ALF Releases Maine Light Station Climate Impacts Survey Report

As a result of the winter 2024 storms, the American Lighthouse Foundation formed a Storm & Mitigation Response Team in April 2024. Over the past two years, the team has been working to develop a series of solution-based strategies that will help lighthouses become more resilient in the face of future storms.

To assist the Storm & Mitigation Response Team in identifying how light stations along the Maine coast are being impacted by climate events and what the most critical needs are for light station stewards, an online survey was sent to forty-seven Maine light stations in May 2025. Thirty-three survey responses were received for an exceptional response rate of around 70%.

To more fully understand how light stations are being affected by intensifying weather events, what the resulting impacts of the incidents are, how stewards are moving to address repairs and make their light stations more resilient, and what the key impediments / issues are that stewards are facing, the survey questions were structured around the following key topic areas:

• History of weather-related events
• Impacts from weather incidents
• Damage assessments and emergency and permanent repairs
• Funding for emergency and permanent repairs including resilience work
• Light station concerns, issues and obstacles

The ALF Storm & Mitigation Response Team released the findings of the Maine Light Station Climate Impacts Survey Report in March 2026.