OGL Coastal Note: Coastal Investments Enhance Casco Township’s Great Lakes Connection

Investments in Nature Preserve Enhance Casco Township’s
Great Lakes Coastal Connection

In 2012, Allegan County’s Casco Township opened a coastal nature preserve, the township’s very first public park and one of only two public access points to Lake Michigan. It’s estimated that more than 80 percent of Michigan’s Great Lakes coastline is privately owned, so the acquisition of the park’s 700 feet of Lake Michigan beach off the scenic Blue Star Highway was especially significant. The now 20-acre property is home to a picturesque maple grove, hosts migratory shorebirds, and offers stunning views from the top of a unique sand-clay bluff formation dropping 50 vertical feet to the beach below.

After dedicating its beautiful new coastal park, the township looked for opportunities to improve the site to make it safer and more accessible to the community. The steep, sandy vertical drop from bluff to beach made passage difficult, and the fragile clay-sand bluff was threatened by increased activity.  

Casco Township officials collaborated with Michigan’s Coastal Management Program from the Office of the Great Lakes to create solutions for its park. Through grants and technical assistance supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the coastal program helped the township make a series of investments in the park. Using green infrastructure techniques, a permeable parking lot addition with a bioswale was added to slow and filter stormwater. Today, a barrier-free pathway, accessible viewing platform, and beach stairway enhance public access to the park while preserving its unique bluff by reducing foot-traffic erosion.

The work to enhance the Casco Township Nature Preserve shows the impacts that can be made when organizations work in partnership to invest in the future. Casco Township’s nature preserve was transformed so its community and visitors can enjoy connecting to the wonder of the Great Lakes.

Learn more about Michigan’s Coastal Management Program by visiting www.michigan.gov/coastalmanagement or contacting Program Manager Ronda Wuycheck at wuycheckr@michigan.gov.

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