WPES participates in inaugural Maine Land-Sea Connections Information Exchange
WPES researchers were among over 50 scientists, managers, and stakeholders to dive into discussions about coastal research at the inaugural Maine Land-Sea Connections Information Exchange at UMaine’s Darling Marine Center in Walpole, ME on July 16.
The event was facilitated by WPES co-leader Dr. Sean Smith to bring together researchers from multiple New England universities, state and federal agency staff, non-governmental organizations, and consultants involved in the science, management, and rehabilitation of Maine’s watersheds and coastal areas to hear about and discuss current research.
The event’s morning lineup focused on estuarine and coastal processes and featured talks by three WPES members: group co-leader Dr. Lauren Ross on geomorphological controls on estuary hydrodynamics in deglaciated coastal areas, Dr. Bea Van Dam on scaling up the relevance of land-sea connections in coastal bacteria pollution vulnerability with the Estuary Builder tool, and WPES affiliate Dr. Sam Roy (Maine Geological Survey) on updating coastal bluff stability and sediment transport maps for the Resilient Maine project. They were joined in the afternoon by talks from Dr. Tim Cook (UMass) on sediment yield response to environmental changes in New England, Dr. Peter Wilcock (Utah State) on sediment transport in stream assessment and design, and Michael Burke (Interfluve) on perspectives on riverscape and coastal habitat restoration in Maine. WPES special project assistants David Libby and George Swenson and undergraduate intern Maddie Gavin presented posters on sediment resuspension in tidal confluence zones, peak runoff estimation in the East Branch Penobscot River, and adapting the Estuary Builder tool with tidal prism and wastewater treatment facility outflow data, respectively.