Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund (ENRTF) 2020 Main Proposal Template PROJECT TITLE: Improving the success of shoreline restoration projects I. PROJECT STATEMENT The goal of this project is to provide guidelines for best practices to improve long-term resilience and success of shoreline habitat restoration projects in lakes and estuaries with emphasis on projects that add fill or dredged material to create wetlands. Building on experience of older shoreline restoration projects and newer projects that use dredged materials, this work will result in guidelines for shoreline restoration across Minnesota. Problem: Shoreline wetlands are naturally full of a rich diversity of life and thus healthy ecosystems, can provide mitigation of excess sediment and nutrients, and can be integrated into park systems to provide access to recreational opportunities and natural experiences. Yet shoreline wetlands are subject to deterioration due to waves and storms and other, more human, actions like dredging and changes in vegetation. In addition to shoreline habitat disruption, the resulting erosion can add excessive sediment and turbidity to waters. Relative success and economics of shoreline restoration projects varies as we lack understanding of their stability and resilience under increasing storm intensities and ongoing disruptions. Solution: New better management practices for resilient shoreline habitat restoration is needed, particularly regarding stability of sediments associated with initial emplacement, wave conditions, and storm events under different sediment placement activities. Building on data gathered on related shoreline restoration projects, emerging data from studies of dredged material used as wetland development in the Great Lakes (PI Hill), wave data created via ENTRF funding (PI Herb), and with a series of laboratory experiments and field surveys supported by computational simulations, we plan to develop quantitative tools for best practice for shoreline habitat restoration projects for material properties, local habitat conditions, and destabilizing waves and storm events. II. PROJECT ACTIVITIES AND OUTCOMES Activity 1: Literature review and field survey site selection of shoreline restoration projects Field survey sites (5 to 7) will be selected, focusing on past and ongoing shoreline restoration projects in representative lakes and waterways in Minnesota. Literature reviews will include stabilization of sediment as they vary with sediments, wave dynamics and wave energy models and their impacts on shoreline resilience, and mitigating effects such as plant stabilization. ENRTF BUDGET: $98,271 Outcome Completion Date 1. Determine 5 to 7 field sites by sediment type, average flows, and wave energies 5/31/2021 2. Develop systematic experimental plan for studies in inner and outer SAFL basins 4/1/2021 3. Literature review write-up 3/1/2021 Activity 2: Perform field survey activities to evaluate progress of the field sites chosen under outcome 1. Data collected will include: sediment types and sizes; bioengineered stabilization materials; destabilizing field conditions. Biannual surveys for all field sites with focus on extreme events during final year of project. Meet regularly with those focusing on the restoration efforts such as in Lake Pepin (US Army Corps of Engineers), St. Louis Estuary (Minnesota DNR), and Lake Minnetonka (Minnehaha Creek Watershed District). ENRTF BUDGET: $102,653 Outcome Completion Date 1. Biannual and storm-related field surveys of recent shoreline restoration projects 5/31/2023 2. Regular meetings with practitioners and local stakeholders to help evaluate progress 5/31/2023 Activity 3: Perform flume and basin experiments in St. Anthony Falls Laboratory (SAFL) facilities Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund (ENRTF) 2020 Main Proposal Template Experiments will include indoor basin experiments, indoor flume experiments, and an outdoor basin. Indoor basin experiments will include systematic settling and stability experiments under changes in: (1) installation techniques; (2) sediment size, density, and stickiness (biofilms); (3) water conditions from quiescent water to variable wave-like conditions. Indoor flume experiments will involve focused investigation on impact of wave energy on shoreline stability. Outdoor basin experiments will involve a new basin built specifically for larger scale studies of various shoreline conditions and shapes under wave impacts. ENRTF BUDGET: $89,179 Outcome Completion Date 1. Determine grain size distributions that can provide the most stable model shorelines 5/31/2021 2. Determine how varying local shoreline shape can improve shoreline resilience 8/31/2022 3. Determine how particular plant species can stabilize model shorelines 5/31/2022 Activity 4: Develop tools for evaluation of resilience and evolution of shoreline restoration projects Model efforts will focus on building analytical and computational tools to provide guidance for shoreline habitat restoration with dredge and other fill materials. Inputs will include measurements from the field and in the laboratory during years one and two and it will be refined with additional measurements in the field and laboratory in year three. Software will also be available for those who are comfortable programming. ENRTF BUDGET: $45,515 Outcome Completion Date 1. Initial model development 8/31/2022 2. Modification based on new data from year three 6/15/2023 III. PROJECT PARTNERS AND COLLABORATORS: The project team will include: Prof. Kimberly Hill (UMN, Civil, Environmental, and Geo-Engineering & SAFL) (Principal Investigator) Dr. William Herb (UMN, St. Anthony Falls Laboratory) (co-Principal Investigator) Mr. Jeff Marr (UMN, St. Anthony Falls Laboratory) Hill and Herb will lead the project with help from Marr. Hill will be the lead P.I., lead the experiments and modeling work, take part in the field work, and lead analysis and reporting. Herb will lead the field surveys and quality control of those surveys and co-manage the project. Marr will lead the organization of the SAFL staff for helping laboratory experiments and building the outdoor basin. Many SAFL staff will be involved in the project, particularly with the field data collection and laboratory data collection. The graduate student will be recruited from the University of Minnesota and other similar engineering and science backgrounds at comparable universities. (S)he perform much of the data collection alongside Hill and Herb and help lead the training of the undergraduate and develop outreach materials. The undergraduate will be recruited from UMN science and engineering departments and SAFL undergraduate staff and help with all aspects of the project. Several SAFL staff involved with this project, including Herb, have a significant fraction of their time funded by ENTRF. They are not teaching faculty and depend on grant monies to pay their salaries. IV. LONG-TERM IMPLEMENTATION AND FUNDING: This project will provide guidelines for installing shoreline restoration projects including those using dredged materials for maximize effectiveness with efficient stabilization mechanisms. The long-term goal is to reduce both sediment loading of the lakes and waterways of Minnesota and maximize high quality shoreline habitat while maintaining human access to the lakes and waterways. Guidelines developed can feed directly into shoreline management plans and the regional WRAPS (Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy). The computational simulation code can be used as a tool for specific future restoration projects. We will work with UMN extension staff, and other state agency personnel to develop and publicize the information.