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Home > Explore! > Coastal Marine Geology > Maine Beaches Conference > Program > Saco Bay Communities Working Together

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Coastal Places, Processes, and Partnerships:

Balancing values and expectations on Maine's beaches

Concurrent II

Saco Bay Communities Working Together:  Adapting to Sea Level Rise

Members of Saco Bay's Sea Level Adaptation Working Group (SLAWG) describe the development of this regional partnership between the four bay communities, the Southern Maine Regional Commission, and the Maine Geological Survey, as well their planning processes and initial study results. The SLAWG has just completed a vulnerability assessment and an action plan for helping Biddeford, Saco, Old Orchard Beach and Scarborough adapt to a minimum of two feet of sea-level rise by the year 2100. Sea-level inundation scenarios and possible engineering and policy responses are presented

Peter Slovinsky presents background on the nature of sea-level rise, and shows scenarios of how two feet of sea-level rise by the year 2100 will likely impact land and buildings, road infrastructure, and coastal wetland systems.

J.T. Lockman describes the formation of the SLAWG, how an inter-local agreement was reached, and an action plan created.

  • Ken Buechs, Biddeford Citizen Representative, Sea Level Adaptation Working Group

Ken Buechs, who serves as the chair of the Biddeford Coastal Area Committee, describes his journey, which started here at the 2009 Maine Beaches Conference, and has brought him to be one of Biddeford's citizen members of the SLAWG.

Last updated on May 18, 2011