Project: McLain State Park Master Plan
Client: Michigan Department of Natural Resources
Funding Source: State of Michigan, Depart of Natural Resources

Scope of Work

I worked with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to develop a plan with inventory, resource analysis, transition plan and a master plan that would guide the agency in the future planning of this popular destination. This included all of the 443 acre park along the 2 mile stretch of Lake Superior Shoreline. This park is a destination for camping, swimming, hunting, fishing, hiking, picnicking, cross country skiing, snowmobiling, and viewing the lighthouse. The plan would provide a foundation to make priorities for capital spending to meet the growing needs of the visitors and address growing health and safety concerns.

Gallery and header image source: Wikimedia commons

Unique Circumstances

The most unique challenge we had in in the evaluation of this park was the erosion along the Lake Superior shoreline. This was the result of stamp sand that was deposited in Lake Superior. Stamp sand is the byproduct created when copper was extracted from rock milled in the area. This highly abrasive sand was deposited out in Lake Superior for many years. Currents carry this sand to shore and in combination with the wave action creates detrimental erosion of the shoreline. This has become prevalent at McLane State Park.

We consulted with a hydrology expert in Wisconsin that specializes in this type of research. Historic photographs and soil sampling of the park were used to predict the anticipate erosion over a course of the next 50 years. It was determined that a majority of the waterfront campground area would be lost over time as a result of the erosion. No cost effective measures to protect this 2 mile stretch of shoreline were feasible. This became the driving factor to making the difficult decision to relocate the campground to a more protected area of the park for public safety.

We made the recommendation that existing waterfront campground get adaptive reuse for day use picnicking. A transition plan was developed so that the public could continue using the safe part of the campground while the the new modern campground was designed and constructed.

This new plan would require the complete relocation of all restroom/bathhouses and sanitary station facilities maintenance facility, and park entrance station were recommended to accommodate the anticipated shoreline. All other park amenities were accommodated in the new plan and additional overlooks that could be easily relocated were proposed.