ISBN: 978-0-9708327-7-1
Citation: Merrill S, Kirshen P, Yakovleff D, et al.. COAST in Action: 2012 Projects From New Hampshire and Maine. Portland, ME: New England Environmental Finance Center; 2012; Series Report #12-05. Abstract: In summer 2011 the US EPA’s Climate Ready Estuaries program awarded funds to the Casco Bay Estuary Partnership (CBEP) in Portland, Maine, and the Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership (PREP) in coastal New Hampshire, to further develop and use COAST (Coastal Adaptation to Sea level rise Tool) in their sea level rise adaptation planning processes. The New England Environmental Finance Center worked with municipal staff, elected officials, and other stakeholders to select specific locations, vulnerable assets, and adaptation actions to model using COAST. The EFC then collected the appropriate base data layers, ran the COAST simulations, and provided visual, numeric, and presentation-based products in support of the planning processes underway in both locations. These products helped galvanize support for the adaptation planning efforts. Through facilitated meetings they also led to stakeholders identifying specific action steps and begin to determine how to implement them.
This report complements and expands upon the information in the 2005 Casco Bay Estuary Partnership report, State of the Bay. This current report, Toxic Pollution in Casco Bay, details studies undertaken by Casco Bay Estuary Partnership (CBEP) and others on some of the sources of toxic chemicals entering the Bay and its watershed, on the impacts of toxic chemicals on Casco Bay wildlife, and on potential risks to human consumers of fish and shellfish. The report does not, however, address groundwater pollution and drinking water issues. The report conludes with ways that CBEP and partner organizations are working to reduce the loading of toxic chemicals to the Bay and its watershed.
This report complements and expands upn the information in the 2005 Casco Bay Estuary Partnership report, State of the Bay. This current report, Toxic Pollution in Casco Bay, details studies undertaken by Casco Bay Estuary Partnership (CBEP) and others on some of the sources of toxic chemicals entering the Bay and its watershed, on the impacts of toxic chemicals on Casco Bay wildlife, and on potential risks to human consumers of fish and shellfish. The report does not, however, address groundwater pollution and drinking water issues. The report conludes with ways that CBEP and partner organizations are working to reduce the loading of toxic chemicals to the Bay and its watershed.
This report describes how the climate of Casco Bay watershed in Maine has changed over the past century and how the future climate of the region is likely to be affected by human emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases that are warming the planet. Overall, the region has been getting warmer and wetter over the last century, and these trends have increased over the last four decades. To generate future projections for Portland, Farmington, and Lewiston, simulated temperature and precipitation from four climate models were fitted to local, long-term weather observations. Unknowns regarding fossil fuel consumption were accounted for by using two future scenarios. The scenarios describe climate in terms of temperature and precipitation for three future periods: the near-term, 2010-2039, mid-century, 2040-2069, and end-of-century, 2070-2099. All changes are relative to a historical baseline, 1970-1999. Some future changes are inevitable, so smart choices must be made to ensure our society and our environment will be able to adapt to coming change. But with prompt action, many of the most extreme consequences of climate change could be avoided or their worst impacts reduced.
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