SACO, Maine — U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R) joined local, state and federal officials in Saco Tuesday to mark the official start of construction on the Camp Ellis Shore Damage Mitigation Project, a long-awaited effort aimed at reducing shoreline erosion and storm damage in one of Maine’s most vulnerable coastal neighborhoods.
The event included remarks from Saco Mayor Jodi MacPhail, U.S. Sen. Angus King (I), Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Adam Telle, and Col. Justin Pabis, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ New England District.
Collins, who serves as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, secured $23 million last year to support construction of the project, which includes a 750-foot spur jetty and sand replenishment at Camp Ellis. She also secured $750,000 in 2024 to help fund the project’s design, after previously championing a provision in the 2022 Water Resources Development Act that authorized $45 million for a permanent solution to the severe and ongoing erosion at Camp Ellis.
“What a great day for Camp Ellis and the City of Saco. They say that good things come to those who wait. Well, that may be true, but I would say that the vital project we launch today proves that good things come to those who join together in a common cause and who persevere,” Collins said during her remarks.
“Throughout this long ordeal, the people of Camp Ellis and nearby communities banded as informed and determined advocates. By decreasing the wave energy reaching Camp Ellis Beach and reducing the loss of sediment from the shoreline, this project will help protect property and restore the beachfront. To call this a long-awaited moment misses the mark. This is a long-championed victory, won by a resolute community that refused to give up,” she said.
The Camp Ellis jetty was built by the federal government more than 150 years ago, long before the erosional impacts of shoreline structures were widely understood. While the jetty served navigational needs, it also contributed to decades of serious erosion and property damage along the Saco shoreline.
Over the last century, 38 homes have washed into the sea, the shoreline has receded by approximately 400 feet, and roads have been lost.
The project now underway is designed to reduce wave energy generated by the existing north jetty and lessen shoreline erosion at Camp Ellis, offering residents and property owners a measure of protection after generations of damage and uncertainty.
For Camp Ellis residents, Tuesday’s construction launch marked more than the beginning of a federal infrastructure project. It represented the culmination of years of advocacy from a coastal community that has watched the sea steadily claim homes, roads and beachfront and refused to stop pressing for a solution.
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