The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
Thank you for reading Maine Environmental News. Each year, we post thousands of news summaries, notices, and links related to important environmental issues from across the state (and beyond). If you find this service useful, you can help us continue to provide it by making a donation. Just click on the button below and contribute whatever you can afford. Thanks again for your generous support!
Sincerely,
Jym St. Pierre
Editor, Maine Environmental News
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 25, 2026
Bird songs are filling the landscape as we progress through spring and migrating songbirds return to their breeding grounds. Songs can range from simple and short, like the loud clear paired whistles of a tufted titmouse, to long and complex, like the bubbly musical trills from a winter wren. One of the families that I look forward to the most, as their sounds return and fill the forests, is the thrushes. In Maine, we have seven breeding species of thrushes. ~ Maine Audubon Staff Naturalist Doug Hitchcox
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 1, 2026
Ice-out on Moosehead Lake was declared at 8:30 a.m. Friday. Currier’s Flying Service made the annual call. The earliest recorded ice-out was April 14, 1945, and the latest was May 29, 1878. The declaration traditionally signals the start of the summer tourism season on one of Maine’s most popular lakes.
MAINE PUBLIC • May 1, 2026
The Maine Office of Tourism is reporting that the state saw 650,000 fewer visitors last year, but they spent more than $9 billion, a record high. State Tourism Director Carolann Ouellette said the tourism marketing effort known as Forged by Nature celebrates all things Maine and that appeals to visitors. "What's important to us as Mainers, from working waterfronts, working landscapes, farms and forests, and just who we are as a people. That's what makes Maine special to our visitors," Ouellette said.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 1, 2026
State environmental regulators are moving toward a deal that would let Maine’s largest oil-fired power plant skirt the latest pollution controls, igniting a debate over whether the aging facility is a vital energy safety net or an expensive smog-producing relic. The Department of Environmental Protection has issued a draft order for a clean air exemption for Wyman Station on Yarmouth’s Cousins Island. Owned by NextEra Energy, the peaking plant runs mainly when there is high demand for electricity or when other plants go offline. The decision carries consequences for both the region’s energy security and its climate mandates as New England struggles to prevent blackouts during extreme weather while transitioning away from fossil fuels.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 1, 2026
I had a bill this year, LD 2115, that would have created a fund to pay for well testing, abatement, remediation, installation and maintenance of filtration systems, the provision of bottled water, and even facilitating connections to local water districts when possible. Despite bipartisan support, the bill died for lack of funding. I challenge my fellow Democrats running for governor and also the independents and Republicans: Commit (in writing!) that people on wells in both rural Maine and unconnected parts of populated areas will be able to look at your next biennial or supplemental budget this January and see actual initiatives and language that show you’re going to take even a modest bite out of this $1.3 billion problem. A small amount of consistent, sustainable funding will go an incredibly long way. ~ Rep. Dan Ankeles, D-Brunswick
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 1, 2026
In the long, dark months that bridged 2023 and 2024, Aroostook County saw its worst winter in decades. On paper, this winter was worse. Two fewer inches of snow fell, and heavy December rain wiped out most of the accumulation from an early storm. Then it got cold. Really cold. The rain froze to ice and established a thick base layer for snow to accumulate on top of. And despite just two storms producing 4 or more inches of snow, the trails remained in good shape, bucking trends of recent years. Chris King has never seen a winter with such little snow be so successful for snowmobiling. “Not in my 38 years,” King, the president of the Limestone SnowHawks snowmobile club, said. But clubs have also gotten better at working with less snow. They borrow from the sides of trails and build berms in open fields and other problem areas where strong winds can carry snow away.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 1, 2026
Many people whose livelihoods depend on the state’s $16.5 billion tourist industry are watching uneasily as the season takes shape amidst an affordability crisis that has pushed gas, health care and food costs to punishing highs. At the same time, the U.S.-led war in Iran is dragging on and international visitors are staying away. Fewer visitors came to Maine in 2025 than the year before — tourism numbers fell by about 4%. Of particular concern to Mainers: Visits from Canadians are down more than 20%.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • April 30, 2026
The city is cutting hours for the park next to the Bangor Public Library beginning Friday. That comes as the city grapples with a new homeless encampment in Peirce Park. The Harlow Street park, which features a monument to lumbermen whose labor fueled the wealth of the city’s lumber barons, will now be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • April 30, 2026
State and federal officials are investigating the source of a small weekend oil spill in the Kennebec River in Clinton that observers said covered up to a mile of shoreline. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection notified federal officials Sunday about the spill, according to a report obtained by the Bangor Daily News. The spill involved an industrial-grade lubricant called No. 6 oil, sources said. State officials are working with their federal counterparts to determine the source and size of the spill, a DEP spokesperson said Thursday. The spill occurred downstream of Sappi’s Somerset Mill in Skowhegan.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 30, 2026
