UNE students aid Biddeford Pool Conservation Trust in coastal restoration

On the surface, the digging and planting of 12,000 dune-grass stalks executed by University of New England 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 Biddeford Pool Conservation Trust with assistance from UNE last week also offered students a front-row seat to the impacts of climate change along the Maine coast.

“This is the first time I’ve been able to help with coastal restoration work and it’s 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,” said Ruth Ellis (Environmental Science, ’25).

Over three days, UNE 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 — 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. UNE 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’s GIS 364 Spatial Analysis class participated.

“Our coastal ecosystems are incredibly vulnerable, and this is one way we can help the coast adapt to stronger storms and higher sea levels,” said Kochtitzky in the School of Marine and Environmental Programs in the UNE College of Arts and Science. “They needed a lot of people to plant the dune grass and UNE is an obvious partner to help get the job done.”

It’s the first time the trust did this kind of restoration work, but it won't be the last, said Lucie Fontein, the conservation trust’s 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 UNE students, the conservation trust’s entire investment in the effort was just $2,040, Fontein said.

“I didn’t know how many people would help come out and plant in March. It’s not the best time to be on the beach. I think we’ll do it again next year,” 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.

“Since the storm last year, we’ve already seen about a foot of sand build up on this area of beach. So, the dune-grass stalks will help expedite that,” Emhiser said. 

UNE 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. 

“I’ve 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,” added Ellis, who was a co-author on a recently submitted study on coastal erosion in the journal Geomorphica.