PHIPPSBURG, Maine (WGME) — Maine’s sand dunes play a major role in shaping and protecting our coastline.
But over the past decade, the shoreline at one of the state’s busiest beaches has shifted dramatically.
Popham Beach State Park in Phippsburg sits along the Gulf of Maine; marine geologist Peter Slovinsky tells us movement of the Morse River is changing the landscape.
“As the Morse River kind of whips to the north and east, which it does over time, periods of about every 10 to 15 years or so, it erodes a lot of Popham Beach State Park, and then the beach at Small Point grows seaward,” Slovinsky said.
Maine’s sand dunes play a major role in shaping and protecting our coastline. (WGME)
Slovinsky says “Small Point Beach,” also known as “Sea Wall Beach,” has been growing around 100 feet a year. Meanwhile, across the river, Popham Beach has been eroding nearly 100 feet a year.
“As the Morse River comes closer and closer to the parking lot at Popham Beach State Park, it erodes not only the beach, but it erodes the dunes, and all that sand is kind of redistributed into the different part of the system,” Slovinsky said.
Slovinsky says, currently, Popham Beach is eroding faster than any other stretch of beach in Maine, partly due to storms.
But he says strong weather can be positive and negative in terms of beach erosion.
“If you’ve got a river channel that’s cut close to the beach, and you’ve got a big sandbar out here that sticks out, if you’ve got waves hitting that sandbar, that sand gets kind of pushed into the channel,” Slovinsky went on.
Maine’s sand dunes play a major role in shaping and protecting our coastline. (WGME)
Maine’s Bureau of Parks and Lands is looking at new ways to adapt the park as things like sea level and storm intensity threaten its future.
“There are ways that the park can kind of buy some time to think about, you know, ‘here’s something we can do that’ll give us some protection for the next maybe 10 or 15 years as this cycle kind of stabilizes itself,'” Slovinsky said.