Storm Response and Preparedness in Working Waterfront Communities

Between November 18, 2024, and February 11, 2025, 10 regional community conversations took place between Kittery and Eastern Washington County.

Here are links to all of the documents related to the series:

A map of the Gulf of Maine showing the ten regions where conversations took place. The communities span the entire coast of Maine. — 10 regional conversations were held along the coast of Maine that included over 80 communities and 450 participants.

Final Summary Notes and Key Takeaways: Summary document describing the full series, participation and methods for analyzing participant input, and presenting 17 major themes discussed both regionally and statewide.
One page fact sheet (PDF format): Brief summary of key takeaways from the 10 convenings.
Images included in the Summary document made available here for ease of viewing.
- Full series word cloud with relative weight of topics discussed statewide.
- Regional word clouds with relative weight of topics discussed for four regions (Southern Maine and Portland, Mid-Coast Maine, Hancock County, and Washington County).
- Series Map: Showing the 10 regions for the community conversations.
Resources Document: This document was shared and updated during the series. It continues to be updated quarterly, and is intended to be used into the future.
Meeting Notes from Each Convening:
Sea level rise projection map: Digital map showing statewide inundation scenarios for 3.9 ft and 8.8 ft of sea level rise.

Please reach out if you are interested in hearing an update about the series from members of the planning team. We have been presenting summaries to various groups and are happy to continue. For more information, please email katrina.armstrong@maine.edu.

Series Background

Image based on photo by Jack Sullivan, Island Institute.

Storm Response and Preparedness in Working Waterfront Communities

Thank you for joining us for vital community conversations to enhance our response, preparedness and resilience in the face of increasing storm events.

Ten community convenings happened in fall 2024 and early winter 2025 throughout Maine’s coastal and working waterfront communities. The convenings explored how we can better respond to and prepare for storms like the ones that hit us in winter 2023/2024. Each convening was organized collaboratively with local leaders and contacts, and we are grateful for their help!

The goals of this effort are to:

Create space for community members across diverse sectors to take stock of their working waterfronts within the context of the community’s resilience since the storms.
Share resilience and working waterfront planning work across the region: recent, underway, or planned.
Learn about resources for public and private working waterfront resilience.
Identify systems and networks that would be useful to have in place locally to support working waterfronts in anticipation of future storms.

Our focus regions (see map here).

Please note there are no more conversations scheduled at this time.

Southport/Boothbay/Boothbay Harbor/Bristol/South Bristol (November 18, 2024 5-7 PM, Coastal Rivers Land Trust, 3 Round Top Lane, Damariscotta)
Phippsburg/Georgetown/Arrowsic (November 20, 2024 5-7 PM at The Grant Building, 31 Centre St. Bath)
Portland/South Portland/Casco Bay Islands (December 3, 2024, 5-7 PM, Gulf of Maine Research Institute, 350 Commercial St, Portland)
Kittery (December 5, 2024, 5-7 PM, Kittery Community Center, 120 Rogers Road, Kittery)
Roque Bluffs/Machias/Machiasport/Whiting/Cutler/Trescott/Eastport/Lubec (December 10, 2024, 5-7 PM, Washington Academy, 66 Cutler Rd, East Machias)
Jonesport/Addison/Beals (December 12, 2024, 5-7 PM, Peabody Library, 162 Main St., Jonesport)
Milbridge/Steuben/Harrington (December 16, 2024, 5-7 PM, 5-7 PM, 49 Smithville Road, Steuben Fire Hall, Steuben)
Mount Desert Island/Cranberry Isles/Trenton (January 27, 2025, 5:00 to 7:00 PM. Neighborhood House, 1 Kimball Rd, Northeast Harbor)
Blue Hill/Brooklin/Brooksville/Castine/Penobscot/Sedgwick/Surry (January 29, 2025, 5:30-7:30 PM, Blue Hill Public Library, 5 Parker Point Rd, Blue Hill)
Sullivan/Sorrento/Hancock/Gouldsboro/Winter Harbor (February 11, 2025, 5-7 PM, Charles M. Sumner Learning Campus, 2456 US Hwy. 1, Sullivan, ME 04664)

For more information, please email katrina.armstrong@maine.edu.

Maine Sea Grant, working in partnership with Maine Coastal Program, Island Institute and UMaine MARINE, received funding from the National Sea Grant office to plan these convenings in response to the January 2024 storms.