ROCHESTER, N.Y. — After 40 years of work, the state and federal governments want to remove the lakeshore along Monroe County from what it calls an “area of concern.”

That’s like an animal getting off the endangered species list.

Chief Investigative Reporter Berkeley Brean braved the rough waters to show the change.

When Brean left the Genesee River into Lake Ontario, the reality of the two-foot waves hit the boat and the crew.

The rough waters continued for another 30 minutes until they reached the entrance of Braddock Bay in Greece.

“This is the Barrier Bar right here, yeah. It’s been a few years since I’ve seen it,” said Shannon Dougherty, DEC Great Lakes Program Director.

For nearly 40 years, the DEC considered the Lake Ontario shoreline from Webster to Parma to be an “area of concern”. The natural barrier at Braddock Bay eroded and so did 100 acres of wetland. But now because of four decades of work including building the barrier beach, the DEC and the Environmental Protection Agency recommend removing the lakeshore from the the list.

Barrier Beach was built by the DEC, the Army Corps of Engineers, other federal agencies, and the Town of Greece played a role. This is important because it helps maintain all the work they’ve done on the wetlands inside the bay. Building that saves all their work there.

“This is all the emergent marsh habitat,” said Heidi Kennedy, DEC wildlife biologist.

In the marsh, they cut channels and dug potholes to create habitats for birds and fish like the northern pike.

“Prior to the creation of these channels, the pike couldn’t get to their spawning areas. So now the channels create pathways to get to the sedge meadow habitat at the edge of the emergent wetland,” Kennedy said.

On land, Kennedy showed Brean aerial photos of the wetland before the work and after. You can see the channels and potholes in the marsh. The DEC says the lakeshore is healthier and more resilient.

“We know that climate change is going to bring greater fluctuations in lake levels, higher erosive forces in terms of the storms we’re experiencing and so restored eco-systems like the one here at Braddock Bay is absolutely critical as a resilience feature as well,” Dougherty said.

The DEC says every dollar spent on restoring the lakeshore generates four dollars in economic development.

There is a 30-day public comment period opening July 1 and ending July 30. Mail comments to: Jim Lehnen, Environmental Program Specialist, DEC / Great Lakes Program 700 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14209. Or email your comments to: greatlakes@dec.ny.gov with “Rochester AOC Delisting” in the subject line. All comments must include the person’s full name, affiliation or organization, email address, physical address, and town of residence.

A.I. assisted with the formatting of this story. Click here to see how WHEC News 10 uses A.I.