UMaine Researchers Create Maps to Help Preserve Maine’s Coastline
Contact: Joe Kelley (207) 581-2162; David Munson (207) 581-3777
ORONO, Maine – University of Maine Earth science students Elizabet Metcalfe and Laura Brothers spent the summer kayaking along miles of quiet coves and windswept peninsulas in an effort to map the fragile bluffs along the Maine coast. But this was no leisurely sightseeing trek. Working with UMaine marine geologist Joe Kelley, the students — Metcalfe, Brothers and Peter Leach — are creating the compiling data and creating maps in an effort to help preserve Maine’s famous coastline.
While many associate the state’s seascape with scattered boulders and craggy outcroppings, Maine’s soft coast of sand, gravel and other loose substrates is eroding rapidly. In fact, development pressures threaten the very existence of the state’s picturesque and ecologically important bluffs.
The students’ geological findings are being compiled in the Maine Geological Survey’s online database as part of the Maine Natural Resources Protection Act. By the end of the research project next year, students will have mapped more than 3,000 miles of tidal shoreline. The project is funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.