Left: Erosion from seiche events has exposed tree roots along the Lake Erie shoreline. Right: A nature-based approach was used to stabilize this waterfront area along the St. Lawrence River. Credit: Roy Widrig/NYSG

New York Sea Grant Provides Assistance Virtually and In-Person

Contacts: 

Roy Widrig, NYSG Great Lakes Coastal Processes and Hazards Specialist, E: rlw294@cornell.edu, P: (315) 234-1916
 
Kara Lynn Dunn, New York Sea Grant Great Lakes Publicist, P: 315-465-7578, E: karalynn@gisco.net

Oswego, NY, March 12, 2025 - In 2025, New York Sea Grant (NYSG) Great Lakes Coastal Processes and Hazards Specialist Roy Widrig anticipates property owners and community leaders will have questions about impact to their shorelines by heavy winter snows and melting snowpack. NYSG is offering free online and in-person assistance to help property owners evaluate shoreline areas for damage and to develop potential remediation response. The assistance is available via the NYSG Virtual Site Visit portal at www.nyseagrant.org/glcoastal and by calling NYSG at 315-312-3042.

The free assistance represents an estimated cost-saving value of up to $1,000 for a basic shoreline erosion evaluation and up to $10,000 for a neighborhood-level assessment (based on Bureau of Labor Statistics). New York Sea Grant provides this assistance with support from the New York State Environmental Protection Fund, in partnership with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Great Lakes Program. 

Widrig’s assistance is available to property owners and communities throughout New York’s Great Lakes region and its inland watershed areas serving Lake Erie, the Niagara River, Lake Ontario, and the St. Lawrence River. 

Recent site visits by Widrig have shown that some coastal erosion issues have worsened due to natural events, including intense winter storms, heavy rainfall, and flooding, and through lack of maintenance of shoreline revetments. 

“High intensity rainfall; lake, river, and stream flooding; and storm events that may include a Nor’easter, seiche or meteotsunami have impacted various areas in New York,” said Widrig, whose expertise includes the use of natural and nature-based approaches to lakeshore erosion management and streambank stabilization.


Wind and wave action along New York’s Great Lakes shoreline can deposit sand and debris far inland and damage beach areas. Credit: Roy Widrig/NYSG

Shoreline impact varies by location and the type and intensity of storm activity. Nor’easter storms that develop over the Atlantic Ocean along North America’s east coast generally influence winter erosion action with heavy snowfall and high winds along Lake Ontario’s southern shore. 

The west-to-east positioning of Lake Erie, the shallowest of the Great Lakes, is conducive to the development of seiches – wind-driven standing waves that impact the western New York shoreline with significant force. Seiches have a more limited impact along Lake Ontario’s southern shoreline.

Meteotsunami — brief, but intense large wave action caused by rapid changes in air pressure associated with fast-moving thunderstorms and squalls — have been recorded on the Great Lakes even in fair weather conditions. 

Through the NYSG Virtual Site Visit portal at www.nyseagrant.org/glcoastal, a property owner can locate a property on a map, upload photos, and describe the shoreline problem. Widrig evaluates options for addressing the issue and contacts the property owner. Remediation options may apply natural and nature-based or structural features or a combination of both approaches. If needed, a free in-person visit is scheduled. Widrig provides information on state and local shoreline project permitting requirements, if needed.

Widrig is the author of Working with Nature: A Guide to Native Plants for New York's Great Lakes Shorelines, and Erosion Management for New York's Great Lakes Shorelines. He is co-author of Erosion and Recession of New York's Coastal Bluffs.

More Info: New York Sea Grant

Established in 1966, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s National Sea Grant College Program promotes the informed stewardship of coastal resources in 34 joint federal/state university-based programs in every U.S. coastal state (marine and Great Lakes) and Puerto Rico. The Sea Grant model has also inspired similar projects in the Pacific region, Korea and Indonesia.

Since 1971, New York Sea Grant (NYSG) has represented a statewide network of integrated research, education and extension services promoting coastal community economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness and understanding about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources.

NYSG historically leverages on average a 3 to 6-fold return on each invested federal dollar, annually. We benefit from this, as these resources are invested in Sea Grant staff and their work in communities right here in New York.

Through NYSG’s efforts, the combined talents of university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science-based information to many coastal user groups—businesses and industries, federal, state and local government decision-makers and agency managers, educators, the media and the interested public.

New York Sea Grant, one of the largest of the state Sea Grant programs, is a cooperative program of the State University of New York (SUNY) and Cornell University. The program maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY Oswego, the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark, and in Watertown. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Nassau County on Long Island, in Queens, at Brooklyn College, with Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC, in Bronx, with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County in Kingston, and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Westchester County in Elmsford.

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org, follow us on social media (Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, Bluesky, LinkedIn, and YouTube). NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which it publishes 2-3 times a year.