Biddeford officially began work on coastal resiliency last week.

At a City Council meeting, local coastal resiliency experts shared data on the climate impact on Biddeford beaches, and discussed what the city can do to maintain its shoreline.

Kim Matthews of the Biddeford Coastal Preservation Coalition said a beach management program would be beneficial for the city.

“Our coastline is seeing the impact of climate change,” Matthews said. “We sustained damage in a storm last January.”

Just before a massive winter storm in January, the University of New England conducted coastal surveys.

They didn’t know just how important those surveys would be.

Will Kochtitzky, a faculty member at UNE, said the storms caused elevation loss and erosion off the dunes at Biddeford beaches.

He estimated that the beaches could have lost around 88,000 cubic yards, or approximately 6,600 dump truck loads, of sand.

“Some of that has come back, but we’re not going to get it back by dump truck,” Kochtitzky said.

Dunes are critical to protecting the shoreline, Kochtitzky said. The sand is more effective in a dune with dune grass on top of it.

“That’s the best way to stop coastal erosion, protect property behind it, and protect infrastructure behind those dunes,” Kochtitzky said.

Neighboring beaches have sustained similar damage in winter storms earlier this year.

Goose Rocks Beach in Kennebunkport sustained very similar damages, but Biddeford beaches sustained up to five times more damages than Saco beaches, Kochtitzky said.

Ahead of this year’s predictable winter storms, UNE is doing work to replace the sand and dune grass at local beaches.

UNE student Matthew Pittsley shared last week that Biddeford beaches saw an average dune retreat of 27.5 feet during last winter’s storms, with about 46% of dune area lost.

Since February, the beaches have seen 1.9 acres of dune regrowth, 35% of which is due to replanting.

“Planting was all independently done by oceanfront homeowners,” Pittsley said.

In the future, UNE will continue their work on coastal resiliency by responding to resident and city questions and concerns, improving the monitoring of beaches and reporting, and supporting the creation of a beach management plan in Biddeford.

Mayor Martin Grohman called the report “remarkable stuff” at last week’s meeting.

“We’re on our way,” Grohman said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t have this in January, but there will be more planning and support for the next storm.”