GEI worked as the lead engineering consultant for the Living Shorelines Pilot Project undertaken collaboratively by the State of Maine Department of Marine Resources, Maine Geological Survey, Casco Bay Estuary Partnership, and other partner agencies as part of a regional Living Shoreline initiative funded by NOAA. The project involved design, regulatory assistance, construction oversight, and long-term monitoring of Living Shoreline installations at three sites on Casco Bay:

• An eroding marsh located on property owned by the Maine DIF&W in the Town of Brunswick. The property is on upper Maquoit Bay adjacent to the Wharton Point Boat Launch.
• An eroding marsh located on the Maquoit Bay Conservation Lands property that is jointly owned by the Town of Brunswick and Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust. The property is on western Maquoit Bay.
• A highly unstable coastal bluff located on Lane’s Island, an undeveloped, conserved island in the Town of Yarmouth near the mouth of the Royal River that is owned by Maine Coast Heritage Trust.

GEI worked closely with the project partners to develop Living Shoreline treatment designs aimed at identifying low-cost solutions to shoreline erosion that beneficially reuse onsite and/or natural materials such as downed logs, bagged oyster shells, and native plantings, in combination with biodegradable (coconut fiber) bagging material or synthetic baskets.

Construction of the three sites were completed in 2020, followed by a three-year monitoring program to monitor the efficacy of the different installations in curtailing erosion; assess the impacts of the treatments on surrounding habitats and survivability of the installations in Maine’s harsh winter climate; and compare and contrast synthetic vs. biodegradable installations at Wharton Point and Maquoit Bay Conservation Lands.