UNE students ‘Restore the Shore’ to strengthen campus climate resilience

Nearly six years after students first stepped onto the rocks of a cove along the Saco River, at the frontage of the University of New England’s Biddeford Campus, to survey the possibilities of constructing a more resilient coast, UNE’s “Living Shoreline” project is beginning its transition from possibility to reality.

On April 29, nearly 20 students from Assistant Professor Jennifer Brousseau’s field class on climate change adaptation participated in “Restore the Shore,” entailing the cleanup and removal of invasive plant species from the jagged shore in preparation for the construction of the living shoreline, which is designed to buffer the impacts of waves and storms on the already-eroding coastline.

Living, or “green,” shorelines use plants or other natural elements to stabilize endangered coastlines and, over time, restore coastal ecosystems. Such solutions are preferred over harder, “gray” shoreline structures like bulkheads and rock revetments, which decrease shoreline biodiversity and can contribute to erosion of the sea floor.