Shoreline eroding? Take tips from these Alberta cottagers

At Wabamun Lake, in central Alberta, the shoreline has been eroding for more than 60 years. This lake is naturally subject to water events, such as heavy wave action and ice quakes (expansion of ice onto the shore during high water). Then, there are the human con-tributions. “I think it was an unintended consequence, but people who were coming out to the lake wanted a clear view—they didn’t want to have any vegetation between them and the water,” says Stan Franklin, a former board member of the Wabamun Watershed Management Council (WWMC).

Historically, much of Wabamun Lake’s shores were lined with reed beds, composed of bulrush plants. The bulrushes, which can withstand a lot of water turbulence, served as a natural water break for other plants, such as cattails, which can’t tolerate as much water movement. With the loss of bulrush plants, the lake’s shorelines were in trouble.

Is your shoreline healthy? Read the signs

That’s why, in 2022, the WWMC launched its Bulrush Restoration Project. “Shoreline naturalization, if done properly, creates habitat, filters runoff from the land, and absorbs nutrients that would other- wise end up in the lake,” says Franklin.

Funded by a grant from the Land Stewardship Centre and the Alberta Conservation Association, the restoration project aims to replant existing but depleted reed beds, along with beds that historically existed but have been completely removed.

K & S Growers, a native and wetland plant nursery in Vulcan, Alta., provided the new replanting material—seedlings and locally cultured seed—for four restoration sites around the lake. “The rest of the plantings were from stock that was dug up from existing reed beds,” says Franklin.

Wabamun Lake’s shoreline restoration was a pilot project—how well the four bulrush sites fare over the course of the summer will help guide future projects.

This article was originally published in the June/July 2024 issue of Cottage Life.

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