Spring will soon arrive, and the warmer weather will invite visitors to your lakefront for hiking, fishing and boating. Even if you own a private lake that attracts minimum foot traffic, you still want to preserve the shore, and the best way to do that is with articulated concrete blocks. This development allows vegetation to grow, while also managing foot traffic, excess water and wildlife. Here are five ways in which articulated concrete blocks improve lakeshore stabilization:
- Control excess water: April showers bring May flowers—but if you live up north, there could be one more snowstorm in the future. Excess precipitation and snowmelt causes lakes to rise, and that can eat away at the shoreline. Adding our articulated concrete blocks stabilizes shores against these rising tides so flooding causes less damage. In addition to keeping the shores intact, the extra support also preserves plants species needed for cover and food.
- Preserve plants and animals: Erosion deposits dirt and sediment into your lake, which affects fish habitat. If the lake is well known as a fishing spot, this can reduce the population enough to make it less appealing. It also makes it difficult to introduce newly-hatched trout and other desirable catches. Erosion also sends plants into the water and removes needed food and cover for animals. Articulated concrete blocks stop this process so fish, plants and other species can thrive.
- Reduce damage from human activity: When people constantly visit the lake to enjoy their nature activities, they bring with them added pressures to the shores. Walking along the lakeshore to launch a canoe or cast a line eventually wears down the shore and adds to erosion. Even if activities take place away from the lake, runoff offers additional threats to lakeshore and water quality. Lakes and ponds on farmland may not have visitors, but harvesting and livestock movement cause the same impacts. Stabilizing with concrete blocks offers additional reinforcement that keeps shores intact.
- Protection from vehicles: ATVs and dirt bikes are often considered the biggest offenders against land, but bicycles, boat trailers and pretty much anything with wheels can also affect shore quality. Even if you do not allow any vehicles near the lake, that does not necessarily discourage the behavior. This leads to erosion and runoff. If you support the shores with concrete blocks, you also protect them from trespassing vehicles.
- Manage natural threats: Bad weather uproots trees that once held shores firmly in place. When these trees are gone, your lakeshore may go away with them. If your lake froze in the winter, floating ice will break away and start beating up the shore. Lakeshore stabilization focuses on the effects of human activity, but nature also issues threats. As weather and time change the land and lakeshore, you will need to find ways to protect them.
If you would like to preserve habitats and lakeshores with articulated concrete blocks, call International Erosion Control Systems Inc. today. We serve parks, landowners and municipalities throughout the U.S. and Canada.