At Hamlin Beach State Park, New York, a high sandbank was graded to 

 a slope of 1:12 (1 unit vertical to 12 units horizontal) and seeded with 

 a grass mixture to stabilize the sand against erosion (Fig. 10). Before 

 reshaping, the sandbank was being eroded by waves; the shore has now 

 stabilized and is a heavily used recreational area. 



IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 



1. Literature Review . 



The most promising information from the literature on use of vege- 

 tation for erosion control was from Edminster (1949), who suggests 

 plant establishment to control erosion of streambanks. Mulch techniques 

 to temporarily control erosion and to help establish vegetation, with 

 definite guidelines for establishing and maintaining vegetation, are 

 published by the Soil Conservation Service (1966, 1969). 



A study of the erosion problem of Berrien County, Michigan, identi- 

 fied problem localities and factors contributing to the problems and 

 suggested corrective action (U.S. Congress, 1958). A more recent study 

 for Lakes Michigan and Huron was made by the Michigan Water Resources 

 Commission (Brater and Seibel, 1973). That engineering study determined 

 the severity of erosion and the rate of bluff recession at selected 

 locations. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (1961) performed 

 a similar study for the Ohio shoreline along Lake Erie; the U.S. Army 

 Engineer Division, North Central (1971), conducted a general study of 

 erosion on all the Great Lakes. The U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers 

 (1971a) established shore management guidelines and also published 

 guidelines for shore protection (1971b) . 



Carter (1973) described and evaluated structures and natural fea- 

 tures relative to erosion of the Lake Erie shoreline. The State of 

 Minnesota published two reports on shore management (Minnesota Depart- 

 ment of Natural Resources, 1971a, b) . A report on low cost shore pro- 

 tection for the Great Lakes was published by the University of Michigan 

 (1959), and, although costs have increased, construction methods remain 

 the same. 



Literature sources (Lamson and Scribner, 1894; Cowles, 1899; 

 Weaver and Clements, 1938; Soil Conservation Service, 1974) provide 

 lists of plant species potentially useful for erosion control. The 

 erosion abatement potential of these is usually further enhanced if 

 several species are mixed within an area; many of the plants occur 

 naturally in association with one or two other species. Colonizing 

 category, morphological adaptations, seasonal occurrence, and growth 

 form of plant species derived from literature sources are listed in 

 Table 3. 



2 . Field Survey . 



a. Emergent and Submergent Vegetation . The coastline of the Great 



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