The Beach Profile Monitoring Program's success can be credited to more than 150 community and school volunteers. Coordinated by staff at Maine Sea Grant, volunteers monitor beaches on a monthly basis throughout the year. The program was established in 1999 at seven beaches with funding provided by Maine Sea Grant to geologists at the University of Maine and Maine Geological Survey. Over the years, the program has continued to expand and now includes 15 beaches between York and South Portland . Volunteers use a simple surveying technique to measure the contour of their beaches. An online data entry system has been established that allows volunteers to directly enter their own data to a Web page and then to graph the results. This allows volunteers to view changes in the beach face due to erosion and/or accretion. Geologists use this data to identify seasonal and long-term trends that inform beach management planning.