[watershedmanagers] Thanks For Joining Us at the Nature-Based Strategies for a Climate Ready Southern Maine Workshop

Thu Oct 30 09:32:21 EDT 2025

Good Morning,

Thank you for joining the Wells Reserve, Southern Maine Planning and Development Commission, and the York County Soil and Water Conservation District for the Nature-Based Strategies for a Climate Ready Southern Maine workshop on September 22nd at the Wells Reserve. We had 56 attendees from 34 different organizations including town governments, state agencies, and engineering firms. We appreciated the opportunity to connect and to share new tools and resources designed to advance effective and equitable nature-based strategies for a climate ready southern Maine.

We thank you for participating and sharing your insights into the decision-support tool,<https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/78ffbbafe86944ad84e1a9be440a2c05> the local, place-based, and Indigenous knowledge resource, and the conceptual design examples. Your feedback and ideas will help shape how these tools evolve and how we will continue to support communities and practitioners across the region. To read more about the project, visit the project webpage.<https://wellsreserve.org/project/nature-based-solutions-for-a-climate-ready-southern-maine>

As a follow-up, we wanted to share a few additional resources from the Maine DEP's "OUR SHORE<https://www.maine.gov/dep/land/ourshore/index.html>" program, which complement the topics we touched on last month.

  *   OUR SHORE draft: Attached is the latest draft of a new resource that outlines practical steps for assessing shoreline stability and selecting appropriate nature-based stabilization tools.  Please note that this is still in draft form!
  *   Hand Planting Infographic: Also attached is a visual summary of recent clarifications to permitting exemptions.

We encourage you to review these materials and share them with others who may benefit. If you have additional feedback, or examples of how you plan to use the tools and resources presented, we would be interested to hear from you!

Thank you again for being part of this important conversation and for the work you do to support resilient coastal communities in southern Maine.

Best regards,
Melanie Nash, mnash at smpdc.org<mailto:mnash at smpdc.org>
Jake Aman, jaman at wellsnerr.org<mailto:jaman at wellsnerr.org>
Jessica Brunacini, jbrunacini at wellsnerr.org<mailto:jbrunacini at wellsnerr.org>
Alex Brown, abrown at yorkswcd.org<mailto:abrown at yorkswcd.org>
-----------------------------------------
Melanie Nash
Sustainability & Resilience Planner
Southern Maine Planning and Development Commission
mnash at smpdc.org<mailto:mnash at smpdc.org>
(207) 571-7065
Pronouns: She, her, hers

From: Melanie Nash
Sent: Tuesday, August 5, 2025 2:50 PM
To: Melanie Nash <MNash at smpdc.org>
Cc: jbrunacini at wellsnerr.org; Jake Aman <jacobaman at wellsnerr.org>; Alexandra Brown <abrown at yorkswcd.org>
Subject: NEW! Nature Based Strategy Decision Support Tool Launch & SAVE THE DATE! Climate Ready Coast Southern Maine Workshop - 9/22, 11am-2p @ the Wells Reserve

Good afternoon,

For the past two years, the Southern Maine Planning and Development Commission, the Wells Reserve, and the York County Soil and Water Conservation District have been working together to develop tools and resources that help advance effective and equitable nature-based strategies for a climate ready southern Maine. Now, we have two exciting updates to share!

NEW! Nature-Based Strategies Decision Support Tool
We are pleased to announce the launch of the new Decision Support Tool for Nature-Based Strategies in Southern Maine<https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/78ffbbafe86944ad84e1a9be440a2c05>. We developed this tool to improve the availability of information about site suitability for nature-based strategies and to support implementation of the Climate Ready Coast Southern Maine Regional Resilience Plan<https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/4b1a578fa6f84e8b83593c17d9c824aa>. For more information, please see the full launch announcement (attached).

SAVE THE DATE!
Nature-Based Strategies for a Climate Ready Southern Maine Workshop

On Monday, September 22nd, we are hosting a workshop to explore the tools and resources we've created as part of the Nature-Based Strategies for a Climate Ready Coast Southern Maine project<https://wellsreserve.org/project/nature-based-solutions-for-a-climate-ready-southern-maine>. This in-person workshop will be held from 11am - 2pm at the Wells Reserve. Lunch will be provided.

Workshop highlights include:

  *   An interactive walkthrough of the new Decision Support Tool
  *   An engaging review of another new resource we're developing about approaches for weaving local, place-based, and Indigenous knowledges into NBS projects and processes
  *   A presentation of NBS conceptual designs developed for the Town of York's Steedman Woods
  *   Opportunities to connect, provide feedback, and learn about other NBS resources

More details and a formal invitation with registration link will follow shortly, but for now, please mark your calendars. We hope to see you on September 22nd!

Kind Regards,
Melanie
on behalf of the Nature-Based Strategies for a Climate Ready Southern Maine project team

-----------------------------------------
Melanie Nash
Sustainability & Resilience Planner
Southern Maine Planning and Development Commission
mnash at smpdc.org<mailto:mnash at smpdc.org>
(207) 571-7065
Pronouns: She, her, hers

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