Morse River migration, storms drive 92-foot annual shoreline loss
Visitors to Popham Beach in Phippsburg this summer encountered weathered Christmas trees scattered across the upper sand dunes. The trees were not debris from a holiday mishap. They had been intentionally placed by crews working on “living shoreline” restoration to help rebuild dunes ravaged by harsh winter storms in December 2023 and January 2024, according to reporting by the Maine Monitor distributed by The Associated Press.
The Popham project is one of several “living shoreline” efforts along the Maine coast — projects that use natural materials such as discarded trees, logs, and plants to stabilize dunes. Popham, one of Maine’s most popular day-use state parks, is among the sites where the technique is being applied.
Maine beaches are dynamic, shaped by wind and tides, the Maine Monitor/AP report noted — but the changes at Popham have been particularly dramatic in recent years.
The scale of the erosion is documented in data from the Maine Geological Survey’s beach-mapping project. The beach lost an average of roughly 92 feet of shoreline annually between 2017 and 2025, the survey found.
According to the report, the retreat has been driven in part by the migration of the Morse River, whose swift currents have cut into the dunes at the river’s edge. Increasingly intense storms have compounded the loss, producing extensive changes to a popular Maine shoreline.
The Maine Monitor/AP report described the overall results of the living shoreline work along the Maine coast as showing “mixed success.”
According to the Maine Monitor/AP report, the same forces driving erosion at Popham — Morse River migration and intense storms — remain ongoing challenges along the coast.