An Evaluation of Government Response to the Lake Erie Shoreline Flood and Erosion Hazard

Human occupancy of hazard land is a subject that has long captured the attention of geographers.¹ But that academic interest is a reflection, in turn, of the considerable social significance of natural hazards. During the 1972–75 high water period on Lake Erie, for example, shore property-owners suffered in excess of $110 million in damages from flooding and erosion, and government agencies spent over $60 million in hazard assistance. Moreover, in spite of increasing attention and expenditures by individuals and governments, damage from the shoreline hazard is increasing.2 In large part, this appears to be a result of man's ignorance or neglect of important biophysical processes and his increasing encroachment into dynamic shore areas. Unfortunately, too, government policies sometimes contribute to the increased damage, by encouraging continued, and even expanded, encroachment.