Donate Now<\/a> <\/p>\nThe tribe\u2019s open stormwater ditches along the roadways aren\u2019t prepared for the combination of heavy rainfall runoff and tidal flooding, Wood said. \u201cFlooding, especially in a coastal zone, comes from two directions,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2026 It can overwhelm your ditch systems and sewage lines.\u201d<\/p>\n
The low-lying causeway that connects Sipayik to Eastport is another source of concern. It sits within the current 100-year floodplain, meaning it could flood or have soil washed out under the right storm conditions today. In a few decades, climate models show the causeway flood becoming a near certainty.<\/p>\n
Sewage System in Peril<\/p>\n
Rising seas in the near future are particularly troubling for the wastewater treatment facility that serves Sipayik. The main plant and three of its freestanding pump stations are already within the 100-year floodplain.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that if we experience a 100-year flood now, we\u2019re going to have 2 to 3 feet of water over the floor of the treatment plant today,\u201d said Chuck Applebee, superintendent of the Passamaquoddy Wastewater Facility.<\/p>\n
![\"Gene](\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\")
Gene Francis Sr., a retired superintendent of the Passamaquoddy Wastewater Facility, explains how sewage is handled at the facility. The microbes used to treat sewage would be killed if seawater intruded during a flood. Credit: Sydney Cromwell\/Inside Climate News<\/p>\n
That seawater would do more than just damage machinery and overflow sewer lines, Applebee said. The salt would kill the microbes that the facility uses in its treatment process, and untreated sewage could get swept out into Passamaquoddy Bay.<\/p>\n
If that happened, it would take weeks for the wastewater facility to be operational again, Applebee said. The escaped sewage would be toxic to local sea life, including commercial species like lobster and halibut, for much longer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be a mess,\u201d Applebee said.<\/p>\n
Slovinsky said Sipayik is one of many coastal Maine communities dealing with this situation.<\/p>\n
This summer, the tribe replaced sewage manhole covers in Sipayik\u2019s floodplain with bolted covers and water-tight gaskets to prevent flood intrusion.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they get 3 feet of water over them, they\u2019re going to leak substantially,\u201d Applebee said of the old manhole covers.<\/p>\n
The facility is also going to raise the height of its reactor walls. The bigger project, however, is relocating the entire wastewater facility to a spot above the floodplain, Applebee said.<\/p>\n
The tribal government at Sipayik is in the midst of replacing eight sewer manhole covers with water-tight covers. These manholes are in the existing floodplain. Credit: Sydney Cromwell\/Inside Climate News<\/p>\n
A report completed for the tribe in 2024 estimated the cost of relocating the facility at around $45 million, and raising each pump station at about $3.1 million apiece. With inflation and market changes, Applebee said that number is likely already outdated and will be even more so by the time they\u2019re able to build the new facility.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe tribe\u2019s taking it seriously, and they\u2019re working as expeditiously as they can,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Passamaquoddy secured a $4 million grant from the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 2024 to pay for raising the walls at its current facility and engineering and equipment costs for the new facility. That funding was temporarily frozen earlier this year, but eventually released.<\/p>\n
Applebee said they\u2019re currently working on the design, securing construction funding and choosing the new site. The goal is to build as close to the existing wastewater facility as possible, while still protecting the new facility from the peak flooding expected by the end of the century, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a 100-year mark today, but there\u2019s a new 100-year mark 25 years from now,\u201d Applebee said.<\/p>\n
Meeting Basic Needs<\/p>\n
The disastrous December 2023 and January 2024 storms were revealing, in a way, Wood said. The damage they left behind on Sipayik homes and buildings showed where the tribe most needed to invest to be more resilient to future storms.<\/p>\n
Since then, the tribe was able to replace roofs on some of the most vulnerable homes in Sipayik with stronger metal ones, Wood said, funded in part by their grant from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Many homes are susceptible to basement flooding, especially in marshier areas of the reservation, Wood said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can get mold both from the tops, from the rain that comes through the damaged roofs, and you can also get it from the bottom,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The welcome sign at the south end of the Sipayik peninsula acknowledges that the Passamaquoddy have lived there for more than 10,000 years. Credit: Sydney Cromwell\/Inside Climate News<\/p>\n
