Finding Common Ground on Maine's Beaches

In 1989, after a few years away, my wife and I moved back to Maine. Just a few months earlier, the Maine Supreme Court had handed down its Moody Beach decision, confining public use of privately owned beach property to the colonial eras permitted uses of fishing, fowling and navigation. As someone with a profound love for the Maine coast, I read the courts decision with great personal and professional interest.

For most of my career, I have worked to conserve special places in Maine  to protect natural resources and to provide the public with access to the coast. Realizing that 2014 would mark 25 years since Moody, I organized a public lecture series so people could better understand and appreciate the legal issues surrounding public access and private ownership of coastal lands.

This summer and fall the Reserve hosted four evenings that involved all the key players from Moody and subsequent court cases dealing with coastal access in Maine. Each time, we filled the auditorium to capacity.

It was a great experience for all of us. Together we learned that Maine is not an anomaly; other states have access conflicts and must also contend with legal ambiguities over shoreline use and ownership.

Volunteers Track Long-Term Trends in Beach Erosion

Sand beaches are incredibly valuable to Maine. Sea walls and jetties disrupt the natural movement of sand along the coastline, creating areas of erosion that combined with rising sea level and increased frequency and severity of storms have contributed to an overall net loss of sand.