CMP Teams with Local Environmental Specialists on erosion project in ME
In 2022, Central Maine Power (CMP) initiated restoration work at a transmission line site in Kennebunk, Maine to address sedimentation and erosion concerns, as well as protect biodiversity in an area of its service territory with unique ecological characteristics that also supports local sources of drinking water.
Globally, climate change is creating a loss of biodiversity and degradation of ecosystems. This project presented an opportunity for CMP to act proactively to combat these trends.
Beneath these transmission lines, erosion from ATVs that had been exacerbated by heavier and heavier rainfall events was degrading habitat for state-protected and environmentally sensitive species including snakes, birds and rare plants.
Alongside community partners, such as the Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Wells (KK&W) Water District, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and The Nature Conservancy, CMP began executing a plan to restore a massive, eroded gully, shore up hillsides and provide environmentally appropriate water passage to address surface flow, that provided mutual benefits to these protected, sensitive plants and animals.
“We installed a head wall to protect the recontoured slopes,” said Bill Goggin, an Environmental Manager for Programs and Projects at CMP, who also holds a professional certification as a wildlife biologist.
“This water supply is critical,” he added, noting that that tens of thousands of local water customers rely on the Branch Brook aquifer that also feeds streams and brooks beneath the CMP lines. According to Trout Unlimited, this stream course provides the best brook trout habitat in Southern Maine.
Other improvements to the area between 2022 and 2024 included CMP adding erosion control mulch and reseeding native grasses in damaged and barren areas to slow down water flow. This prevents rainfall from picking up sediment that could end up being deposited in creeks.
A final project highlight occurred this past August when CMP installed an interpretive sign at the main restoration area adjacent to the Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Refuge’s trail system. This sign educates trail users on the area’s sensitivity and highlights the story of the CMP and Avangrid’s partnership with the local community to protect and restore the site.The sign highlights Avangrid’s biodiversity policy and the company’s commitment to respect and maintain biodiversity and important ecosystems.
