The newly “nourished” shoreline at Illinois Beach State Park, with breakwaters in the distance designed to protect against erosion of this valuable ecosystem. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)
By Patty Wetli | WTTW
Two years ago, a first-time visitor to Illinois Beach State Park may have questioned the park’s name.
Where’s the beach?
Erosion, fueled by increasingly stronger storms, had eaten away the shoreline, consuming up to 100 feet per year in some areas. Roads, bikes and even buildings were swallowed up by the lake.
“Sheet piles had to be installed at the edge of the (park’s) parking lot to keep (it) from becoming part of the lake. It was about a six-foot drop off to the beach there,” said John Hucker, mayor of the village of Beach Park.
Equally alarming was the loss of habitat for the communities of rare and endangered plants and animals that had long thrived in this unique landscape — Illinois’ last remaining stretch of natural shoreline, which encompasses dunes, woodlands and wetlands, including an extremely rare type of wetland known as a panne (also called an interdunal wetland).
Without the breakwaters (seen in the distance), Illinois Beach State Park’s rare dune and swale habitat was bearing the brunt of erosion. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)
Both the ecosystem and the region’s tourism economy were in danger of vanishing, as efforts to stem the effects of erosion failed.
“I have great memories of road trips here and camping as a kid, and really special memories of raising my kids here, playing on the beach in the waves, collecting seashells and rocks. It seems like just yesterday my daughter was out there in her swim diapers, almost 25 years ago,” said state Rep. Joyce Mason (D-Gurnee).
“Sadly as I watched my kids get bigger on these beaches, I watched the beaches rapidly getting smaller,” Mason said. “I’ve seen the expensive temporary fixes of dumping sand in the lake, only to see it wash away with a few big storms.”
In 2019, the state stepped in with a rescue plan, in the form of a $73 million shoreline stabilization project funded through the Rebuild Illinois program.
While much of Rebuild Illinois was focused on roads and bridges and airports, “rebuilding our natural infrastructure is just as vital to our economy and our future,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Monday at a news conference held at the park’s hotel to celebrate the completion of the shoreline project.
More here.
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