Climate Driven: York County

When salt marshes are under stress, they degrade, and actually release carbon into the atmosphere. Scientists in Maine recently unlocked a mystery that helps explain what's happening to marshes — and how to restore them.

This year alone has seen record high water levels in several places, including Bar Harbor, Cutler and Wells. For coastal communities it means threats to buildings and infrastructure, loss of beaches and intrusion of salt water into private wells.

A mid-sized project in York County that's part of the state's new "community solar" program is just about to go live.

Lubelczyk says York County is a bellwether for northern counties. Deer ticks are expanding their range, and that's fueled, in part, by mild winters brought on by climate change. And in southern Maine, warmer winters make York County a potential home for new populations of ticks.

The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery is hardening its own historic facilities against higher tides, and adding flexibility to on-site energy systems.

While many communities are responding to climate change in their own ways — from installing solar panels and new culverts to opening cooling centers and forming special committees — few have made far-ranging plans that account for their own unique populations, resources and vulnerabilities.

In York County, a group of students interested in the coastal ecosystem led to the creation of a national nonprofit that hopes to activate 10 million youth in the next four years.

This story is part of our series "Climate Driven: A deep dive into Maine's response, one county at a time" — Maine's changing climate is increasing the possibility of more and bigger fires and now, like in California, prescribed burns are being used in York County as a fire management tool.