SOS Saco Bay hosts third annual conference

More than 125 people gathered Tuesday at Ferry Beach Conference Center in Saco for the third annual Coastal Conference.

The conference was hosted by SOS Saco Bay, a local non-profit group committed to the preservation of the coastline. The conference featured state and municipal officials as well as experts in the field and local leaders. Participants came from across the state and beyond.

Discussions included confronting climate change, sea level rise planning, erosion mitigation, and ways to protect the shoreline by working with nature. Legislators from coastal communities in southern Maine held a roundtable in the afternoon and discussed the impacts of last winter’s climate-driven storms on their communities, as well as steps the legislature has taken recently to improve coastal resilience and combat climate change.

The conference also had a student track that included discussion on The Living Shoreline Project at the University of New England as well as salt marsh restoration and invasive species control at the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge. Students also got a chance to conduct a field exercise and fly a drone to monitor erosion at the beach at Camp Ellis.

To learn more about SOS Saco Bay, go to their website or check out their Facebook page.