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On January 15, 2025, all 66 Maine lighthouses were named en masse to the Global Watch of The World Monuments Fund (WMF). For the past thirty years, the WMF has maintained this list of “heritage places of global significance that are facing pressure related to the most important global pressures of our time.”
The WMF 2025 cycle of the biennial, nomination-based advocacy program features 25 historic places facing major challenges, including climate change, conflict, natural disasters and tourism. The 25 sites were chosen from over 200 nominations, originating from 69 nations, and include Ukraine, Gaza, Africa and Maine.
So why are Maine’s lighthouses garnering attention from an international preservation organization such as the World Monuments Fund?
For starters, the urgency of Maine’s fast-changing climate situation was made abundantly clear when two winter storms battered the New England coast in January 2024. Although only modest storms, they coincided with the highest tide ever recorded in Portland, Maine.
The damage was unprecedented, with widespread loss to commercial, residential and municipal assets, as well as historic lighthouses. Of Maine’s 66 lighthouses, 23 suffered significant damage from the high water and storm surge. The impact of climate change was suddenly thrust to the forefront of public discourse – and in a big way.
Lighthouses were, of course, built in harm’s way to be as close as possible to shipping lanes and entrances to harbors, regardless of the weather threats at the time. Lighthouses were also established on some of the most exposed hazards to navigation, including wave-swept ledges.
However, the intensity and frequency of these threats has changed since lighthouses were built over the past two centuries. Today, sea levels are increasing faster in Maine than elsewhere because of changes taking place in the Gulf of Maine. The cold Labrador Current is weakening, and the warm Gulf Stream in strengthening.
Further, the shallow bathtub-shape of the Gulf of Maine makes it particularly susceptible to these new influences. Water increases in volume as it heats, and this localized thermal expansion is the cause of the unique levels of sea level rise, which Maine is now experiencing.
Given this plight facing Maine’s lighthouses and their supporting light station structures, it became clear that the growing threat required a larger voice who could amplify the critical need to make these historic treasures more resilient. Hence a nomination to the World Monuments Fund’s 2025 Watch List was submitted.
This nomination to the WMF was jointly submitted by Bob Trapani, Jr. of American Lighthouse Foundation, Ford Reiche of The Presumpscot Foundation, and Maine Preservation. Trapani and Reiche had inventoried the damage right after the two storm events in January 2024.
Traveling by helicopter along the coast, the duo documented and photographed the harm inflicted upon light station buildings and their docks/access points. The state’s coastal wreckage extended beyond historic structures, of course, but among the historic buildings, it was the lighthouses that were by far the largest group adversely impacted.
Subsequently, Trapani and Reiche reached out to policymakers and funders to draw attention to this unfolding situation. Their work eventually led them to the Senate-appointed chairperson of the Advisory Council of Historic Preservation (ACHP), the group which advises the US president and Congress on such matters. ACHP Chair Sara Bronin listened to their story, and suggested the nomination to WMF’s Global Watch List.
The WMF supports listed sites with financial aid and guidance, along with monitoring/mitigation efforts. In the biennial listings, the WMF selects the most poignant examples of the worst threats to the world’s historic cultural treasures. The two sites selected to represent climate change on this 2025 Watch List, were the Swahili Coast in Africa and Maine’s Lighthouses.
What the World Monuments Fund 2025 Watch List selection means . . .
This inclusion on the Watch List is a recognition of both the global and cultural significance of Maine’s Lighthouses, and the particular threat they face from climate change. It is a data point, or an unfortunate credential, that will help policymakers and funders understand that there is action underway that warrants prompt attention and support.
The most needed form of aid is financial, of course. During the past few decades, all but eight of Maine’s 66 lighthouses have been transferred by the U.S. Coast Guard to new owners. Many of these stewards are small organizations and private parties, who had no preview of the challenges that would be imposed by the fast-changing climate. Generally, these stewards lack the expertise and resources to provide for the enhanced protections required by lighthouses. The WMF listing will help the government and public realize the importance of financial support.
The World Monuments Fund does provide a certain level of financial support to the 25 sites on its Watch List, while also overseeing a structured planning response. Another benefit of being placed on the Global Watch List will be to alert policymakers and regulators for the need to change some regulations. Responding to storm damage requires both restoration and implementation of mitigation measures to avoid a repetition of the harm.
There are complex regulations in place, which can present counterproductive hurdles. For instance, there is a federal law which prohibits rebuilding of structures in flood zones if the storm damage amounted to more than 50% of the structure’s value. This is a very complicated equation to manage for an historic lighthouse. Repair of the $300,000 storm damage at Halfway Rock Light Station in Casco Bay was held up for three months because of this flood zone regulation.
Another example of a regulation, which can present an obstacle, is the federal government easement which attaches to most historic lighthouses: they cannot be modified on the exterior without advance review and approval of the Dept of Interior or their local State Historic Preservation Officer.
Lighthouses can significantly limit future storm damage with some exterior modifications such as securely cabling small structures and docks to ledge, adding wave barriers or seawalls, and installing storm shutters over doors and windows during the winter. Fortunately, Maine’s State Historic Preservation Office is very responsive to this need, but that is reportedly not the case in all states.
The nonprofit American Lighthouse Foundation (ALF) has also assembled a Storm & Mitigation Response Team, of which Trapani and Reiche are a part of, to inventory the storm damage and explore affordable mitigation efforts and best practices, which might be employed to limit future harm.
Students in the Marine Science program at University of New England will be helping ALF with the inventory and monitoring process of storm-damaged lighthouse sites. In addition, the American Lighthouse Foundation is planning to take these experiences in Maine and use the lessons learned to help other lighthouses around the country.
Having Maine’s Lighthouses named to the Global Watch List of The World Monuments Fund is not a final solution, but it is an important step in the process. The listing will help focus attention and mobilize resources to prepare for future of storms with increased frequency and intensity. Fortunately, some identified mitigation measures may prove to be both affordable and effective, if implemented soon enough.
Lighthouses need many champions to ensure their well-being in the face of our changing climate. The World Monuments Fund has stepped forward and is ready to help the American Lighthouse Foundation, The Presumpscot Foundation and Maine Preservation raise public awareness and galvanize action on behalf of Maine’s lighthouses. This is exactly what we need in the now.
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