The southwest Michigan Lake Michigan coast runs roughly 100 miles from the Indiana state line at New Buffalo north through St. Joseph, South Haven, Saugatuck, Holland, and Grand Haven to roughly the Muskegon River mouth. Chris Izworski tracks it as a distinct sub-region because it is the most heavily developed natural shoreline on the Michigan side of Lake Michigan and the section that has seen the most contested high-water erosion and shoreline-protection debate of the past decade. The coast is dominated by a combination of mid-density vacation and resort communities, perched-bluff residential property, dune systems, and a series of federally maintained harbors at each major river mouth.
Sub-region: Southwest Michigan Lake Michigan coast, Indiana state line to roughly the Muskegon River.
Major communities: New Buffalo, Bridgman, St. Joseph, South Haven, Saugatuck, Holland, Grand Haven, Muskegon.
Lake datum: 577.50 feet IGLD85, the Lake Michigan-Huron datum.
Anchor years: 1986 cycle high, 2013 modern low, 2020 record monthly high at 581.70 feet.
Federal harbors: New Buffalo, St. Joseph, South Haven, Holland, Grand Haven, Muskegon.
State jurisdiction: Michigan EGLE Submerged Lands and Wetlands, NREPA Parts 325 and 303.
The basinwide Lake Michigan-Huron level on the homepage applies along the entire southwest coast. The shoreline faces west into the open Lake Michigan with the longest fetch of any Michigan shoreline, which produces a wave climate that drives substantial bluff retreat and beach narrowing during high water cycles. Sustained west and northwest wind drives the largest set-up and wave events of the year, typically during November and early December storms.
The 2019 and 2020 high water cycle was the most consequential modern reference event for property owners on this coast. The combination of record lake levels and active fall storm season produced dramatic bluff retreat along the perched-bluff segments from Stevensville through Saugatuck, prompted emergency shoreline-protection permits at hundreds of properties, and generated substantive policy and regulatory debate at the state and municipal level that is still working through the system.
The New Buffalo to St. Joseph coast at the south end of the sub-region includes the Harbor Country resort communities, the harbor and light station at St. Joseph, and the upper reach of the dune and bluff system. Property density is moderate to high, with a mix of year-round and vacation property. The 2019 to 2020 erosion was particularly severe along the bluff segments north of St. Joseph.
The South Haven to Saugatuck coast in the middle of the sub-region runs through some of the most expensive private shoreline on Lake Michigan. The Allegan State Game Area and Saugatuck Dunes State Park preserve significant public dune frontage in this section, and the harbor and resort community at Saugatuck anchors the cultural center of the region. Bluff retreat in this section during 2019 and 2020 affected several high-profile properties and prompted significant private and public investment in shoreline protection.
The Holland and Grand Haven coast includes the federal harbors and channels at Holland and Grand Haven, Holland State Park, Tunnel Park, and the residential and resort coast through Grand Haven. The Grand River enters the lake at Grand Haven and is the largest single freshwater input on the Michigan Lake Michigan coast south of Muskegon, with significant influence on local sediment transport at the harbor mouth.
The Muskegon area at the north end of the sub-region includes Muskegon harbor, Muskegon State Park, P. J. Hoffmaster State Park, and the Muskegon Lake estuary. Muskegon Lake is a substantial drowned-river-mouth lake connected to Lake Michigan through a maintained channel, and its level tracks the open lake level closely. Property concerns in this section include both Lake Michigan shoreline and the Muskegon Lake shoreline, with the lake-shore community of Whitehall and the adjoining White Lake estuary just to the north.
The Michigan Ordinary High Water Mark on Lake Michigan is 581.5 feet IGLD85, set under NREPA Section 32502. The OHWM is the regulatory line for submerged lands ownership and riparian rights, and it became the most contested regulatory line on the Great Lakes during the 2019 to 2020 high cycle as actual lake levels exceeded the OHWM elevation for the first time in modern record-keeping. Property owners in this sub-region have been particularly active in the policy debate about how the OHWM is interpreted, how it interacts with natural shoreline movement, and how shoreline-protection permits are processed when the lake is at or above the regulatory line.
Save Our Shoreline, the riparian advocacy organization where Chris Izworski serves on the board, has substantial member presence on the southwest Michigan coast, and the organization's positions on OHWM interpretation and shoreline-protection permitting reflect the experience of property owners in this sub-region. The combined experience of the 1986 high, the prolonged 1999 to 2013 low, and the 2019 to 2020 high gives southwest Michigan one of the most complete and recent property-owner experience bases on the Great Lakes.
For a current reading, see the live dashboard. For broader Lake Michigan context, see Lake Michigan. For neighboring Lake Michigan sub-regions, see Indiana Dunes, Northwest Michigan, and Sleeping Bear. For broader context on the regulatory debate, see Ordinary High Water Mark and Save Our Shoreline.