Maine
Coastal Community Development Programming in Maine: Some Highlights
Maine Sea Grant’s Coastal Communities activities focus on coastal access, sustainable tourism, and regional and watershed planning.
Recent, widespread shifts in coastal land ownership and uses are bringing about changes in the traditional patterns of coastal access in Maine. These changes have important impacts on water-dependent industries as well as recreational and private property users. Maine Sea Grant organized a coastal access law workshop for professionals, and updated a brochure about coastal access law in Maine. Regional coastal access workshops are also being held with the goal of bringing together people with diverse coastal access interests to share resources and tools, and develop mutually beneficial solutions. Similarly, two regional publications, Moosabec: The Downeast Fishing Community of Beals and Jonesport and Harspwell’s Working Waterfronts have been produced in an effort to bridge the cultures of new and established residents in working waterfront communities.
Tourism is Maine's largest industry (larger than fisheries and aquaculture combined) and the coastal zone represents the choice destination for most visitors. Our programs in tourism seek to foster industry and tourist practices that are sustainable for communities and coastal environments. For example, Sea Grant coordinates the multi-agency and non-profit Island Monitoring Task Force to establish methods for monitoring recreation impact on Maine's coastal islands.
In the Downeast Maine Region, extension staff members collaborate with Downeast Resource Conservation and Development’s Vacationland Resources Committee to implement DESTINY 2010, the Downeast Sustainable Tourism Initiative, a 10-year strategy for sustainable tourism and economic development in Washington and Hancock Counties. In 2006, Sea Grant is taking the lead on the development of a resource guide to sustainable tourism practices.
On the more technical front, Sea Grant led an applied research project on the effectiveness of radar reflectors in enhancing visibility of kayaks on the water. This has triggered a research and development effort to increase visibility and decrease the threat of collision in a state where recreational boating is increasing in popularity.
The Depot Brook Smart Growth Development Project, funded by EPA and NOAA in January 2006, seeks to ensure that a local trout brook is incorporated as an ecologically functional, community resource in Wells, Maine by encouraging future development that minimally impacts associated riparian and riverine habitats. As proposed, the project involves: completing a comprehensive review of existing municipal ordinances, comprehensive plan and state regulations for consistency with a long-term goal to “grow smart”; ensuring that Wells’ community members have sufficient opportunity to offer input on development plans; assisting other coastal Southern Maine communities which also seek to incorporate ecologically significant streams and brooks into their developing landscapes by implementing a public outreach campaign using Depot Brook as a case study.
Southern Maine is home to unique habitats, which support the greatest biodiversity in the state; this same region is pressured by fast increasing population and development, an aging population, and loss of traditional working landscapes. Maine Sea Grant is working in several ways to help the region's communities protect their resources while planning for growth.
The Little River, formed by the confluence of the Merriland River and Branch Brook in southern Maine, curves sinuously through salt marsh before emptying to the Gulf of Maine at Laudholm Beach. Currently, most of the riparian area in the watershed is undisturbed; however, at several locations human activities have the potential to degrade water quality. Maine Sea Grant, in coordination with the Coastal Training Program at the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve, is helping the community find ways to implement high priority elements of the Merriland-Branch-Little River watershed management plan.
Our Future By Design is a regional planning process for the towns of Kittery, Eliot, York, and South Berwick (the KEYS region). Marine Extension staff helped to facilitate a community forum and working groups to address aspects of community quality of life and wellbeing. Recommendations that resulted from the process will be submitted to the state legislature as a pilot program for regional cooperation.
The KEYS region visioning process is modeled after MDI Tomorrow, a successful initiative to define a "preferred future" for Mount Desert Island. The island is facing significant pressures from traffic and congestion, housing for the core community workforce, and erosion of working waterfronts and farmland. Maine Sea Grant continues to be a part of MDI Tomorrow, which in the last year has worked with the Island Housing Trust to develop affordable housing opportunities in Somesville and Bar Harbor; created an educational "road show" about land use and smart growth strategies; and expanded the Island Explorer transportation system. MDI Tomorrow is serving as a model for the rest of Maine and the country, and was highlighted at the Maine Smart Growth Conference, the 4th Conference of the International Rural Network, and the annual conference of the Northern New England Chapter of the American Association of Planners.
Visit http://www.seagrant.umaine.edu/extension/cc.htm for more on Maine Sea Grant's Coastal Communities efforts.
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