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Bob Duchesne talks birds on a walk in Bangor and Orono

MAINE PUBLIC • June 6, 2026

Aislinn Sarnacki - Author & Hiking Guide joins Bob Duchesne—creator of the Maine Birding Trail, author, Bangor Daily News columnist, and vice president of Maine Audubon's Penobscot Valley Chapter—for a bird walk through the Bangor City Forest and the Orono Bog Boardwalk.

This South Portland woman has a green thumb – and 200 types of seeds

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 6, 2026

Isabella Phipps has foraged, befriended gardeners and even ordered seeds from a free website to build her seed collection over the past few years. Now, she has more than 200 different kinds.

10 places where you can get seeds for free

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 6, 2026

Many towns across the state have seed libraries, mostly housed in public libraries. These are free and accessible ways to acquire and occasionally donate seeds.

Aroostook sawmill expansion will double space and production

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 6, 2026

Irving Forest Products’ Ashland sawmill will soon double its space with help from the Finance Authority of Maine. FAME has approved approximately $42 million in tax credit financing for the project. The funding will allow Irving to modernize the mill in Nashville Plantation, which borders Ashland, at a time of growth for Maine wood products. The expansion will double the mill’s production and bring about 80 new jobs to the rural community.

Four of Maine's largest abandoned derelict vessels to be removed beginning this fall

MAINE PUBLIC • June 5, 2026

Four of Maine's largest abandoned derelict vessels will be removed starting this fall thanks to a $750,000 grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They include a 95-foot steel car ferry in Roque Bluffs and a WWII Navy minesweeper in Wiscasset. John Noll, director of Maine's Submerged Lands Program, said the DEP and Coast Guard pumped out fuel from the vessels years ago, but the wooden boat hulls soaked with oil continue to pollute the environment. “It improves the habitat they're displacing; you're removing the possibility of painted wood or chemicals that leach out of the boat to continue to leach out. But it also frees up that area for public trust rights...fishing, fowling and navigation," Noll said.

A rat poison so toxic it can kill bears will be pulled from Maine shelves

MAINE PUBLIC • June 5, 2026

The Maine Board of Pesticide Control voted unanimously Friday in favor of banning a toxic class of rodenticide. Francesca Gundrum of the Maine Audubon Society said that the potent chemicals can persist in the environment long after they've been ingested, harming other wildlife. "So think owls, hawks, fox, bobcat, even up to bears," she said. That's because those animals prey on the rodents that ingest the poison — which is also potent enough to kill them, too. "We know that these really potent, extra harmful chemicals persist in the environment for a long time," Gundrum added. The State of Maine conducted a limited sampling for rodenticides in 2024, and found that 4 out of 4 bears and 4 out of 6 hawks tested positive for rodenticides. The ban on the sale of the products will go into effect next week.

7 Lakes Alliance divers train to identify variable leaf milfoil in Oakland lake

CENTRAL MAINE • June 5, 2026

Divers trained in the mitigation of invasive aquatic plants Wednesday at Messalonskee Lake in Oakland. Five divers from 7 Lakes Alliance in Belgrade worked with two instructors from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to learn to identify and mitigate the invasive aquatic plant variable leaf milfoil, said Sharon Mann, Invasive Aquatics Program manager with 7 Lakes Alliance. The Invasive Aquatics Program works closely with the Maine DEP and local lake associations.

27 piping plover chicks have already hatched in Maine

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 5, 2026

As of May 29, Maine Audubon reported that 27 piping ploverchicks had already hatched on the state’s coastal beaches and that there were 140 active nests. There were seven chicks each at Ogunquit Beach and Fortunes Rocks Beach in Biddeford. Others were spotted on beaches in Wells and Scarborough. More are expected. In 2025, the nonprofit said 251 chicks fledged, or grew big enough to fly. Maine Audubon has counted 198 pairs so far this year.

Students on a Maine island started a scallop farm

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 5, 2026

A few years ago, a researcher growing scallops in Penobscot Bay who was looking to engage students in her work asked Islesboro Central School for help picking baby scallops — called spat — off her project’s net bags. On a cold, wet March day, students spent hours sorting spat, said Haley Currie-Nelson, a science teacher at the school. “They were like, ‘That was fun, can we do our own farm?’” The students ended up doing just that. They’ve since taken the lead on everything from securing the necessary state permits to deciding where to place the bags where the scallops will grow. “I kind of want to be a marine biologist,” said one.

Moose are under a tick attack. Could changing the way forests are logged help save them?

MAINE MORNING STAR • June 5, 2026

In fall, hoards of winter ticks latch on to New England’s moose — sometimes upward of 50,000 per adult animal. Over the course of the winter, the ticks drink their fill of blood, weakening adult moose and sometimes killing calves. A new study at the University of New Hampshire aims to answer that question — and determine whether a different approach to forest management could help “zombie moose” evade the parasites draining them of life and energy. 

Maine’s network of gear libraries can help you get outside this summer

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 5, 2026

Maine has a growing network of gear libraries designed to help people play outside even when they don’t have the requisite gear at home. Each one has a different pricing structure and unique inventory, but all share a commitment to access and sustainability. Eva Fury, co-founder and co-director of Kindling Collective in Portland, said. “Not everybody needs one of everything, especially if you’re only using it a couple times a year or once a year. So why not put that spending power into one place? We can get the best, coolest, highest-quality equipment, and you can borrow it when you need it.”