Having grant funding to replace those roofs was key. Altvater said many of his friends and neighbors are living in dilapidated homes because they depend on Social Security or disability payments, which aren\u2019t enough to cover a major repair.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t stay on top of those things, they\u2019ll come to haunt the community,\u201d Altvater said.<\/p>\n
The Sipayik Resilience Committee is taking on minor repairs, such as fixing gaps and insulating windows, to weather-proof the community. Lamb said some Sipayik residents have energy bills above $500 a month, and it\u2019s a particular burden on lower-income residents.<\/p>\n
With help from the College of the Atlantic, the Resilience Committee performed 11 energy audits in 2024, Lamb said, and it has provided insulating window inserts to 50 homes. The college\u2019s grant, which would have funded more weather-proofing work, was cancelled as part of the lTrump administration\u2019s larger clawback of grant funding this year, but the committee and Sipayik community are still trying to complete as many projects as possible, she said.<\/p>\n
Lamb said the Resilience Committee got its start with the overwhelming community feedback that electricity costs were unaffordable and more sustainable sources were needed. Maine\u2019s electricity prices have risen 55 percent since 2014, according to the Maine Monitor.<\/p>\n
Making people\u2019s homes more comfortable and weather-proof is a form of climate resilience, Lamb said, and it also enables community members to get more involved in other resilience work.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo have space to talk about climate resilience, we need to be meeting people\u2019s just basic needs at home,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Climate Resilience at Home<\/p>\n
The committee held its first symposium on energy resilience in May, with members of the Sipayik community and representatives of other Native tribes that are working on affordable and green energy. Lamb said there\u2019s a lot of interest from Sipayik residents in more expensive efficiency upgrades, like installing heat pumps, and in the possibility of residential or micro-grid solar power.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor it to be citizen-led, it really helps people feel more engaged in our projects,\u201d she said. \u201c\u2026 I think people have been happy to see what the community can achieve for themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
The day after the energy resilience symposium, Sipayik lost electricity, Lamb said. Power outages are a common occurrence during storms in rural Maine, she said, and the tribal community wants to have better backup power supplies when that happens.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As part of her Ph.D. assistantship, Lamb is on a team researching ways to make a more resilient power grid for Pleasant Point and Eastport, including a possible microgrid. She is also studying energy efficiency at the tribe\u2019s drinking-water well.<\/p>\n
Climate resilience at home also includes food security, another part of the tribe\u2019s resilience \u201cbasket,\u201d Wood said. The tribe is constructing community garden plots across the reservation, including standing garden boxes that are more accessible for older residents, to encourage growing more fruits and vegetables, he said.<\/p>\n
When the Sipayik Environmental Department started planting bushes in erosion-prone areas to help hold the soil in place, they chose raspberry and blackberry bushes, Longfellow said, to be available for the community to pick once they mature.<\/p>\n
\u201c[We\u2019re] trying to strengthen the community by putting climate resilience in their hands,\u201d Wood said. \u201c\u2026 We\u2019re just becoming stronger day by day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, the Sipayik Environmental Department and volunteers are trying to restore much older elements of the Passamaquoddy diet.<\/p>\n
Vanishing Traditional Food Sources<\/p>\n
In the Maliseet-Passamaquoddy language, the name of the tribe, Peskotomukatiyik, means \u201cthe people who spear pollock.\u201d But you don\u2019t see many pollock in Passamaquoddy Bay anymore.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not present and abundant the way it used to be,\u201d said Dana.<\/p>\n
Pollock and other groundfish species like flounder and haddock were a core part of the Passamaquoddy diet for thousands of years, as were shellfish like lobster and clams. Dana said tribal elders can recall harvesting lobster and clams while standing on the shoreline, with no need for a boat.<\/p>\n
John Carter, 34, remembers his father fishing for cod and halibut right off a breakwater in Eastport.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow there\u2019s none of that,\u201d Carter said.<\/p>\n
Commercial harvests of softshell clams and lobsters at ports near Sipayik have declined 58 percent and 44 percent, respectively, since 2008, according to the Maine Department of Marine Resources. The DMR doesn\u2019t have harvest data for groundfish species, as they haven\u2019t been commercially harvested in the region recently.<\/p>\n
The Passamaquoddy tribe started a clam garden in 2022 to try to replace the lost wild clam populations that used to be a major tribal food source. Credit: Sydney Cromwell\/Inside Climate News<\/p>\n
The Passamaquoddy \u201csimply don\u2019t have access to the same marine resources that used to be their backstop, if not their day-to-day subsistence opportunities,\u201d Wood said.<\/p>\n
