Hard shoreline engineering was designed to accommodate human development along the coast, focusing on increasing efficiency in the commercial, navigational, and industrial sectors of the economy.
[3] These developments came at a high cost, destroying biological communities, isolating riparian habitats, altering the natural transport of sediment by disrupting wave action and long-shore currents.
In part due to degradation of coastline across the United States, the Corps has since updated its coastal management practices with an increased emphasis on computer-based modeling, project upkeep, and environmental restoration.
Lives stakes and fascines are a specific tree or shrub species that thrive in moist soil conditions and can be strategically used to stabilize stream banks and shorelines.
Along with aiding in the restoration of riparian habitats, this product intercepts sediment flowing downstream and provides a number of benefits for fish and aquatic species by offering physical protection from predators, regulating the water temperature, and shading the stream.
Live crib walls are structures that resemble that of a wooden log cabin built into a streambank and rilled with natural materials such as soil, dormant wood cuttings, and rock.
Vegetated riprap is a more economically efficient form of shoreline protection that enhances fish and wildlife habitat as well as softening the appearance and improving embankment aesthetic.
For example, soft shoreline engineering has the ability to decrease costs, stabilize banks, enhance aesthetic value, protect riparian habitats, expand public access, and support a diversity of wildlife.
[2] To achieve the goal of multiple objectives for waterfront development and design, a multi-disciplinary team must be formed to integrate environmental, social, and economic principles.
A typical assessment includes identifying the extent of the project area, evaluating existing uses, documenting amenities and characteristics such as habitats, species, public access, development, and considering impact of future desired use.
[2] If the team decides the site is fit to implement soft engineering, a complex process is designed in order to achieve the predetermined goals of the development and complete with objectives.
Interdisciplinary partnerships must be established at an early stage in the process to ensure the incorporation of environmental, social, and economic values, as well as target objectives implemented to measure progress.
The study found that the economic benefits to ecological restoration are profound and provide compelling evidence for further investigation and investment into shoreline rehabilitation processes.
Hilton and Manning found that from the period of 1922 to 1993, the area of mangroves, coral reefs, and intertidal mudflats decreased dramatically, the actual percentage of natural coastline dropping from 96 to 40%.
[3] In order to combat these deleterious anthropogenic effects, Mississippi's government came up with a Master Plan in 2008 which incorporated the modification of shorelines in accordance with the ecological principles of soft engineering.