Category: Featured Projects

Four of our team members are proud to hold Michigan Natural Shoreline Professional (MNSP) certificates from the Michigan Natural Shoreline Partnership:
~ Bret Huntman
~ Chris Evans (above left)
~ James Huntman (above right), and
~ Mary Richardson.

Before we get into the weeds about what it means to be a certified Michigan Natural Shoreline Professional, we’d like to share this video from EGLE’s* MI Shoreland Stewards program. It explains some of the challenges of landscaping and controlling erosion on the shorelines of our region’s extraordinary waters.

It takes more than dumping big rocks on the shore of the lake or river and planting some flowers! An effective and enduring erosion-control installation requires really listening to understand how you want to use your shoreline, careful design and engineering, knowledge of the range of appropriate materials and shoreline plants, experience protecting the adjacent lake bottom and shoreline during construction, equipment that makes for efficient work while minimizing damage to the  property, site in the process, and well-informed and supervised installers.

All of our MNSPs have years of experience working on northern Michigan shorelines. The Natural Shoreline Professional certification process ensures that, in addition to all they’ve learned in the field (or in this case, in the water), they have an understanding of the science behind the design of bio-technical erosion control installations.

The program is a significant investment in our employees. It has four parts. First, there are three days of classroom instruction.

Then, the class members work alongside the course instructors and other experienced shoreline professionals to protect an actual shoreline. This is important because some of the other students are general landscapers getting their first introduction to natural shoreline erosion control methods. As a bonus, the class projects are generally service projects protecting waterfronts in public parks. We are proud to note that some of our staff have volunteered to assist with class projects when the course is held in northern Michigan.

Finally, before the students receive their certificates, they have to demonstrate that they’ve grasped the information by passing a formal written exam.

Our Michigan Natural Shoreline Professional certificates are additional evidence that, when you hire North By Nature Landscapes to protect and landscape your shoreline, you are hiring specialists committed to best practices from the ownership and management (Bret), to the designer (Mary), to the installation team (James and Chris)!

Can you find James and Chris in the picture? You can spot Bret, too, in the video around 4:50. He’s the one working very fast!

*EGLE is the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy.

After years of family “camp” fires and fun, our client’s shoreline retreat was destroyed by ice push and erosion. Erosion had undercut beautiful maple trees and tipped them into the lake, while ice pushed boulder “steps” up under the bank and lifted flagstones on the lakeward side of a patio completely out of place.

With the informal stone steps into the lake undermined and the patio broken, the only access to the lake was off the dock. This confined access along the 120 feet of shoreline to just ONE spot!

How did we fix this one??

To install protective stone rip-rap on the shoreline, the NBN crew would need to make many trips with our Gator and wheelbarrows. First, we installed plywood over the patio stones to protect them. Of course, the existing boulder seating had to be set aside to create the travel path.

The design of the new biotechnical erosion control rip-rap included restoring the stepping stones down to the water and adding an access ramp. A shoreline buffer garden featuring deep-rooted, native shoreline plants (the biological part of biotechnical) will also help stabilize the lakeshore while also adding beauty and a subtle sense of privacy.

With the shoreline protected, we turned to putting the patio puzzle back together. We re-set the boulder seats and slabs. This stone was one of the steps that had been pushed into the bank. The stone legs underneath brought the stone up to a comfortable seat height.

It was satisfying to see the restored patio and shoreline come together. The access ramp of smaller stones set at a gentle slope will deflect future push-ice events, freeing the family to enjoy their lake-side patio and waterfront for decades to come.

The owners of this new Harbor Springs home came to North By Nature Landscapes with several challenges around the steep slope to the right of their elegant front door:

• stabilizing the surface in front of the entryway,
• allowing for access to a water spigot located on the side of the stone column and
• creating a path down the steep slope to their lower-level patio and yard.

(A closer look at the surface to be stabilized and the spigot, above.)

Our designer suggested using natural limestone outcroppings and flagstone to complement the color and texture of the beautiful stonework on the house. First, we retained the earth at the entryway level with this dry-stacked wall. The outcroppings were stacked, without the use of mortar, on a compacted base of crushed stone to assure good drainage. One course of outcroppings are buried to provide the mass needed to retain the slope.

Next, we created this flagstone extension of the poured concrete sidewalk to further stabilize the area and keep everything neat.

Then, we installed snapped limestone steps down the hill. Note the large outcropping stones set in the garden between the house and the stairs. These help to stabilize the slope and provide access both to the spigot and for maintaining the new garden.

Finally, we began plantings on the reshaped slopes on either side of the stairs.

Handsome, huh?