakwall at Lake Winneconne will bear fruit in the short term, project managers are optimistic about its long-term impact on the local community.
"When I'm long gone, they're still going to be here," said Casper. "It's a legacy for generations to come."
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