In September, 2020, we bought the first of two 1/10 shares of a cabin property at Clamshell Beach Resort on the Whitefish chain of (13) lakes in northern Minnesota. A few months later, we bought a second share, which means we have use of the cabin 10 weeks per year. On our first stay at Clamshell that fall, I picked up a brochure in the resort. It was from the “Whitefish Area Property Owners Association” (WAPOA) an environmentally conscious group of home, cabin, resort, and business owners. A couple of months later we joined WAPOA.
WAPOA exists for the purpose of raising awareness about our lakes, rivers and streams, and maintaining properties in environmentally sound ways. Their mission states: “to conserve and improve the quality of our waters, shoreland, fishery, wildlife resources, and general welfare for the benefit of present and future generations.” Their main areas of focus are shoreline management, water quality, and invasive species.
Our cabin is part of a home owners association (HOA). But until about two years ago, most of the membership (including us) had been . . . let’s just say underinformed and underengaged about understanding our rights and responsibilities as owners. That in itself is a long story, but during the summer of 2022 Karen and I began noticing a marked deterioration of the stone shoreline wall that was built in the 1930s. Years of waves and freeze/thaw cycles were taking a toll on the wall. Large cracks were forming and waves were undercutting the bottom layer of concrete, causing the soil to leak through into the lake. This in turn resulted in large holes in the landscaped area that a small child could fall into. It was starting to appear as if parts of the 4-foot high wall could collapse at any time.
June, 2021 - This section of our shoreline wall showed cracking and undercut erosion during our first summer week at the cabin. But it got much worse over the next year. (See photos below)
October, 2022 - Sections of the wall were separating
Behind the wall - troubling effects of erosion
We wrote to the HOA Board about it in August, but they didn’t act on it right away. At the December 2022 Board meeting the resort manager reported that he had obtained 3 bids on rebuilding the wall and that it would likely cost around $100,000 to rebuild it.
At that same meeting, I became a Clamshell HOA Board member. Because Karen and I were WAPOA members, we knew that they sponsored a lot of shoreline projects, putting home owners in touch with experts in the fields of engineering, landscaping, construction, shoreline restoration, as well as helping find financial funding sources. Plus, they are also willing to orchestrate the whole project with owners who are willing to work with them on environmentally sound projects that protect the quality of our lakes.
It seemed like a no-brainer to encourage the Board to ask WAPOA to look at our shoreline situation and find out what they might offer in the way of advice, planning and financial assistance. This idea was embraced by the new Board. I contacted Kristi Roedl, the WAPOA Board Director who chairs the Shoreland Restoration Committee. We were now on Kristi’s radar and the wheels began to turn.
On May 20, 2023 Karen and I attended WAPOA’s annual Open House, held this year at Camp Knutson on Whitefish Lake. “Camp K” is already partnering with WAPOA and the above-mentioned experts to restore their eroded shoreline. The 2023 Open House theme was Shoreline Restoration. There were 6 presenters, all describing different shoreline situations. Every one of their talks connected in some way to our problems at Clamshell Beach. (See several photos from the Open House below.)
WAPOA Board member Kristi Roedl facilitated the Open House activities.
Natasha Bartolotta, Stewardship & Outreach Manager from the National Loon Center (scheduled to open soon in Crosslake, Minnesota) gave a presentation about how we as cabin and home owners can create shoreline habitat that encourages Loons (our State Bird) to nest and protect their eggs. CLICK HERE for more information about the National Loon Center.
Kristi Roedl (green t- shirt) led a walking tour of the shoreland restoration project in progress at Camp Knutson.
WAPOA Board President Anthony Coffey handed out bundles of sapling trees in exchange for donations to the organization.
Shortly after the WAPOA open house, Kristi Roedl came over to Clamshell for an informal site visit to get a first-hand look at what we were dealing with. She encouraged us to look at this problem in new ways that were in alignment with DNR and Crow Wing County environmental guidelines.
The current Board chose to fully engage with WAPOA and the first site visit by a team of representatives from WAPOA, the County, the DNR, a landscape project manager and other entities was scheduled for July. The newly formed Maintenance and Reserve Committee was given the task of communicating with the County and making recommendations to the board about the project. I’ll post more about the progress on the Clamshell Beach shoreline restoration project later.
A quick update. (December, 2023)
We obtained four bundles of saplings from the open house (20 - 25 trees per bundle of Norway Pine, Black Cherry, Serviceberry and Birch) with the intention of planting them somewhere on the Clamshell Beach Resort property. We wanted to be thoughtful about plantings and include more people in the decision-making, so we decided to take the baby trees home with us and create a makeshift tree nursery between the back of our garage and the alley. We lost a few during the summer heat, but most of them are still OK. Now we’ll see if they stand the test of a Minnesota winter. We hope to plant them at Clamshell in the spring of 2024.