The Wrack

Before the holidays came we hosted our eighth and final climate game workshop at Litchfield’s Bar and Grill. The workshops, part of the New England Climate Adaptation Project, simulated the process that a town …

The following was published in the Biddeford-Saco Journal Tribune Sunday edition, 11/24/13:

Many of the staff of the Wells Reserve at Laudholm were in West Virginia this past week for the annual conference of the 28 national estuarine research reserves. Researchers, educators, conservationists, land managers and even evangelists like me pulled ourselves away from our coastal homes to share ideas, hammer out new projects for 2014, and do some good old-fashioned colleague schmoozing.

I flew out of Portland on a sparkling, "unlimited visibility" Monday afternoon. My Southwest flight passed three miles above the Wells Reserve, giving me the rare opportunity to get a live bird's eye view of our little corner of the Maine coast. Looking down, I smiled quietly over how beautiful and tranquil the place looked.

Welcome to the town of Launton, it’s a lot like Wells.

Ever since Hurricane Paul devastated communities to the south of Launton, the residents have been asking the town manager: can we handle a storm like that? What’s our plan?

Feeling pressured, the town manager convened a Coastal Resiliency Task Force. Their charge: make some recommendations about what the town should do with existing and future development.

Who is on the task force? You are! You’ll be assuming one of the many interests that exist in a town a lot like Wells. From Emergency Management Official to Director of the Chamber of Commerce, you’ve got opinions, and you think the town has a solution. But can you come to consensus with the other members on the team? Can you compromise on issues near and dear to your heart, for the sake of the town?