“Living shorelines” is a term used to define a number of shoreline protection options that allow for natural coastal processes to remain through the strategic placement of plants, stone, sand fill, and other structural and organic materials.

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Living shorelines often rely on native plants, sometimes supplemented with stone sills, on-shore or off-shore breakwaters, groins or biologs to reduce wave energy, trap sediment, and filter runoff, while maintaining (or increasing) beach or wetland habitat (National Research Council, 2007). Several of these techniques are hybrids of traditional shoreline armoring and the softer approaches to shore protection.

 

The goal is to retain much of the wind, tide, and storm-related wave protection of a hard structure, while maintaining some of the features of natural shorelines.

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Funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and produced for Restore America's Estuaries website.

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