Soft Engineering: Partners Transform Industrial Waterfront

Four months ago, concrete banks and metal guardrails bordered the Detroit River shoreline in front of DTE Energy’s River Rouge Power Plant. Today the 200-foot section of industrial shoreline is a thriving natural area, alive with cardinal flower, dogwood and native grasses.

The property is the latest section of Detroit River shoreline to benefit from soft engineering, a practice that employs ecological principles to stabilize shorelines, control erosion, and restore natural habitat. More than seven partner organizations including Michigan Sea Grant contributed to DTE Energy’s shoreline restoration effort, with funding from US EPA.

Changes at the site began in September when workers removed a boat launch and several tons of concrete riprap. Volunteers from DTE Energy’s Green Team as well as partner organizations subsequently helped by planting a variety of native vegetation.

It’s a transformation that local residents can already appreciate, says Michigan Sea Grant’s Mary Bohling, especially visitors to Belanger Park just across a fence on the property’s south side.

“People come to the park for picnicking, and fishing,” says Bohling, adding that Belanger Park provides the only public access to the Detroit River for the City of River Rouge. “This property directly borders the park and not only enhances the view of the river, but newly planted aquatic plants will eventually improve fish habitat.”

Native Benefits

One unique aspect of the DTE Energy site is a protective barrier on the north formed by a steel structure around the power plant’s outlet canal. River Rouge Power Plant’s wildlife program coordinator Jason Cousino, who is also the plant’s field safety specialist through Local 223 of the Utility Workers Union of America, says the barrier should protect submerged plants from ice break-up in the spring, giving them a chance to take root.

For now, a seed mixture of aquatic plants will spend the winter just offshore in a protective “soil sock,” a porous polyester tube filled with clean, green compost, pea gravel and seeds. An erosion control fabric composed of coconut husks in a biodegradable plastic mesh keeps aquatic plants such as cattails in place. Just beyond the soil sock, workers positioned chunks of clean concrete in more than 10 feet of water for added fish structure.

“I’m really curious to see how it’s going to work,” says Cousino, who adds that DTE Energy will send divers down next spring to check on progress.

Upland from the aquatic plants is the flood plain area, newly planted with a variety of native plants, bushes and hardwoods. Chris Lehr of Nativescape in Manchester, Michigan served as project manager at the DTE Energy site, overseeing plant selection and design.

Some of species chosen include river birch, redbud, sycamore, flowering dogwood, serviceberry, spicebush, American bladdernut, and several native shortgrasses and rye.

Above the vegetated slope is a shallow ditch or bioswale bordering the facility’s main entrance. It contains a variety of short grasses and aquatic plants that serve as a natural buffer to help prevent runoff from reaching the Detroit River. Overall, the site employs a diversity of engineering methods including the creation of fish habitat, native plants for shoreline stability, and the bioswale for storm water management.

Combined with soft shore work on property owned by U.S. Steel just south of Belanger Park, the DTE Energy property contributes to a lengthy stretch of naturalized shoreline on the Detroit River. Together the sites reflect a new way of thinking, says Cousino, adding, “it’s a good example for other industries of what can be done up and down the river.”

In all, more than 25 sites on the Detroit River have been restored using soft shore engineering. The success of these projects is an important part of broad scale efforts to revitalize the Detroit River waterfront.

> Next Article