Are you a waterfront property owner in coastal Mississippi?
If so, you probably enjoy the amazing views, fishing and other activities that living directly on the water affords you. However, you may have also noticed that maintaining your shoreline can be a bit of a headache.
Bulkheads are expensive to replace and eventually lead to erosion of your shoreline and neighboring shorelines. They also reduce fishery habitat, worsen water quality and are likely to fail during coastal storms. Fortunately, there is an alternative.
A living shoreline is a natural alternative to bulkheads and other shoreline hardening that incorporate native marsh plants and if necessary, nearshore reef structures to prevent shoreline erosion. When compared to bulkheads, living shorelines often come out on top.
When designed and installed correctly, living shorelines last much longer than bulkheads, improve water quality, provide fishery habitat and are better at protecting your property during hurricanes and other storms. They often even cost less to install than bulkheads. However, many property owners may not know about living shorelines.
For this reason, the Coastal Conservation and Restoration program with Mississippi State University (MSU) and the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium is hosting a series of free, living shoreline workshops for waterfront property owners in Mississippi on June 13-17, 2022. Each workshop will provide a local waterfront community with information and assistance for property owners.
During these workshops, property owners will be provided with free food to enjoy while they listen to a short presentation introducing the concept of living shorelines. Following that, a team of MSU extension professionals led by Eric Sparks and me will speak one-on-one with property owners to discuss their shoreline property. The team from MSU will use information gathered from those conversations to create individualized living shoreline designs specific to each property.
If a property owner is interested further, they will be able to schedule on-site visits to their property with extension staff during the workshop. These site visits will be used to gather more information and data to create a living shoreline design for each property. The team from MSU will follow-up with property owners to ensure that each property owner is pleased with the design of their living shoreline and will handle all the permitting necessary. Of course, all of this will be provided free of charge to property owners.
For dates, location and registration information for each community workshop, please see below. Each workshop will be from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., with dinner starting at 5:30 p.m.
- Ocean Springs property owners: Monday, June 13. Ocean Springs Library. Register.
- Gulfport and Biloxi property owners: Tuesday, June 14. Mississippi State University Coastal Research and Extension Center. 1815 Popps Ferry Road, Biloxi. Register.
- D’Iberville property owners: Wednesday, June 15. Mississippi State University Coastal Research & Extension Center. 1815 Popps Ferry Road, Biloxi. Register.
- Gautier and Pascagoula property owners: Thursday, June 16. Pascagoula Public Library. Register.
- Bay St. Louis and Pass Christian property owners: Friday, June 17. Pass Christian Public Library. Register.
If you have any questions about these upcoming workshops, please email me.
To learn more about living shorelines, visit masgc.org/living-shorelines or www.GulfLivingShorelines.com.
Meet the author
Sara Martin
Wetland Specialist, Mississippi State University
Sara Martin is a wetland specialist and extension associate with the Program for Local Adaptation to Changing Environments and the Mississippi State University (MSU) Coastal Research and Extension... Read more
Phone: 228-546-1016
Email: [email protected]