Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental and Energy Policy (PhD)

Administrative Home Department

Department of Social Sciences

Advisor 1

Don Lafreniere

Committee Member 1

Adam Wellstead

Committee Member 2

Roman Sidortsov

Committee Member 3

Guy Meadows

Committee Member 4

Richard Norton

Abstract

Accelerating shoreline erosion, fluctuating lake levels, and climate-induced hazards are transforming the Great Lakes’ freshwater coasts, exposing the limitations of static and inequitable management frameworks. This dissertation investigates how Michigan’s coastal governance systems produce and manage vulnerability along the Lake Michigan shoreline by integrating geospatial modeling, institutional policy analysis, and environmental justice theory. It argues that both physical processes and institutional designs co-determine patterns of exposure, protection, and equity. The research begins by developing a refined Coastal Vulnerability Index (CVI) tailored for lacustrine environments, applying it to Muskegon County to assess how shoreline change, armoring, and seasonality influence localized risk. This parcel-level analysis reveals that areas adjacent to heavily armored properties exhibit heightened erosion, demonstrating that shoreline defenses often redistribute rather than eliminate vulnerability. Building on this spatial foundation, the dissertation employs the Institutional Grammar Tool (IGT) to analyze over 300 regulatory statements from six U.S. Great Lakes states and Ontario, uncovering significant variation in the structure and stringency of erosion management rules. The results show that most jurisdictions rely heavily on prescriptive choice rules while underutilizing participatory, incentive-based, and information-sharing instruments, limiting both compliance and adaptive capacity. Finally, using topobathymetric data from 2012–2020, the study reexamines Michigan’s statutory Ordinary High-Water Mark (OHWM) through the combined lenses of public trust law, shoreline dynamics, and environmental justice. The findings reveal that static legal boundaries fail to align with dynamic coastal processes, producing uneven distributive and procedural outcomes that privilege property stability over ecological and social accuracy. Together, these three studies demonstrate that Michigan’s shoreline governance, though technically robust, remains constrained by outdated assumptions about stability, jurisdiction, and fairness. By linking geospatial science with institutional analysis and justice theory, the dissertation advances a framework for adaptive and equity-centered coastal management, one that aligns regulatory design with environmental variability, fosters participatory decision-making, and reimagines the governance of the Great Lakes’ coasts as both a scientific and ethical endeavor.

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