Rising sea temperatures have made the area uninhabitable for some cold-water species, while simultaneously making it more welcoming for the invasive (and clam-destroying) green crab. According to the University of Maine, the Gulf of Maine\u2019s surface waters have warmed 2.9 degrees Fahrenheit since the 1890s, and it\u2019s continuing to warm faster than the global average.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re going to be resilient to climate, you also have to have habitat resilience,\u201d Slovinsky said.<\/p>\n
Breaching the Causeway<\/p>\n
Decades of commercial overfishing in the region have contributed to the extreme loss of marine life around Sipayik, as has development.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The construction of the causeway in the 1930s permanently changed the tidal flow around Sipayik, disconnecting Cobscook and Passamaquoddy bays. Areas of Cobscook Bay have become muddy, shallow and unproductive, Wood said, and far fewer fish swim there.<\/p>\n
Dana said the tribe is working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to find ways to breach or replace the causeway to restore some of the tidal flow. It\u2019s only in the planning stages right now, he said, and it\u2019s a project that Dana expects to be both lengthy and expensive.<\/p>\n
\u201cI probably won\u2019t see it in my work career. I may not see it in my lifetime,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
From a solely environmental perspective, Dana said the best option would be to remove the causeway entirely, but doing that would also cut off road access that people have relied on for nearly a century. It could also disrupt water lines and electrical connectivity.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we want everything back the way it was, that infrastructure goes away,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2026 It very quickly becomes a complex decision-making process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dams built upstream on the rivers that flow into the bays around Sipayik have prevented species like alewives and Atlantic salmon from reaching their inland spawning grounds, decimating not only the migratory fish but also the many species that rely on the juveniles returning downstream as a major food source.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve seen significant declines, especially over the last 100 years,\u201d said Chris Soctomah, a fisheries biologist with the Sipayik Environmental Department.<\/p>\n
The Alewives \u201cWill Feed Everything\u201d<\/p>\n
The environmental department has worked with nonprofit organizations for several years to remove dams\u2014or build fish-accessible passages around them\u2014on the nearby Schoodic, St. Croix and Pennamaquan rivers, Longfellow said. They are also using DNA sampling to track species distribution.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat fish will feed everything. It will feed other aquatic species, other terrestrial species, other avian species. It will feed you and I,\u201d Dana said of the alewives. \u201c\u2026 That\u2019s an opportunity to bring the pollock back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dana said that before the construction of the dams, the rivers that flow into Passamaquoddy Bay could support as many as 80 million fish migrating upstream. In 2002, they tracked only 900 fish reaching their spawning point, he said.<\/p>\n
This year, about half a million alewives and other migratory fish traveled upstream, Dana said, thanks to the efforts to modify the dams that had blocked their paths. With generations of consistent work, he thinks the population in local rivers could eventually reach as high as 40 million again.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s survival. It\u2019s linked to who we are. I mean, we are fishers. That\u2019s who the Passamaquoddy are,\u201d Dana said.<\/p>\n
Fishing for personal or commercial harvest is a part of life for many Sipayik residents. Decades of development and overfishing in the area have caused major declines in species like lobster, clams, pollock and haddock. Credit: Sydney Cromwell\/Inside Climate News<\/p>\n
The tribe also launched a community clam garden project in 2022, with the hopes of restoring a major food source to Sipayik. Despite some early hurdles, including the almost-total loss of their first crop to predatory green crabs, garden organizers expect to have enough mature clams to hold their first community harvest in summer 2026.<\/p>\n
If clams, alewives and all the species that rely on them can rebound, Soctomah said he believes fishing can once again become a major part of the Passamaquoddy way of life.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to really bring back traditional practices, I think,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Long Haul<\/p>\n
Facing this array of resilience challenges leads, inevitably, to another question: Will it still be possible for the Passamaquoddy to live in Sipayik in the future?<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have all the intention in the world of staying here and being here another 10,000 years or more,\u201d Wood said, but he also acknowledged it would be a challenging path.<\/p>\n
