Action Examples: Bluff Recession and Setback Programs, Lake Erie, Pennsylvania
Introduction:
The Pennsylvania portion of the Lake Erie coastline is threatened by two coastal hazards: bluff recession and shoreline erosion. Pennsylvania passed the Bluff Recession and Setback Act (BRSA) in 1980 to prevent damage from these hazards. The act requires new residential, commercial and industrial structures to be outside Bluff Recession Hazard Areas (BRHA)—areas designated as hazardous because of active bluff recession. The act requires a minimum setback distance, determined by estimating the economic life of a structure and multiplying the result by the local bluff recession rate per year (in feet).
Analysis:
Bluffs and shorelines are reshaped daily by the natural forces of gravity, water and wind.
Lake Erie’s bluff is receding approximately one foot per year. Waves, groundwater seepage, surface water runoff and human activity all contribute to bluff recession.
Shoreline erosion occurs when sand reaching a beach is not enough to replace the amount carried back into the water. Increased precipitation in the Great Lakes Watershed causes the level of Lake Erie to increase. High lake levels and human activity are the main causes of erosion along the Pennsylvania border of Lake Erie.
Bluff recession and shoreline erosion along Lake Erie are intensified by flooding, higher lake levels, or increased storminess. Proper land-use management practices can slow, if not prevent, recession and erosion. Stabilization of the shore is important because most bluff recession starts at the base of the bluff as a result of wave damage. The Bluff Recession and Setback Act (BRSA) manages land use by regulating the location of new structures and improvements to structures already in a bluff recession hazard area (i.e., in the zone where the bluff recession rate creates a substantial threat to existing or future structures).
Sources:
- PA Seagrant: Pennsylvania's Bluff Recession and Setback Program
- PA DEP Factsheet: Shoreline Erosion - A Lake Erie Coastal Hazard
- PA DEP Factsheet: Bluff Erosion - A Lake Erie Coastal Hazard
Photo credits:
*All website references were accessed in April 2005.
