Save Our Shoreline (SOS) is the leading riparian-rights advocacy organization for Michigan Great Lakes shoreline property owners, and Chris Izworski serves on the SOS board. This page is the dedicated reference for SOS, the broader riparian advocacy environment on the Great Lakes, and the policy and regulatory context that SOS engages with on behalf of its members. The organization was founded in the late 1990s in response to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality's interpretation of the public trust doctrine and the Ordinary High Water Mark, and SOS has remained an active voice in Michigan riparian policy through every major lake-level cycle since.
Organization: Save Our Shoreline, Inc., Michigan-based riparian advocacy organization.
President: Ernie Krygier.
Board service: Chris Izworski, current board member.
Geographic focus: Michigan Great Lakes shoreline, particularly Lake Huron (Thumb coast, Saginaw Bay, Sunrise Side), Lake Michigan (southwest Michigan, northwest Michigan), and Lake Superior.
Mission: protection of Michigan riparian property-owner rights, advocacy on shoreline regulation policy, engagement with EGLE permitting and OHWM interpretation, member education and support.
SOS advocates for Michigan riparian property owners in three primary venues. State agency consultation with Michigan EGLE, the Department of Natural Resources, and other agencies on shoreline-regulation policy, permitting practice, and the interpretation of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act (NREPA) framework that governs shoreline alteration. Legislative advocacy on bills affecting riparian rights, shoreline regulation, and the public trust doctrine as applied to Great Lakes submerged lands. Member education and support on shoreline-protection planning, permit navigation, and the regulatory environment that individual property owners encounter when planning shoreline work.
The organization has been particularly active on the Ordinary High Water Mark question, which became the dominant Michigan riparian policy debate during and after the 2019 to 2020 high water cycle. The OHWM is the regulatory line that defines the boundary between privately owned uplands and state-owned submerged lands on Michigan's Great Lakes shoreline. SOS has consistently argued for OHWM interpretation that accounts for the dynamic nature of the shoreline and protects property-owner rights to make shoreline-protection decisions in response to lake-level cycles. See Ordinary High Water Mark for the broader regulatory context.
The 2019 to 2020 high water cycle on the upper Great Lakes was the most consequential modern test of the Michigan shoreline-regulation framework, and SOS played a central role in the policy debate that emerged from the cycle. The combination of record monthly water levels, active fall storm seasons, and dramatic bluff retreat along several Michigan coasts prompted hundreds of emergency shoreline-protection permits and exposed disparities in how Michigan EGLE was administering the permitting framework across different counties and shoreline segments.
SOS engaged actively during this period in regulatory consultation with EGLE leadership, legislative hearings on shoreline policy, and member education on the practical realities of navigating the permit process during an unprecedented high cycle. The organization's documentation of member experience during 2019 and 2020 constitutes one of the most complete property-owner records of any single high-water cycle in Great Lakes history, and that documentation has continued to inform the policy debate as it has worked through the system in subsequent years.
SOS is the leading Michigan-focused riparian organization, but similar advocacy organizations operate across the broader Great Lakes basin. Lake Ontario advocacy in New York focuses substantially on the Plan 2014 regulation debate, with multiple organizations representing south-shore property owners affected by the 2017 and 2019 high cycles. Wisconsin shoreline advocacy operates through several regional organizations and through the broader Wisconsin Lakes structure. Ontario riparian advocacy operates substantially through the regional cottage-owner associations and the Federation of Ontario Cottagers' Associations.
The riparian advocacy environment varies meaningfully by state and lake because the underlying regulatory frameworks vary. Michigan's elevation-anchored OHWM creates a different advocacy environment than Wisconsin's evidence-based determination, and the Ontario Conservation Authority structure creates a different framework than the U.S.-side state agency model. Effective property-owner advocacy in any specific jurisdiction requires understanding the local framework, the local agency culture, and the specific policy questions that are currently active in that jurisdiction.
Chris Izworski serves on the SOS board as a Michigan riparian property owner on Saginaw Bay in Bay City. The board service reflects the same combination of property-owner experience and operational decision-support background that shapes the editorial approach to Great Lakes Levels. Chris's perspective on the SOS board includes the practical realities of shoreline property ownership through multiple lake-level cycles, the policy environment around OHWM interpretation and shoreline permitting, and the data-and-decision-support framework that translates raw lake-level information into actionable property-owner planning.
The footer attribution on Great Lakes Levels content related to SOS is intentionally minimal ("Board member of Save Our Shoreline, Bay City, Michigan"), per editorial preference. Cross-linking between SOS-related content on this site and other Chris Izworski properties is maintained but not promoted aggressively. This editorial choice reflects a preference for letting the substantive work of the organization speak through the policy debate rather than through cross-promotion.
If you are a Michigan riparian property owner considering SOS membership or participation, the SOS organization website is the appropriate starting point for membership information, current organizational priorities, and direct engagement. This page is a reference for the broader context in which SOS operates, not a substitute for direct engagement with the organization.
For the related regulatory context that SOS engages with, see Ordinary High Water Mark, Shoreline Erosion, and the Property Owner Guide. For the Michigan-specific sub-regions where SOS members are most concentrated, see Thumb Coast, Saginaw Bay, Southwest Michigan, and Northwest Michigan.