Bluff Stabilization Archives | Marek Landscaping

Residential Living Retaining Wall, Bluff Trail, and Bluff Restoration

Megan Foley — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 14:34:49 +0000

The focus of this project was to stabilize and maintain the former UW-Milwaukee Chancellor’s residential lakeshore bluff, which had eroded to within 8 feet of the porch steps. Working with a geo-technical engineer, Marek Landscaping designed a solution that included a 15 foot high and 90 foot long Filtrexx Living Wall. The Filtrexx system consisted of lightweight geo-foam block back-fill material, soil anchors, and 3” galvanized pipe tied to layers of geo-grid wrapped around every two layers of Filtrexx Sock at the face of the wall. Native seed and restoration shrub plantings were used for slope stabilization.

In addition to stabilizing the bluff and creating the Living Wall, the team also built a trail down to the Lake Michigan beach and designed and installed a cantilevered deck at the top of the bluff.

The project received a 2015 Award of Merit in the Residential Category from the Wisconsin Chapter of the American Association of Landscape Architects (WI ASLA).

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Cobblestone Trail on Lake Michigan Bluff

Megan Foley — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 15:15:49 +0000

In 2018, Marek Landscaping, LLC installed a 5,730 square foot switchback trail at a bluff-side residence in Bayside, WI. The trail was constructed with reclaimed antique granite cobblestone from old Milwaukee roads set in a permeable base of crushed quartz. It features a retaining wall made from Black Locust that was harvested and milled on-site with custom designed geogrid reinforcement and built-in limestone overlooks. Custom made copper caps atop the Black Locust posts along the trail to add a decorative element to this rustic landscape while preventing the posts from splitting over the long-term.

Special consideration was taken to bluff dynamics and site ecology throughout the project to minimized site impact as much as possible during construction. Other improvements to the property, including invasive species management and supplemental native woody and herbaceous plantings. Our Stewardship team has been keeping the new native plantings happy and healthy through regular maintenance for the past several years.

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