The people of Maine need to realize that we can still have the quality of life we enjoy so much and also embrace progress and development. If we prevent progress and development by passing moratoriums on data centers, not building highways, protesting Amazon and complaining about the rising costs electricity, our taxes will continue to rise, our progress as a species will be set back and our taxes will force people to move out of state. As Henry David Thoreau put it, “Man is an animal who more than any other can adapt himself to all climates and circumstances.” Thoreau understood that we are part of the plan for this planet, not just interlopers. ~ Noah Miner, Gorham
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 30, 2026
The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer was first published in the spring of 1976 by David DeLorme. Fifty years later, it’s still in print, sold at gas stations and convenience stores and crammed between the seats of countless Maine trucks and cars. It’s inspired at least one song and one Maine-made beer. People hold on to their dog-eared, tattered and coffee-stained Gazetteers for years not just because they are dependable, but because they spark imagination and adventure.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • April 29, 2026
By April, trout are beginning to look upward, having awakened from their semi-dormant state and willing to rise to a hatching bug or a hook wound with a bit of fur or fluff if drifted with skill. I often wonder if more of us spent time along the bank of a stream or in a field of wildflowers there would be less strife in the world. If only we could appreciate those simple gifts found just outside our door, we might be more willing to set aside our prejudices, less inclined to dredge up old grievances, make war. ~ Bob Romano
ENVIRONMENAL PROTECTION AGENCY • April 29, 2026
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the availability of approximately $80 million through the Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse Municipal Grant program to help communities address stormwater and sewer infrastructure needs. These grants will strengthen systems that safely capture and manage stormwater to help prevent contaminants, including untreated sewage, from polluting nearby waterways. The agency will provide funding from both fiscal years 2025 and 2026 totaling $468,000 to Maine, which will be awarded to communities here.
GRIST • April 29, 2026
On a Tuesday night in April, beneath a sky mottled with clouds, a slick stretch of road in Cumberland, Maine, erupted in sound. It started with a few high-pitched chirps, like the coos of chicks. Within minutes, dozens, then hundreds more joined a chorus punctuated by low clucks. By the time the sun dipped below the horizon and rain began to splatter the pavement, the sound had risen to a din. Cars stopped on the shoulder and people spilled onto the road wearing neon vests and waving bright flashlights. They fanned out, and raised their voices as they spoke, like guests at a bustling cocktail party. “I got a big one!” called a youngster in a yellow raincoat. She held out her hand for other volunteers who crowded around her. A yellow-spotted salamander about 9 inches long stretched across her gloved palm, its slick tail draped between her fingers.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 29, 2026
A Wiscasset farm has changed hands, with the new owners vowing to preserve it as a working farm. Chris and Terry Baldwin, along with their in-laws the Esbjergs, bought the property on April 10 from the Maine Farmland Trust. Maine Farmland Trust purchased Morris Farm for $300,000 and later sold it to the Baldwins at its appraised value, said Emily Lad, assistant director of engagement for Maine Farmland Trust. The previous owner, Morris Farm Trust, encouraged the Maine Farmland Trust to purchase the property in early 2025 before the restrictive covenant expired, which prevented development projects for different uses other than farmland.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 29, 2026
Lawmakers in the Maine House of Representatives failed to secure the necessary two-thirds majority to overturn Gov. Janet Mills veto of a bill that would have been the country’s first statewide pause on large data center development. Wednesday’s potential votes in the House and Senate marked the last glimmer of hope for the long-debated measure after the governor rejected it late last week. The measure would have prohibited new permits from being issued for data center projects of at least 20 megawatts. Though a majority of members voted to overturn the veto, the total fell short of the two-thirds threshold required.
MAINE PUBLIC • April 29, 2026
The city of Portland has approved $10.1 million for expanded jetport parking. Jetport officials have been searching for more than two years for a way to add more parking at the airport to accommodate a growing number travelers. But last fall, the city council rejected a plan to expand surface lots in response to pushback from environmental advocacy groups and Jetport neighbors. Under the new plan, the Jetport will pave over a gravel lot and bring another existing surface parking lot up to current standards, for a total of 537 spaces. The lots are smaller than what was previously proposed.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • April 29, 2026
Opening day for turkey season is coming up. Youth day is Friday and Saturday, and the general season opens May 4. Emilie Cram will be out this season with her toddler Alice. It’s her second year bringing her daughter along. Alice joined Emilie and her husband, Will, on a hunt just 10 days after she was born. How do you keep a toddler quiet when you’re trying to get a tom into range? Snacks.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 28, 2026
Another Earth Day has come and gone. River, beach and city park cleanups have taken place; speeches have been made; and politicians have offered their obligatory support for the natural world. Yet across the country, so much of what makes America great is under threat. Powerful special interests wield far too much influence over our democracy, and constitutional freedoms— like the ability to speak out in public — are being challenged in ways we haven’t seen for years. America’s national parks, national monuments and other public lands are now squarely in the crosshairs of the administration and its cynical efforts to hand over control of our shared heritage to some of the most powerful corporations in the world — all at the expense of our freedom to roam the great outdoors. The days after Earth Day are when Mainers must call on our elected leaders and remind them that protecting America’s public lands is what truly makes our country great. ~ Jeremy Sheaffer, Maine state director, The Wilderness Society
