Abstract
The Illinois Lake Michigan coastal region is a world-class industrial, commercial, and transportation center and the vitality of this region serves as an economic driver for the entire Midwest. The vitality of coastal communities is linked to natural lake and shore processes, as those processes control coastal erosion, lake bluff stability, sand transport along and away from the shoreline, and infrastructure integrity. In addition, access to public open space, and the sustainability of tourism and recreation opportunities such as charter fishing, boating, and beach use, are all impacted by extreme weather events and lake-level fluctuation related to climate change. Working with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Coastal Management Program (CMP) the ISGS has established a long-term measuring, monitoring, and mapping program to understand how coastal processes might respond to uncertainties of climate change and extreme weather events. The ISGS is providing informed advice for policy and management decisions regarding shoreline erosion, habitat loss, and coastal hazards through this relationship. In addition to the CMP, other agencies are also supporting work for offshore geologic mapping, environmental data collection, and other related endeavors.
A number of measuring, monitoring, and mapping methods and techniques are used to document change across different time scales. Offshore methods have included sonar (single-beam, multi-beam, and parametric); helicopter flown electromagnetic survey; deployment of suspended and lake-bottom current sensors; lake-bottom videography (which document two ship wrecks); offshore sand jetting, bottom sampling and coring; and deployment of 3-season buoys that measure wave height, wind speed, and water temperature. Onshore methods have included photogrammetry via small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS); onshore drilling and coring; ecosystem classification; electrical earth resistivity survey; and time-lapse photography.
A number of key issues/projects are active, or on the horizon, including a state $40 million capital spending plan to build offshore structures that are expected to decrease the rate of shoreline erosion in the area of Illinois Beach State Park; US Army Corp of Engineers dredging activities for maintenance of Waukegan Harbor for deep draft vessels as a Harbor of Safe Refuge, including a proposed extension of Waukegan Harbor that allows for sand bypass; a $1 million state emergency expenditure for beach nourishment (40,000 tons of sand) at Illinois Beach State Park (just completed); and a greater than $1 million project to test the effectiveness of “passive sand management” with a blanket of rock on the lake bottom.
About the Speaker
Mr. Steven Brown has more than 30 years of experience as a geologist for four state geological survey organizations (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin) and the U.S. Geological Survey. During the last thirteen years he has contributed to the management, business, and science operations of the Illinois State Geological Survey as the Head of the Quaternary and Engineering Geology Section and more recently as Chief Scientist. His career has focused on geologic mapping and the application of science to solve societal issues, and he has contributed significantly to current understanding of the glacial geology and stratigraphy of the multistate region surrounding the southern Lake Michigan rim. He has made numerous visits to U.S. Congressional offices, both locally and in Washington D.C., to communicate the societal value of geologic mapping and is currently working with the local community to acquire financial resources for mapping the geology of the Mahomet Aquifer using helicopter flown geophysics. In 2010, he was a presenter in the television episode “America’s Ice Age” for The History Channel’s How the Earth Was Made series. He is currently working with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Coastal Management Program to help solve issues related to living along the Lake Michigan coast. Steve earned an A.B. (1987) with a major in geology and a concentration in public policy and service from Albion College, Albion, Michigan, and an M.S. (1990) in glacial geology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is a Licensed Professional Geologist in both Illinois and Indiana.
