A Bowdoin College professor is helping coastal Maine communities respond to the anticipated impacts of climate induced natural disasters. Eileen Johnson, an Environmental Studies lecturer, is serving as a key technical adviser to the Island Institute in Rockland for an 18-month-long project funded by a $240,000 grant from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Johnson, alongside a committee at the Island Institute, will build a network of technical experts and local advocates. Together, they will identity particularly vulnerable infrastructure and discuss the best places to invest in order to help mitigate storm surges and rising sea levels.

There are approximately 120 island communities along the 3,000 miles of Maine’s coast. Working waterfronts and the fishing industry are key to Maine’s economy, Johnson said. However, that means there is a lot to lose if infrastructure is inadequate in the face of potential flooding.

“It’s a pretty big and daunting challenge,” said Johnson. “We’re not presuming that we know the communities that have the questions, but we’re saying let’s be open to the communities that have challenges that they’re trying to get some assistance with.”

“The difference here in Maine is that we do depend on the ocean for so many people’s livelihood,” said Susie Arnold, a marine scientist at the Island Institute. “We have the ocean and critical infrastructure that’s located on the coast that needs to stay on the coast, and so that’s a little bit different from dealing with residences.

You can relocate your residence, but you can’t relocate your ferry terminal or fishing coop.”

The project — still in its initial planning stages — has not yet identified the specific communities that they will be working with. Arnold said that they will focus on at least five rural communities along the coast as well as island communities.

The project came about when coastal communities began voicing their concerns to the Island Institute. After receiving feedback regarding flood insurance and unstable infrastructure, the Island Institute decided to apply to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The grant is part of a $3.2 million fund that has supported almost 12 other coastal organizations throughout the nation in their mission to ensure resilience in their communities.

Johnson, who’s specifically interested in issues of social vulnerability, also teaches geographic information systems and remote sensing. Come next spring, she hopes to include students in the project.

In the meantime, committee members are working to identify good case studies at the town level to be used as examples for coastal communities to “get up to speed,” Johnson said. They also plan to set up vulnerability assessments later on.

The project won’t come without a fair share of trouble shooting, Arnold said. She foresees issues of both funding and manpower in small communities where planning is done without factoring climate change.

She’s hopeful, however, that by increasing scientific literacy on topics of sea level rise and storm surges, coastal communities can begin to combat the imminent dangers of climate change at a critical time.

TIMES RECORD intern Surya Milner is a Bowdoin College student.