Event Recording: Panelists Discuss How Maine’s Saltwater Wetlands Are Under Pressure

This story was originally published in The Maine Monitor.

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The Maine Monitor and the Wells Reserve at Laudholm jointly hosted an expert panel discussion on Maine’s saltwater wetlands on March 27, moderated by editor Kate Cough. The event was produced with support from the Pulitzer Center. 

Wetlands are some of the world’s most productive habitats and important ecological resources. Maine has the largest wetland area anywhere in New England, with four times that of the other five states combined. 

Yet since 2008, more than 12.5 million square feet of the state’s wetlands have been impacted by development, and many have been lost entirely. Maine’s tidal wetlands are some of the most at risk, threatened by rising seas and surrounded by development, with little space to migrate. 

Among the panelists were Susan Adamowicz, a land management research demonstration biologist at the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge; Jacob Aman, stewardship director at the Wells Reserve; and Jeremy Gabrielson, senior conservation and community planner at Maine Coast Heritage Trust. 

The panel discussion is part of a reporting project Cough has undertaken that will explore the history, current use, and pressures Maine’s coastal wetlands face, as well as the solutions to save them.