Posted on February 11, 2025
Officials put $1.5 million in federal pandemic recovery funds toward a machine that will be used to rebuild sand dunes wiped away by recent storms.
York County officials are hopeful that a dredge machine purchased with COVID-19 relief funds will finally be put to work this month.
In 2021, York County received $40.3 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, part of more than $4.5 billion in federal money that went to Maine to support recovery from the pandemic.
In late 2022, York County commissioners voted to use $1.54 million in ARPA funds to purchase an Ellicott dredge machine, which they plan to use to mitigate coastal erosion.
The move was championed by local shoreline advocacy group SOS Saco, whose president Kevin Roche said the group felt the county could mirror the success of Barnstable County’s dredge program in Cape Cod.
“‘Build it and they will come,’ the Field of Dreams movie quote, is similar to our feeling of ‘buy the dredge, and communities will use it,’” said Roche.
The dredge machine will be used to move sand and reinforce beaches, rebuilding sand dunes that were wiped away in last year’s storms.
York County Emergency Management director Arthur Cleaves said restoring sand dunes is imperative to protect the coast, as sand dunes act as a natural buffer to help provide protection against high waves and storm surges.
The county approved the purchase of the dredge in 2022 with the intent that a new non-profit, Southern Maine Dredge Authority, would be created to oversee it. However, when the dredge machine purchase was completed, the authority had not formed yet, said York County Manager Greg Zinser, and the county took ownership of the dredge.
Because the purchase was made by the county itself and money was not directly allotted to a non-profit, under federal regulations the county had to maintain ownership of the dredge, said Zinser.
“Once we bought it, we technically couldn’t give it to them,” he said. “We would have had to sell it to them at market value.”
With the county as the owners of the dredge, decisions had to be made on where to store it, who would operate it, and where funding for operational costs would come from.
After the January 2024 storms wreaked havoc along the coast, resulting in $29 million in damages, York County received assistance from FEMA. The approval of FEMA funds was key to getting the dredge in operation.
“That was kind of a turning point. It opened up a funding stream that would allow us to move the project forward,” said Zinser.
He anticipates the cost for the dredging will be reimbursed 75 percent by FEMA, 15 percent by the state and 10 percent by the municipality where the dredging is taking place, he said.
The county went out to bid and selected Michels Construction of Wisconsin to run the dredge on a contract basis for coastal communities that have signed a memorandum of understanding with the county.
“They’ll be using our dredge but providing the staff and support,” said Zinser.
Anchor QEA of Amesbury, Massachusetts, was also hired to provide environmental science and engineering consulting services.
“It’s a great thing. It’s a good piece of equipment, but it takes a lot of people to run it,” said Wells Harbormaster Michael Yorke.
The dredge machine will be used to move sand and reinforce beaches, rebuilding sand dunes that were wiped away in last year’s storms. Photo courtesy York County Government.
After sitting in Saco’s public works garage for over a year, the dredge was transported to Portland for assembly in April 2024, then towed to Wells Harbor on May 9, where it was moored under a three-year agreement between the town and the county.
The town of Wells is happy to host the dredge, said Yorke.
“We want to support it. It’s a good cause,” he said.
Wells will be the first community to use the dredge, with plans to get it operating later this month. Michels knows the area well, as it was the contractor for the Wells federal navigation project in 2024. The town owns a pushboat similar to the one that Michels used last year, which will be used for the dredging, said Yorke.
Saco is hoping to get everything in place to use the dredge after Wells before the window of opportunity closes. Dredging season is from November to mid-April, to minimize impacts on marine life and nesting habitats.
“The nice part of all this is the level of cooperation between the county and all the communities,” said Zinser. “With all of us working together, this has come together quite nicely.”
