As Advocate editor Emily Toman wrote yesterday, the hike-and-bike trail that runs along the edge of the peninsula south of the dog park is closed for construction in hopes of reigning in some issues with shoreline erosion going rogue near the trail. The closure is causing some trail detours, which you can view here.
We wrote about the erosion more extensively in October, but things have changed a bit since then, says Lis Akin, the executive director of For the Love of the Lake.
To summarize, the peninsula is man-made. The entire peninsula along Mockingbird was created as a result of a 1974 dredging, according to Sally Rodriguez with the Dallas Park and Recreation Department. At the time, the silt was pulled out of the lake and dumped where the peninsula is now. However, bottom-dwelling silt isn’t the most solid material, so unfortunately it’s now going back to its motherland — the lake.
One particular section of the shoreline eroded so much it became treacherously close to the hike-and-bike trail. For the Love of the Lake began drawing attention to the area, but the group thought they had years before the erosion became a serious issue. Then when the section fell three more feet over the summer, bringing it within a few short feet of the hike-and-bike trail, For the Love of the Lake and the City of Dallas knew they had a problem.
There wasn’t time to fundraise or debate the options for months on end, Akin explains; something needed to be done, and quickly. The City of Dallas fast-laned the process, deciding on the quickest, easiest, cheapest option, which was rock riprap.
Riprap, which is shown in the picture above, is a wall of rocks strategically placed — larger rocks on bottom and smaller rocks on top — along the shoreline, to act as armor against the constant wave action.
The project began the first week of January, and and the bulk of it was completed earlier this week. However, there’s still some clean up that needs to be done, so the trail will remain closed for a couple more weeks at least.
In all, the project cost $82,872, but For the Love of the Lake is still fundraising in order to afford “dressing” for the area, Akin says. For the Love of the Lake will work on providing ground covering, such as grass, shrubbery and/or trees, to dress up the repair area and provide extra stability.
