- I can't predict how much longer I have.
I'm sure that someone is gonna come up and tell me
I have to move because it's not safe.
[slow, melancholy music]
It's a daily thing for me to go out and look
to see how the property's doing.
[mid-tempo music]
I look for the cracks.
See the cracks?
Big cracks.
There's another one.
See how it's crackin' all over along there?
That's all gonna go.
I feel like I'm backed into a corner.
I really have nowhere to go.
[tense music]
If you look out towards the lake,
there would be another third of a mile out into the lake.
We used to play football, and kickball,
baseball, everything out in front.
The home was built in 1951 by my father.
[mid-tempo guitar music]
There was a time when I'd look straight out,
I had a great big tree,
and then a buncha grass after it, then the roses,
and then a buncha fruit trees on this end
that my mom put in.
I came back, probably,
to live with her in 2012.
She had become very sick,
so I was her caretaker.
And then the reality of the shoreline
hit me in the face.
[tense music]
- You can just see, as well, on——all around on the edges
how high that water has gotten in the last couple of days,
and it's just kinda formed up
a whole other layer of ice.
Back in 2013, the water was so low,
I could go stand under the dock, straight up.
And now the water, depending on the day,
can be anywhere like this, from, you know,
up to the top of the dock.
- From 2014 to 2017 was the fastest rate
of water level rise in recorded history.
When water levels were low in 2013,
compared to where they are right now,
water levels along the vast coastline
of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron
are about 5 to 6 feet higher.
That's a tremendous change on a long-term time scale.
Certainly over that vast coastline, it's a big deal.
[up-tempo music]
- Fishtown is in Michigan,
but it's also a sight
just unlike anything you'll find in Michigan.
But once it started to flood,
what we realized we had to have was a backup plan.
The Village Cheese Shanty,
that building, because it had broken down so much,
we had to remove it from the structure,
move it over to our Leland Harbor Township parking lot,
and then in came equipment
and just had to remove that original foundation.
Our original plans for some of the shanties
was not to do that much on the foundations,
but when the water came up,
we realized we had to do a whole lot more.
- At this point, it's virtually impossible
to separate what we're seeing from climate change.
When water levels are high, you're gonna get erosion,
and you're gonna get a lot of these negative impacts.
What I think is different right now
is the fact that the high water levels
are due to this unprecedented period of precipitation.
[ominous music]
- This is the start.
My nephew is takin' it to his farm
and puttin' it in a barn.
Nowhere else to put it.
I mean, storage units are expensive.
I can't afford that.
We always knew there was a slight erosion problem, ok?
Never had I ever believed it would get like this
in my whole life.
I had anticipated that I would be able to live here
and die here,
and, yes, I am grieving the loss of my home,
and I was told that's a natural thing.
I will not be here when they bulldoze it down.
The only thing I can do right now
is try to get my stuff out
in case it goes over.
[slow, sad music]
I will still fight for this shoreline
because that's how important the shoreline,
the state of Michigan is.
I've lived here all my life. The beauty is awesome.
I know there's probably no chance
for me to be able to save my home,
but there might be a chance of saving some shoreline.
[up-tempo, optimistic music]