By Thomas McPheeters, Contributing Writer
In our not-too-distant future, the coast of Maine will look nothing like it does today — fewer beaches, many houses and businesses displaced, roads and utilities either abandoned or relocated further inland.
That’s a certainty, according to Dr. Cameron Wake, a University of New England professor who served as the keynote speaker during Tuesday’s SOS Save Our Shores conference, which was held at the Ferry Beach Conference and Retreat Center.
The only variables, Wake said, are how much and how fast the Atlantic Ocean rises and how quickly we realize that our treasured coastal communities and waterfronts require immediate action.
The annual SOS Saco Bay conference, now in its fourth year, has historically focused on strategies to mitigate the impact of sea rise on beaches and nearby properties in Biddeford, Saco, Old Orchard Beach and Scarborough.
SOS Saco Bay was formed six years ago by citizens concerned with the beach erosion that has taken homes and roads in Camp Ellis — still an unrealized issue. The conference has grown steadily to become a major information source and a starting point for organizing coastal residents and owners.
Roughly, 175 people attended this year’s conference.
Over the last two years — since the devastating January 2024 storms — citizen groups have formed in Hills Beach, Biddeford Pool and around the health of the Pool itself.
The Biddeford Coastal Preservation Coalition (BCPC) continues to build chapters along the coast. The city of Biddeford’s Sustainability Committee is focusing more on coastal issues, as well.
“The University of New England has emerged
as a major source of support
for coastal communities”
Sea rise is generally associated with global warming, but Wake also pointed to glacier melting as the wild card. It is now clear that glaciers are melting at an accelerated rate, faster even than temperatures. Wake displayed graphics of Greenland and some of the ice shelves in Antarctica and explained how feedback loops of warming air and water lead to ever-increasing calving of icebergs that float away and melt.
The University of New England has emerged as a major source of support for coastal communities, finding ample research opportunities for faculty and students.
Research projects include a recently published report on beach and dune loss and an on-going study of changes to the tidal pool at Biddeford Pool. This year, dozens of UNE students attended the conference and displayed their research on posters. The university has a new master’s degree track for “climate change leadership.”
To be sure, many of the conference workshops were clearly focused on the short term — new ways and materials to rebuild dunes and arrest beach erosion, information on how other coastal communities have managed their shorelines; and successes in protecting shore bird migration at Maine’s beaches. New this year were discussions about retreat, the most realistic and most difficult of the long-term responses to sea rise.
No answers were offered.
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Tom McPheeters is a life-long lover of Maine and a year-round resident of nearly three years. After a journalism career or 25 years at three newspapers in Ohio and New York State, Tom spent the last 30 years as a community organizer and advocate in Albany, NY. He lives in Biddeford Pool.
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