Talk to Show Waterfront Property Owners How to Save Dream Homes From Erosion

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- How can Great Lakes' waterfront homeowners protect their properties from dangerous erosion?

David W. Marcus, district geologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and a University of Buffalo alumnus, will provide homeowners with valuable advice in a talk entitled "Don't Let High Lake Levels and Waves Wash Away Your Dream House."

The talk will be held at 7:30 p.m. on April 29 in Room 225 of the Natural Sciences and Mathematics complex on the UB North (Amherst) Campus.

Shore erosion is caused principally by storm-induced wave action and elevated lake levels. Erosion becomes critical when high lake levels submerge beaches that have protected the adjoining upland areas, allowing wave forces to work directly on bluffs and dunes, Marcus explained.

Erosion-control projects commonly include the construction of stone walls.

But, according to Marcus, during the past several decades, the Army Corps of Engineers has found that in a significant number of public and private projects, laboratory tests and other methods used to predict how long the stone will endure have proven inaccurate.

Marcus will explain how homeowners can learn to evaluate and inspect quarry stone and work with the contractor, potentially saving thousands of dollars on their erosion-control projects.

He also will discuss efforts by the Buffalo district of the Corps of Engineers to improve the quality of stone used in shoreline protection projects, including improving the evaluation process of quarry production, adjusting and modifying laboratory tests and enhancing quality-control inspections.

Free and open to the public, the lecture is sponsored by the Sciences Alumni Association of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.

For more information, contact Cindy Nydahl at 645-2531.