The acceleration of sea level rise due to climate change has prompted some analysts to predict a decline in the value of waterfront properties. But that hasn't happened in Maine. In fact, the value of beachfront houses has skyrocketed. Part of the reason may be that people simply love to live on the water, and can afford to. And for some, the risks of rising seas and more powerful storms just don't seem all that imminent.
Caitlin Cleaver, the director of the Bates-Morse Mountain Conservation Area in Phippsburg, is on a dune looking out over Seawall Beach and the Sprague Marsh behind it.