During my internship with the Lake Maxinkuckee Environmental Fund (LMEF) in the summer of 2022, I worked on a project to classify the lake's shoreline using satellite mapping tools. This data will serve as a baseline for future research on the lake's health. We decided to use three categories: Concrete/Hard Seawall, Glacial Stone Seawall (with at least 80% of stones being basketball size or smaller), and Natural/Undeveloped. The effects of different types of shoreline developments accumulate over time and can have negative impacts on fish, amphibians, birds, and other wildlife.
Understanding the proportion of each shoreline classification is important for the long-term health of the lake. We found that only 18% of the lake's shoreline is classified as natural. Increasing the miles of natural or glacial stone shorelines and decreasing the miles of concrete seawalls could improve the overall health of the lake.
