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Home > Explore! > Coastal Marine Geology > Maine Beaches Conference > Program > Priorities for Beach Users

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The Future of Maine's Changing Beaches:

Diverse Interests and Common Goals

Concurrent Session II

11:30 - 12:15 p.m. at locations to be announced.

Maine's Changing Beaches: Priorities for Beach Users

  • Ben Keller, Action Sports Videographer, Surfer, and Community Activist from Scarborough
  • John White, Kennebunk Conservation Commission
  • Connie Garber, Transportation Director of York County Community Action Corp.
  • Linda Lyman, Kennebunk Dog Advisory Committee

This is one of three, priority setting and problem solving sessions facilitated by leaders in each stakeholder group. Findings from each session will be reported back at conference closing.

Recreational Beach Users, including surfers, anglers, kayakers, and general beach users and others, are invited to prioritize issues facing the group today as well as to devise solutions for those issues of greatest concern. This audience driven discussion will also seek to identify how changing factors portrayed in the morning plenary session will impact Recreational Users in the future. (ie surf/kayak zones, access, parking water quality, fishing, beach safety, facilities and beach cleanliness to name a few.)

The session will be facilitated by Ben Keller, Producer, Cinematographer, Editor, Community Activist best known for his 2003 winter surfing documentary Ishmael. The session will feature a panel of three community leaders. Panelist Judy Bernstein is Town Planner of Kennebunk who has been instrumental in spearheading the coastal Doggie Bag Program. Connie Garber is Transportation Director of York County Community Action Corp, responsible for the new coastal trolley system which helps to mitigate parking and transportation concerns in her area. Eric Medvec, Physical Therapist and writer/Health advisor for N'East magazine, has been recognized for his understanding of beach user behavior modifications for the future. While working to develop our list of priorities this session seeks to empower the audience to get involved in local community beach related issues. Take potential solutions away from this session and apply them directly to your local issues. Learn how Higgins Beach and other communities have handled local surf ordinances and come away with a model to be applied elsewhere. Learn how communities have successfully handled dog-waste and beach facility needs and apply these models to your own community. Discuss how increased population and usage will further strain already difficult parking situations and generate ideas to share with other stakeholder groups in your community. Find out who to contact, where to go to get started on an issue and how to measure results.

Our resulting priority issues list along with solutions will then be presented to the other coastal stakeholder groups at the conference conclusion. Sharing these findings will promote the identification of links and potential areas for compromise. This format will help our group gain better insight into the concerns of other coastal stakeholders; ultimately allowing us all to be more effective problem solvers.

Please join us for this energetic session seeking to empower YOU, the Recreational User, to help preserve and protect the future of Maine's Beaches.

Last updated on June 18, 2007