The Damage Caused by Dunes in Silver Lake, Michigan

Back in 2017, it was all over the news about this massive dune at Silver Lake that had engulfed and wrecked a homeowner's cottage...and then it threatened to swallow up the main house as well. Not just one house, but a whole row of homes and cottages along the coast.

Dune experts claim it's a rarity when a wind-blown sand dune seems to purposely pick out a line of homes to eat up and ruin, one-by-one. They have surmised that for some reason, the winds have changed direction, now directed toward the homes. So that particular summer, the homeowner and other cottage owners got together, pooled some cash, and arranged for some of the sand to be removed and pushed back to protect the private properties.

The following month, the Department of Environmental Quality contacted the residents and told them to stop. Why? They said “the dune sand being removed from the site is classified as a critical dune and, therefore, it has additional protections.” Up to that point, it was costing home/cottage owners $1,600 per day to remove the sand.

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How big is this particular dune? 80+ feet tall. Out of all the dunes in Michigan – 225, 000 acres of 'em - 74,000 acres are deemed critical.

So what's the fate of these homes and cottages? There is no answer, there is no forthcoming reasonable or rational explanation. However, since 2017 it seems they've been successful in saving their homes...so far. In the gallery below are photos of the dune in question, the threatened homes, and the sand-swallowed cottage.

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