CONTACT: Holy Cir, GM/IL Beach Hotel (224) 774-7065
(Zion, IL) – Illinois Beach Hotel is proud to announce that Illinois Beach State Park is the recent recipient of the nation’s Best Restored Beaches Award. The American Shore and Beach Preservation Association chose the Illinois Beach State Park Shoreline Stabilization in Zion, Illinois, and the North Cove Coastal Systems Restoration in North Cove, Washington.
The goal of ASBPA’s annual Best Restored Beach award is to acknowledge community beach restoration projects around the United States that increase a shoreline’s resiliency, the beach’s ability to mitigate storm damage and flooding from severe storms, and naturally allow the beach to adjust to short-term sea level rise while remaining an important part of the nearshore ecosystem. ASBPA created the annual award list to raise awareness of the value of restored beaches.
Projects are judged on three criteria: the economic and ecological benefits the beach brings to its community; short- and long-term success of the restoration project; and the challenges each community overcame during the project.
“We have been restoring U.S. beaches for 100 years now! The first project was in Coney Island, NY in 1923. Beaches from all over the U.S. have received ASBPA’s Best Restored Beach award. This year, we are excited to include beaches from the Great Lakes and West Coast,” said Nicole Elko, ASBPA Executive Director.
The Illinois Beach State Park Shoreline Stabilization in Zion, Illinois was selected as a Best Restored Beach as it combined beach nourishment for a recreational beach and a coastal habitat restoration component protecting state park infrastructure and critical habitats. The primary goal was to develop shoreline erosion solutions that stabilize the shoreline and protect critical infrastructure while maintaining the character and mission of the state park and recreational user experience.
“Knowing our beachfront hotel sits on a newly restored beach means so much to us, not only for this summer’s visitors, but for the future– as this project protects the park and its critical habitats,” said Holly Cir, General Manager of Illinois Beach Hotel, “We’re the only beachfront hotel (on Lake Michigan) in Illinois, so we truly appreciate all the hard work that went into earning this award.”
To meet these goals, the project protects critical infrastructure consisting of buildings, recreation areas, wetlands, natural habitat area, streams, parking lots, paths, and roadways. The project creates 50.7 acres of additional sand beach habitat, 18.1 acres of in-water rock habitat, 1.1 acres of aquatic habitat elements, and ten tern nests. Funding was made possible through Governor Pritzker’s Rebuild Illinois capital program to improve infrastructure.
The Best Restored Beach award project teams was honored during the ASBPA National Coastal Conference on August 26-29, 2024 in Galveston, TX.
Beaches are the leading tourist attraction in the U.S. serving as a vacation destination for 50% of Americans. Annually, beach tourists generate $520 billion in economic output, $240 billion in direct spending, and $36 billion in taxes to federal, state, and local governments. For every $1 spent on beach nourishment annually, beach tourists generate about $3,000 in economic output, $1,400 in direct spending, and $200 in taxes. Beaches are not only magnets for tourism, but they also perform a double duty of protecting land infrastructure during storms.
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