Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
THE FOUR-FOOT-HIGH, 10-foot-long beach prisms installed in a long line at Oman's Creek last October to prevent erosion are almost completely covered with sand after roughly nine months of use. Oman's Creek was the first time the technology was used in the state of Michigan and is being examined for use elsewhere in the state.
IRONWOOD TOWNSHIP - The barriers the Michigan Department of Natural Resources installed last fall to try and prevent erosion at Oman's Creek at Little Girl's Point appear to have worked.
The DNR's installation of the Beach Prisms - 4-by-10-foot concrete blocks specially designed to allow the movement of water through them - in October were the first use of the technology in Michigan.
Jeff Gaertner, park manager for the Porcupine Mountains State Park and Lake Gogebic area, said because the beach at Oman's Creek is rockier than sandy beaches on the East Coast, where the Beach Prisms had previous been installed, Smith-Midland, the company making them, wasn't sure how effective they would be.
"(The prisms) actually did what they said they were going to do," Gaertner said. "It appears to be doing what the company advertised."
The prisms are different from other anti-erosion efforts, such as seawalls or rip-rap, because the prism's slots are designed with a special parabolic curve to allow water to flow through without taking shore sediment with it.
"Beach Prisms are designed to dissipate wave energy and stop erosion," John McKenna, a regional sales manager with Smith-Midland, told the Daily Globe during the installation.
The result of the design not only prevents erosion, but allows sediment to travel through to the shore-side of the prisms, rebuilding shoreline damaged by erosion.
The DNR had done eight studies of the erosion problem in that section of lakeshore, according to former DNR District Supervisor Bill Doan, and had been unable to find a viable solution prior to the Beach Prisms.
Along with the prisms, Gaertner said the DNR would continue to contract Gogebic County to perform ongoing dredging efforts at Oman's Creek.
He said they are also pursuing grants for possible additional control structures at the beach to reduce the amount of dredging maintenance necessary.
With the creek dredging being done roughly once a week, Gaertner said any possibility to reduce the maintenance would be explored.
The apparent success of the prisms at Oman's creek means while nothing has been finalized, the DNR is considering using the prisms in additional locations in the state.
