CASCO, Maine — Sebago Lake has nearly a trillion gallons of water in it, according to the Portland Water District.
When wind blows over the state’s second-largest lake, it can create sizable waves that crash on its beaches. And that means serious erosion issues.
The erosion on Songo Beach, located on the lake's northern end, is so severe that the waterfront is now 100 feet further inland than it was 50 years ago, Parks Bureau Senior Planner Owen Blease said.
Some creative engineers in Blease's office recently built “living shoreline” barriers on the beach. These buried trees are expected to immediately slow down the erosion, and eventually grow a new forest in time. Blease believed this was the first time this method had been used on any lake in Maine, but that nature's answer was a sound one.
"That allows sand that’s in the waves to settle out. And the idea is to rebuild the beach over time," Blease explained. "And you see a lot of plants and parts of trees here, but the goal is that over time, those will actually revegetate; and this will stabilize and become a more natural looking shoreline."
Carine Brown with the Portland Water District, said the work was paid for by a grant and that other grants are available for Sebago landowners who want to try this method, on their waterfront as well.