Relocation has been part of tribal discussions about climate change, according to Dana.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an important option for Maine\u2019s coastal communities to consider, Slovinsky said, especially if natural disasters are likely to cut them off from emergency response or subject them to rebuilding again and again.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a tool in the drawer for handling climate change,\u201d Slovinsky said.<\/p>\n
The tribal government has contemplated purchasing and developing other property inland, Dana said. But relocating 600-plus people would come with its own logistical and financial challenges.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny inland community isn\u2019t just going to move over and let the tribe set up next to them because the water\u2019s coming,\u201d Dana said.<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s the emotional side of the equation. Lamb said she was surprised the first time she was contacted by a researcher working with other Native tribes on relocation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was kind of jarred to be approached by them, because I was like, \u2018Oh, we\u2019re in that basket also,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201c\u2026 People don\u2019t want to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moving away from Sipayik wouldn\u2019t feel like home, Altvater said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s nice to know we\u2019ve been here for at least 13,000 years. So this is home. It\u2019s like, how does a salmon know where to spawn? There\u2019s a million rivers that they could go up, why do they go up this one? Because it\u2019s in their DNA,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Coming on Sunday: The Passamaquoddy have lived with foul-smelling, unhealthy drinking water for 50 years. Now, Trump\u2019s budget cuts are only making matters worse.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\tAbout This Story<\/p>\n
Perhaps you noticed: This story, like all the news we publish, is free to read. That\u2019s because Inside Climate News is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. We do not charge a subscription fee, lock our news behind a paywall, or clutter our website with ads. We make our news on climate and the environment freely available to you and anyone who wants it.<\/p>\n
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Thank you,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"First of two articles about the Passamaquoddy Tribe\u2019s struggles with sea level rise, water quality and habitat resilience…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121059,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-121058","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Peninsula6w.jpg\"\/)
The Sipayik peninsula is located on the eastern border of Maine. It has an area of less than one square mile and is home to the Pleasant Point Passamaquoddy Reservation, where around 600 enrolled Passamaquoddy tribe members live today. Credit: Sydney Cromwell\/Inside Climate News<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Causeway4-1024x683.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Causeway8w.jpg\"\/)
The man-made causeway that connects the Sipayik peninsula with the island of Eastport is vulnerable to flooding, and that risk is only increasing as sea levels rise. Credit: Sydney Cromwell\/Inside Climate News<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/PassamaquoddyLandMaine750px.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_2622-330x220.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Homes](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Erosion2-1024x683.jpg\"\/)
Homes on the eastern side of the Sipayik peninsula are facing erosion of the coastal bluffs beneath them and risk of flooding from encroaching tides. Credit: Sydney Cromwell\/Inside Climate News<\/p>\n![\"Gene](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Wastewater4.jpg\"\/)
Gene Francis Sr., a retired superintendent of the Passamaquoddy Wastewater Facility, explains how sewage is handled at the facility. The microbes used to treat sewage would be killed if seawater intruded during a flood. Credit: Sydney Cromwell\/Inside Climate News<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Manholes3sq-1024x1024.jpg\"\/)
The tribal government at Sipayik is in the midst of replacing eight sewer manhole covers with water-tight covers. These manholes are in the existing floodplain. Credit: Sydney Cromwell\/Inside Climate News<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/WelcomeSign1-1024x683.jpg\"\/)
The welcome sign at the south end of the Sipayik peninsula acknowledges that the Passamaquoddy have lived there for more than 10,000 years. Credit: Sydney Cromwell\/Inside Climate News<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ClamGarden2.jpg\"\/)
The Passamaquoddy tribe started a clam garden in 2022 to try to replace the lost wild clam populations that used to be a major tribal food source. Credit: Sydney Cromwell\/Inside Climate News<\/p>\n![\"Fishing](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Fishing3.jpg\"\/)
Fishing for personal or commercial harvest is a part of life for many Sipayik residents. Decades of development and overfishing in the area have caused major declines in species like lobster, clams, pollock and haddock. Credit: Sydney Cromwell\/Inside Climate News<\/p>\n