Building Community Resiliency Walking Tour

Building Community Resiliency – A Walking Tour with Stephen Dickson, Maine Geological Survey

Notes

• Coastal Resiliency: How the coastline bounces back after storm or other disaster
Geological resiliency is how the natural beach-dune system responds to storms and how quickly it can return to pre-storm conditions
Resiliency of development is how the built environment survives storms and how soon economic activity can resume

• Sand Budget – ebb and flow of sand is like a financial budget
Dunes are like the savings account in a bank
Beach is a checking account – more active day-to-day

• Maine’s Coastal Sand Dune Rules build resiliency in both the natural environment and in the developed areas

• Willard Beach is a pocket beach between rocky headlands with sand from glacial sediments

• Dunes have been restored by people through beach management plans created by the Willard Beach Neighborhood Association and additional city efforts
American beach grass traps sand. Planted with simple broomstick method. Planted late winter (March, early April) while dormant. Volunteers throw dried seaweed onto dunes as fertilizer. Plants only flower an spread when significantly covered in sand. There will naturally be non-vegetated patches that are okay. Sand or rope fence lines are placed seaward of existing dunes to allow seaward growth of beach grass through the summer.
Access paths are made curved so they do not create a direct path for storm surges to go through the dunes and flood neighborhoods and roads
Snack shack in direct danger of flooding and waves; play area creates break in dunes, water can go straight to the snack shack as well as around to the back side of the dunes and road.
Punt storage is limited to certain areas so launching and storage in dunes doesn’t kill too much beach grass

o Patriots’ Day Storm in 2007
Took 30-40 feet of dune out but no homes were damaged
Both the beach and dune were able to recover extremely well with the help of the local community setting fences, planting beach grass, fertilizing with seaweed
In two years more than 20 feet of dune has been restored
The most damaging storms come at spring high tide that allows extra flooding and wave action high into the dunes – as was the case in 2007

o 1930s to 1950s Willard Beach had no dunes
The dune and beach were a “working waterfront”
Properties were much more vulnerable to storm flooding and erosion than they are now

• FEMA flood insurance will pay up to $250,000 to help rebuild structures damaged by storms. Many of these structures are worth more than that so a protective dune can reduce personal economic losses from storms.

• Maine’s Coastal Sand Dune Rules have storm-damaged structures rebuilt higher, farther landward if possible, and may require dune restoration seaward of a building with the intent of not having repeated damage to the environment or buildings.