麻豆传媒

On the surface, the digging and planting of 12,000 dune-grass stalks executed by 麻豆传媒 students and community volunteers was aimed at making a local beach more climate resilient a year after two historic storms washed away the sand dunes. But the project led by the with assistance from 麻豆传媒last week also offered students a front-row seat to the impacts of climate change along the Maine coast.

鈥淭his is the first time I鈥檝e been able to help with coastal restoration work and it鈥檚 really exciting, and nice to see so many in the community coming out to work on rebuilding the dunes that were so damaged by the storms. We all wanted to come,鈥� said Ruth Ellis (Environmental Science, 鈥�25).

Over three days, 麻豆传媒students in the School of Marine and Environmental Programs came out to help the conservation trust volunteers repair the dunes a year after back-to-back storms hit the beach in January 2024 鈥� an extreme weather event that caused an estimated $90 million in damage along the Maine coast, according to the state. The local land trust wanted to repair a section of beach in front of property it purchased last year for conservation work. 麻豆传媒Assistant Professor Will Kochtitzky, Ph.D., wanted to give his students the chance to help.

On March 7, seven students recruited by Kochtitzky, who teaches geographic information systems (GIS), came to help the effort. The volunteer project was optional, but six out of seven students in Kochtitzky鈥檚 GIS 364 Spatial Analysis class participated.

鈥淥ur coastal ecosystems are incredibly vulnerable, and this is one way we can help the coast adapt to stronger storms and higher sea levels,鈥� said Kochtitzky in the School of Marine and Environmental Programs in the 麻豆传媒College of Arts and Science. 鈥淭hey needed a lot of people to plant the dune grass and 麻豆传媒is an obvious partner to help get the job done.鈥�

It鈥檚 the first time the trust did this kind of restoration work, but it won't be the last, said Lucie Fontein, the conservation trust鈥檚 president.

A month ago, Fontein ordered dune grass from a North Carolina company that was already delivering similar orders at other locations up the Maine coast. With the help of 25 to 30 volunteers, including the 麻豆传媒students, the conservation trust鈥檚 entire investment in the effort was just $2,040, Fontein said.

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know how many people would help come out and plant in March. It鈥檚 not the best time to be on the beach. I think we鈥檒l do it again next year,鈥� Fontein said. 

Once planted, the dune grass stalks, while only about a foot and a half long, will take root even as sand accumulates over the stalks and root systems. The stalks will continue to grow toward the sun, said Bill Emhiser, a member of the Biddeford city council who volunteered in the effort alongside his Biddeford Pool neighbors.

鈥淪ince the storm last year, we鈥檝e already seen about a foot of sand build up on this area of beach. So, the dune-grass stalks will help expedite that,鈥� Emhiser said. 

麻豆传媒has worked with the Biddeford Pool Conservation Trust for several years to understand the changes taking place in the dunes. The two partners discussed restoration efforts right after the January 2024 storms. In return, the student volunteers got a real-time lesson on the need for climate adaptation measures that will restore and help maintain the dunes. 

鈥淚鈥檝e seen the damage done in old imagery. I helped digitize the damage that happened to the dunes in a paper we just submitted for publication,鈥� added Ellis, who was a co-author on a recently submitted study on coastal erosion in the journal Geomorphica.

Read press coverage by (March 17, 2025).