The City completed beach scraping at Willard Beach in March of 2025. Read the FAQs below and learn more about the City's coastal resilience efforts at southportland.gov/coastalresilience

FAQs

What is “beach scraping” and why did the City do this at Willard Beach?

Beach scraping is a manual redistribution of sand that mimics natural beach recovery processes to regrade a beach and create a ridge or “sacrificial dune” for temporary storm protection. This is a near-term coastal resilience effort City Council directed staff to pursue following an October 2024 presentation by Peter Slovinsky of the Maine Geological Survey. View the presentation and learn more at: southportland.gov/coastalresilience under the "Current Initiatives" tab.

What occurred at Willard Beach?

On March 3 and 4, 2025, bulldozers moved sand up the beach. This was done with a DEP permit and under the direction of Sue Schaller of Credere Associates, who is an expert on beach scraping projects. The City did not ship in sand, and used only sand available on the beach. The effect is a regraded beach surface in the work area (where dunes were lost to storms), and greater sand at the top of the beach along the dunes.

Was this work permitted?

Yes, this work was permitted by Maine DEP. The Parks, Recreation and Waterfront department and Sue Schaller worked with Maine Geological Survey and the Maine Dept. of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife on the permit application.

What specifically was done, and what is the expected impact?

In the process of grading, a uniform beach slope emerged during the process of moving sand upslope. It was determined it would be best to keep that form. This uniform, gradual slope means that waves run across the beach width, and dissipate energy over distance. 

Under current DEP regulations, we had a limited amount of sand we could regrade. For that reason, we built as close to a 3 foot dune as we could achieve from roughly Willard Street to Myrtle Ave. The area at the bathhouse is the most stable, and no berm was created there as it would have interfered with the playground equipment. From Myrtle Ave to Beach Street, we were limited to a 2 foot berm due to the volume of sand we were allowed to move under the DEP permit.

The daily tides carry sand onto the beach, and gradually form a natural berm. The monthly high tides form a secondary berm a little higher up. In grading the beach, we used that sand to build a higher edge on the uppermost beach. Sand was not disturbed in the inter-tidal zone so that the high tide line would remain more or less at the same level. 

If this is a "sacrificial" effort, what protection or prevention can it provide?

This is a sacrificial berm; we know that it is a temporary measure. Storms, wave action and wind can affect the berm. However, this temporary measure provides some storm protection to infrastructure like the Willard pump station and could help to replenish and stabilize the dune system.

Can we walk on/around the berm?

It’s fine to enjoy the beach, but please avoid the upper berm. The hope is that more sand begins to accumulate there and a dune system could potentially exist in the future.