Dredging, dun restoration to begin in Saco

Wells project winding down, OOB complete

By Tammy Wells/York County Government Media

WELLS, Maine – The long-awaited dredging and dune restoration project off Atlantic Avenue, ongoing 24/7 for the better part of a week, was due to wind down around Feb. 20 and move on to Saco beginning around the last week in February. Then, once preparations are complete – around March 2 –  the York County government dredge will begin restoring Camp Ellis beach and dunes battered by a pair of storms that devastated the York County coast – and indeed much of the entire Maine coast – in January 2024.

In Wells, the dredge, with the aid of a pumping system and many yards of piping, was expected to remove about 8,150 cubic yards of sand from the harbor and deposit it by pipeline about three-quarters of a mile away, on the storm-battered beach off Atlantic Avenue, said York County Emergency Management Agency Director Art Cleaves. YCEMA handled the extensive and complex application and permitting process involving about 10  state and federal agencies that allowed the two projects, and another in Old Orchard Beach, to move forward.

On Monday, Feb. 16, workers from the environmental consulting firm SWCA arrived to begin planting 100,000 dune grass seedlings on the beach off Atlantic Avenue to provide further dune restoration and protection – the plants are dormant now, but will “take” once warm weather arrives. As they explained the process, one could hear sand moving through the pipeline as it wound its way from the dredge in the harbor, up to the Eastern Shore parking lot at the end of Atlantic Avenue, and way, way down to the beach.

In Saco, about 1,200 cubic yards of sand is to be deposited on Camp Ellis Beach. The initiatives – Wells, Saco and Old Orchard Beach – are funded in a three way split, with FEMA responsible for 75 percent, the Maine Emergency Management Agency, 15 percent, and each of the municipalities, 10 percent of the $5.1 million cost. The City of Saco has also elected to fund another 6,000 cubic yards, at a cost of about $500,000, said Cleaves.

Equipment was to be staged in the Camp Ellis Pier parking lot before operations begin, said Saco Communications Director Andrew Dickinson, who said the city has notified residents who may be impacted by the route of the temporary sand pipeline and the city has partnered with Huot’s Seafood Restaurant to provide alternate parking.

“This is a true regional and community effort that will bring much-needed sand to Camp Ellis,” Dickinson said.

The Old Orchard Beach project did not include dredging, but the deposit of sand followed by dune grass planting.

On January 10 and 13, 2024,  major coastal storms caused more than $110 million in damage to protective dunes and beaches across coastal York County along with $42 million in public infrastructure damage.

The storms left coastal waterfronts bare, with virtually no natural defenses against future events, Cleaves explained. When dunes are healthy and intact, they protect roadways, homes and infrastructure.

The project to restore the beaches received final federal approval in mid- December.

The economic stakes are eye-opening:  York County's coastal tourism industry contributes more than $1.6 billion in annual spending and supports more than  27,000 jobs across the region.

The damage in Saco, Wells, and Old Orchard Beach was so severe that the federal government designated the restoration work as ‘Category B Emergency Protective Measures,’ which  provides five year flood protection. Ultimately, York County Emergency Management Agency is looking to bring coastal municipalities to 100-year flood protection and has requested $19 million through Congressionally Directed Spending to restore dunes and beaches across Old Orchard Beach, Saco, Biddeford, Kennebunkport, Wells, and Ogunquit to the 100 year standard.

Mindful of protecting Maine’s nesting shorebirds like piping plovers and roseate terns, the dredging season concludes March 15, but reopens in November.

York County government purchased the dredge in 2022 using $1.54 million from the county’s allocation of American Rescue Plan Act funds.

“This is the first of many planned projects,” said Cleaves.

The dredging project to take sand from Wells Harbor  and pump it through a temporary pipeline about 3/4 of a mile to the beach off Atlantic Avenue in Wells as part of the dune restoration project  from January 2024 storms was winding down Feb. 20 and the dredge and associated equipment was to be headed to Camp Ellis in Saco for a project there projected to commence March 2. The two projects, and a third in Old Orchard Beach where sand was trucked in as part of dune restoration, received final federal approval in mid-December.

About 100,000 dune grass plants – currently dormant like this one- were to be planted on the beach off Atlantic Avenue in Wells as part of a dune restoration project that was winding down Feb. 20. As temperatures warm, the plants will ‘awaken’ and root, helping stabilize the dunes. Massive coastal storms in January 2024 destroyed multiple dunes along coastal York County. York County Emergency Management Agency created a plan to to restore the dunes and received final federal approval to move forward in mid-December.

Five hundred bundles of dune grass, with 200 plants in each bundle, were to be planted on the newly sand-nourished dunes off Atlantic Avenue in Wells during the third week in February in order to provide a buffer from punishing storms, like the ones that devastated York County beaches in January 2024.