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Maine Island Institute Gets $240,000 to Help Prepare for Sea Level Rise

The Island Institute is receiving $240,000 from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to fund a project about disaster preparedness in Maine related to sea level rise.

The Institute says the money will help pay for a project that benefits Maine’s island and coastal communities by addressing threats from natural disasters and environmental change stemming from rising sea levels.

Island Institute marine scientist Susie Arnold says island communities have no choice about where much of their working waterfront infrastructure is located.

“It’s critical it be placed in the water. For instance, ferry terminals or lobster wharfs, things the island residents need to get on and off the island and to conduct their businesses. So this infrastructure is, in many instances, vulnerable to sea level rise,” she says.

The institute says it will work with 150 partners to identify risks to working areas of the Maine waterfront. The group says its goal is to increase resilience in coastal areas as environmental conditions change.

Ed is a Maine native who spent his early childhood in Livermore Falls before moving to Farmington. He graduated from Mount Blue High School in 1970 before going to the University of Maine at Orono where he received his BA in speech in 1974 with a broadcast concentration. It was during that time that he first became involved with public broadcasting. He served as an intern for what was then called MPBN TV and also did volunteer work for MPBN Radio.