TRAVERSE CITY — You can’t fight Mother Nature.
That’s the conclusion Leelanau Township officials have come to regarding Christmas Cove beach, which has taken a beating from high waves and high winds over the last several years.
A sandy bluff leading up to a parking lot at the township-owned Lake Michigan beach has been battered to the point where the edge of the lot has begun to crumble, leaving chunks of asphalt along the beach.
With all measures to prevent erosion of the bluff proving futile, the township will now look at moving the parking lot back.
The western edge of the parking lot — the edge that is crumbling — will lose 10 to 15 feet that will be added on to the eastern edge of the lot.
“That will give us a little more dune to work with,” said Doug Scripps, Leelanau Township supervisor.