PHIPPSBURG, Maine — After noticing accelerated erosion along Maine's beaches, folks at the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry are looking to reuse Christmas trees to rebuild sand dunes at Popham Beach State Park.
"It seems like with more severe weather events that are occurring more frequently, the beach is having less time to recover that sand that's being pulled out," park manager Sean Vaillancourt said.
After getting wind of a similar program in the Carolinas, Vaillancourt and others decided to try and replicate the success.
"This past storm in December, park staff called us back and said, 'Hey, what do you think about trying that tree project again, except this time using Christmas trees?" Peter Slovinsky recalled, a marine geologist collaborating on the project.
Slovinsky previously ran a trial program using driftwood along Williard Beach in South Portland using the same method.
He says if done correctly, by laying the trees along the coast, the harsh winter winds may be able to push enough sand to get caught in the trees, rebuilding the dunes.
"What we're trying to do is catch it at a point where the river isn't whipping too close to the bath house, and right now all of the dunes there have been flattened by the storm in December of this year," Slovinsky added. "So come February or so, we're hoping we're going to be in a better situation."
Right now, Vaillancourt only has around a hundred of the 350 trees needed in order to cover the length of the beach and hopes others will spread the word to donate their leftover trees.
"If we don't fortify the dunes, we're not really going to have a beach in the long term, it's going to help us keep our infrastructure here like this bath house, the septic system and the water lines," Vaillancourt said.
Organizers hope to have the correct permits in place to lay the trees by early 2024.