Algoma Steel is starting a four-year program to stop future erosion of its shoreline by installing armor stone and rip rap. Fred Post, the steelmaker’s director of environmental control, spoke about the “arming the coast” initiative during a presentation last week at the Sault Climate Hub. Approximately 4.1 km of the banks of the St. Marys will be protected with clean rip rap and quarry stone, intended to support Algoma’s comprehensive green plan for the 120-year-old steel mill. The plan is to install naturalized green buffer strips along the perimeter of the site with:
importing soils, some sourced from the construction site of the new twin cushion arena creating seasonal areas of stagnant water surface vegetation with selected native plants and tree species
Shielding the shoreline will keep green areas intact and prevent erosion in the river.
Over time, the green project will significantly expand across Algoma Steel’s property. Speaking of shoreline stabilization, Post observed, “Algoma has a significant amount of land that is essentially reclaimed land from the St. Marys”. “Let’s call it reclaimed with slag fill in the last century plus.” Shore shielding will protect newly established soils and vegetation “from erosion from surface runoff and also from the winds of the river and Lake Superior,” Post said.