3 strangers came to his aid at Monroe Falls. Weeks later, he’s still trying to find them.

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 5, 2026

On May 20, Anthony Pollard was swimming alone at Monroe Falls. It was a quiet, peaceful day, he said. The sun was shining and it was the perfect day to swim. About 10 minutes later, everything changed. Pollard suddenly went into shock. “My legs stopped working, my arms went rigid, and it felt like I was being stung by thousands of jellyfish all at once,” he said. He genuinely didn’t think he was going to make it back. He managed to kick toward the rocks and pull himself from the water. Pollard remembered seeing three young people nearby earlier. He tried calling for help. The group called 911. Five days after the incident, he posted a sign at Monroe Falls asking the trio to contact him. He has also shared his story on social media. More than two weeks later, Pollard is still searching for the people who helped him.

Avoid Maine’s tourist traps by taking the roads less traveled

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 4, 2026

Here are some alternatives to our busiest summer spots that will still check the boxes of a quintessential Maine vacation.
• Instead of Red’s Eats, go to Erica’s Seafood in Harpswell
• Instead of Portland Head Light, go to Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse
• Instead of Tumbledown Mountain, go to Mount Blue
• Instead of Popham Beach, go to Seawall Beach
• Instead of Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, go to The Gardens at Pineland Farms
• Instead of Mount Desert Island, go to Isle au Haut

Historic crane in Hallowell park deemed public safety hazard, will be removed

CENTRAL MAINE • June 4, 2026

Contractors will soon remove the 19th century wooden crane on display at Granite City Park after an inspection Tuesday found the structure “poses an imminent risk to public safety.” The 37-foot-tall wooden crane — one of the last remaining from the area’s mid-1800s granite mining heyday — was found at an abandoned Augusta quarry in 1985 and was displayed at a bank before being donated to Hallowell in 2003. The 36-foot-long boom swings in a full circle, and is similar to ones used to load granite blocks onto boats in the Kennebec River. After a decade behind the public works building, the crane was moved to Granite City Park. Hallowell became well known across the country for its white granite beginning in the 1820s. At least nine companies operated quarries in Hallowell during the mining peak.

Trump uses wartime powers to dole out $700m to ‘clean, beautiful’ coal

THE GUARDIAN • June 4, 2026

Donald Trump is using wartime presidential authority to hand $700m to coal-fired power plants in the US, the latest move by the president to bolster what he called “clean, beautiful coal,” despite it being the dirtiest of fossil fuels. Trump is using the Defense Production Act, a cold war-era statute used to accelerate American industrial output in times of national need, to provide grants to more than a dozen existing coal plants across the US, including facilities capable of exporting coal. “As a result of the $700m investment that I’m announcing today, we will protect 14 coal plants and 42 coalmines, a tremendous number, and build two new coal plants and one massive new export terminal,” Trump said. Environmental groups strongly criticized the administration’s latest aid for coal.

Bicyclist finishes coast-to-coast ride in Maine … 50 years after he started

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 5, 2026

Riding his bicycle toward East End Beach on Wednesday, Cecil Elbert looked a bit different from when he started his coast-to-coast trip. It’s been 50 years, after all. His original plan was to ride from Portland, Oregon, to Portland, Maine, then travel to Montreal for the Summer Olympics. Everything was going well until Thief River Falls, Minnesota, where a crash stopped Elbert’s journey short. When he dipped his front wheel into the Atlantic Ocean on Wednesday, it was four days behind his original schedule, but 50 years to the day after his accident. Walking his bike down the boat launch at East End Beach in Portland, he smiled. He had finally reached the end of the line. He could rest now.

Do you own 10 forested acres in Maine? You could get up to $20K to protect it.

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 4, 2026

Many Maine hunters and outdoor enthusiasts own wooded property. A new state program could help them improve wildlife habitat, increase forest diversity and make their woods more resilient to pests, disease and severe weather. The Maine Forest Service is seeking applications for its new WoodsWISE Resilience Program, a $9 million initiative that provides financial assistance and professional guidance to landowners interested in improving the health of their forests. Eligible landowners can receive up to $20,000 in funding to help cover approved forestry work. 

New England Aquarium pens letter opposing changes to vessel speed limit

MAINE PUBLIC • June 4, 2026

In a letter to NOAA fisheries, the New England Aquarium says it opposes efforts by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to deregulate vessel speed limits designed to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales. The speed limits were established in 2008 in management areas where right whales were observed during their migration. The NMFS has posted an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking of a “possible deregulatory action” to its website. The aquarium cited studies that say vessel strikes remain a threat to the small population of right whales left on the East Coast. Between 2020 and 2025, 22 right whale vessel strikes were detected in U.S. waters, of which six were fatal and two resulted in serious injuries.

Maine advisory council starts debating possible data center restrictions

MAINE PUBLIC • June 3, 2026

A new panel set up to examine potential policies and restrictions aimed at large-scale data centers in Maine has about eight months to deliver its recommendations to state lawmakers. The 17-member Maine Data Center Advisory Council held its first meeting Wednesday. The body was set up by Gov. Janet Mills this spring. The council is tasked with examining existing state regulations and devising ways to insulate Maine from damaging effects of huge data centers experienced elsewhere in the country. Communities around the U.S. that host big data centers have blamed the facilities for soaring electric bills, high water use and light and noise pollution.