Mississippi River Erosion Control, Staircase Construction, Muskrat Damage Prevention, and Riverbank Restoration in Minnesota & Wisconsin

Mississippi Riverbank Riprap, Installed in Minnesota

No river is more recognizable than the Mighty Mississippi.  You own a piece of American history and lore, but it’s washing away downstream, one handful of sand at a time.   Of course, riverbank erosion is a natural part of a larger process: The older a river is, the more it meanders.  The Mississippi has countless bends, and it will twist and turn countless more times over the next few centuries.  But you don’t want your property to become just another bend in the River just yet.

Lakeshore Guys® can help.  With our best-in-the-industry riprap installation, we can halt the erosion and keep your piece of Old Blue just the way you like it.  We can also keep muskrats and similar critters from burrowing, and we can build you a grand staircase down to your riverbank.  You’re one of the few people who can say you don’t live “east of the Mississippi” or “west of the Mississippi,” but rather ON the Mississippi.  We’re here to help keep your riverbank property from going south.

Contact Lakeshore Guys® today, or read on to find out more.

Mississippi Riverbank Riprap and Sand Beach, Installed in Minnesota

Mississippi Riverbank Riprap, Sand Beach, & Patio, Installed in Minnesota

Stopping Riverbank Erosion on the Mississippi 

The Mississippi River zigs and zags for over 600 miles through Minnesota, from its source at Lake Itasca to our southern border with Iowa.  Minnesota and Wisconsin wouldn’t be the same without it, and neither would America.  It’s huge.

Its challenges are big, too, at least if you want to keep your property in good shape – or even keep it at all.  Once you’ve lost land to erosion or sloughing, it’s illegal to reclaim the land.  Once the land is gone, it’s gone.

To add insult to injury, you still need to pay property taxes on the land you used to own, but that’s been washed away.  In practice, there’s no such thing as “erosion repair” or “erosion remediation”: all you can do is prevent or lessen the erosion.   As General Patton said, a pint of sweat saves a gallon of blood.

We’ll put in the sweat.  Easier said than done, but that’s what we do for a living.  Here are some of the challenges we’ll navigate for you:

• The land erodes more quickly in some stretches of the River than in others, because the Mississippi has a strong current and heavy boat traffic.
• Access to the riverbank tends to be tougher than usual, because many properties on the Mississippi are on a steep hillside.  The slopes tend to get steeper the farther south you are.  The farther you get from the headwaters, the more volume of water is downstream, and the more aggressively the water eats away at the flatter slopes, leaving only the steep slopes.  This is where our construction chutes and experience in working on steep inclines will come in handy.
• The water levels can fluctuate more than on smaller rivers.  Between its size and the number and size of all of its tributaries, the Mississippi can collect a lot of rainwater.  Any riprap or other erosion-control method needs to work when water levels are high, low, or about average.
• Permitting can be a pain.  If you live on the Mississippi or one of its tributaries, on top of all the usual permits needed for inland lakes, you may also need a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers, which itself can be a big errand and a hassle.

So your part of the Mississippi is eroding, and it’s only a question of how quickly.  If you live on a nice, wide, deep, fairly straight section of the River, the erosion probably is slower.  If you’re on a bend, a skinnier or faster-moving section of the river, then the erosion is likely happening faster.

Only a properly installed riprap riverbank can halt the erosion. Riprap consists of large stones strategically placed along the riverbank, on top of a special layer of geotextile filter fabric. Riprap not only protects your land, but also makes your property easier on the eyes, while still blending in with your surroundings.

Your local landscaper is unable to build a riprapped riverbank that’s sturdy enough to stand the test of time, let alone to halt erosion on your part of the Mississippi.  Sure, technically they can build one, and they’ll say it’s easy, and it might even look nice – for a season or two.  Then it will crumble like old Play-Doh and you’ll just need to get it rebuilt anyway.

Long-lasting riverbanks and shorelines are our specialty.  You can check out photos and videos of our work.  Here’s one video, from one of our riverbank customers, taken two years after installation.  By this time, the river had risen over six feet, yet the riverbank we built still stands like a Great Pyramid.

Constructing a Staircase Down to the River

Whether you prefer the durability of metal, the ease and efficiency of lumber, or the rough-hewn charm of stone, our custom-designed staircases and steps provide safe and attractive access to your riverbank.  We can build you a staircase out of a wide range of materials, including:

• Lumber
• Prefabricated concrete
• Metal
• Stone (e.g. flagstone)
• Sawn boulders

Once you can get down to the river more easily, you can start to enjoy it more.  Then you may also want a boat ramp, a sand beach, a patio, or other amenities.

Check out photos of some of the many waterfront staircases we’ve designed and installed.

Preventing Muskrat Damage on the Mississippi

Muskrats can swim into your riverbank, burrow under your land, and leave behind sinkholes that eventually collapse and/or erode. We have a way to keep muskrats and similar mischief makers away, so as to preserve the safety and beauty of your land.  We use a 72″ proprietary galvanized muskrat-resistant fabric, called Muskrat Mesh™.  This fabric covers several feet of your shoreline above water, as well as extending into the water a few more feet, which helps prevent muskrats from being able to burrow into the shore at, above, and below the water’s edge.  Hardening this area with thick fabric and steel wire makes it much harder for the muskrats to dig into your shoreline, and much easier to swim downstream and try it somewhere else.

Why Choose Lakeshore Guys® for Your Mississippi Riverbank Restoration?

Since 1996, Lakeshore Guys® has helped Midwesterners enjoy the amphibious lifestyle safely and fully, whether on a lake, pond, creek, or river.

If enjoying your part of the Mississippi requires you to halt the erosion and make your riverbank a little less wild, then you’re in luck.  We hope our DNR-approved practices, shoreline innovations, in-depth explanations of our processes, photos, videos, and best-in-industry reviews, make your next step an easy and natural one.  Contact Lakeshore Guys® today for an estimate.