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
MAINE AUDUBON • March 1, 2026
The third edition of Maine Amphibians and Reptiles explores the lives of 38 fascinating species—from tiny newts to rarely seen sea turtles—found across Maine and the Northeast. Built on 25 years of research, with expanded photos, regional studies, and engaging writing, it’s perfect for scientists and curious readers alike. Join some of the contributors to this fascinating book for a talk followed by a book sale and signing at the Falmouth Memorial Library. Light refreshments will be provided. At Falmouth Memorial Library, 5 Lunt Rd, Falmouth, ME, March 11, 5:30pm.
MAINE AUDUBON • April 1, 2026
Curious about what critters live in your local streams and freshwater marshes? Learn about Maine Marsh and Stream Explorers, a collaborative community science project between Maine Audubon and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). This program trains volunteers to survey for macroinvertebrates, or large aquatic insects, in streams and freshwater marshes statewide. April 22, 7 pm, online, preregister.
MAINE SPORTSMAN • March 2026
If you’re bothered by the idea of coyotes combing the woods of Maine, you aren’t alone. There are a lot of conflicting views surrounding Canis Latrans and the reputation the predator carries in the Pine Tree State.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 26, 2026
Gov. Paul LePage turned against wind energy projects. Turbine developers shifted to the Great Plains. Maine didn’t achieve its 3,000-megawatt goal. The state has 923 megawatts in place. Now, Maine has the opportunity for a giant leap forward. Aroostook Wind, at an initial size of 1,200 megawatts, would equal Hydro Quebec’s contribution to the Massachusetts grid. Maine has an ambitious renewable energy mandate — 100% carbon-neutral electricity by 2040. Aroostook Wind and other potential projects are by far the cheapest and fastest way of meeting the requirement. Yet only a small fraction of these public benefits will be realized under the request for proposal put out to bid by the Maine Public Utilities Commission. When the news spreads the Maine PUC plans to export most of Aroostook Wind’s power without significant benefits to the state responsible for hosting the turbines and transmission lines, public reaction is likely to be fiery and negative. ~ Douglas Rooks
CENTRAL MAINE • February 26, 2026
A Feb. 2 op-ed, arguing that crypto mining could support Maine’s aging energy grid, overlooks realities. Bitcoin mines operate like energy-intensive data centers, with continuous demand and lasting community impacts. The proposal to offer cryptominers electricity at 4 to 6 cents per kilowatt-hour raises fairness concerns. Maine households pay about 24 cents per kilowatt-hour, well above the national average. Nationwide, proof-of-work crypto mining accounts for up to 2.3% of total electricity consumption and could add over $1 billion annually to ratepayer bills. Most of the so-called “stranded energy” it relies on comes from fossil fuels, generating significant carbon pollution as well as noise pollution. Energy policy should serve communities, not ask them to absorb the costs of unchecked industries. ~ Jane Brekke, South Berwick
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 26, 2026
A major theme of Earth Day this year is the need to reduce plastic. Scientists estimate that humans consume a credit-card size of plastic a week. Most plastic is derived from fossil fuels. The major oil companies know that in order to sell plastic to consumers, they need to convince people that it can be recycled. Sadly, 91% of plastic cannot be recycled. Plastic fabrication must be reduced. This can be achieved by limiting the production of oil, and the best way to accomplish that is with a carbon fee and dividend: placing a fee on fossil fuels at their source, such as a well or a mine, and returning the money collected to American households in monthly dividend checks to spend as they wish. ~ Kimberlee Hammond, Frankfort
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 26, 2026
Ten Maine Maritime Academy students have had their Coast Guard licensing exams canceled due to the partial government shutdown, and 16 more might if the shutdown doesn’t end next week. The partial government shutdown affecting the Department of Homeland Security also impacts the Coast Guard, which has closed its exam centers as a result. That could mean delayed graduation and work opportunities for students at the Castine school amid a nationwide mariner shortage that has raised alarms in recent years for the future of international trade and national defense.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 26, 2026
Building a local trailhead is the first step in expanding a southern Aroostook town’s outdoor economy and infrastructure, according to planners. As part of a multi-year outdoor economic development initiative, the Houlton Rotary is asking for community input on developing a trailhead that will add an access point to northern Maine’s thousands of interconnected snowmobile and ATV trails. The initiative is part of a broader regional focus to boost the outdoor recreation infrastructure across southern Aroostook and neighboring Penobscot and Washington counties. Island Falls and Patten are already tackling outdoor trails projects. Communities across Maine have seen that improving infrastructure around existing trail systems strengthens their ability to capture visitor spending that might otherwise pass them by.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 25, 2026
More than 121,000 Maine households moved during and in the years following the pandemic, newly released data from the U.S. Census Bureau revealed. The data, which comes from the American Community Survey, shows how many residents in different parts of Maine moved during and immediately following the pandemic when the state’s housing market reached a fever pitch. Meanwhile, more than 75,000 others have lived in their homes for more than 30 years.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 25, 2026
Ice fishing? Why would you want to do that? The north wind comes blowing across a frozen Maine lake and bites into your cheeks. You are cold most of the time. Frozen fingers are your reward for baiting and rebaiting hooks. You finally get a promising ice hole going and, before long, it skims over again. The fishing can be ponderous. So why do we do it? I have my reasons. Ice fishing has a gambling facet to it — an outdoor roll of the dice. You lose more than you win. But like a good day at the tables in Las Vegas, when Lady Luck finally tilts your way, it can be truly memorable. ~ V. Paul Reynolds
MAINE MONITOR • February 25, 2026
Officials in Greenville are considering a proposal to build a battery energy storage facility at a former steam plant. The project, which was pitched to the town select board last week by the New York-based startup Ground Floor Energy, aims to stabilize the local energy grid. Selectmen allowed Ground Floor to go ahead with a pre-application for a grant from the Northern Border Regional Commission, a government agency that funds rural economic development projects. The local green light is a first step for a major energy project. It is an example of Maine working toward its goal of expanding battery storage capacity despite President Donald Trump’s hard turn against many forms of alternative energy.
CBS 13 • February 24, 2026
The owners of a paper mill in Rumford are now at the center of a federal lawsuit. It claims that workplace safety rules were violated and contributed to a fall that left an employee with life-altering injuries. The lawsuit filed against ND Paper and several other companies alleges workplace safety violations played a role in 35-year-old Damion Hatcher falling nearly eight stories “into the opening of a chimney while performing cleaning services.”
RUMFORD FALLS TIMES • February 24, 2026
As the Olympics played out in Milan-Cortina this winter, an exhibit at the Bethel Historical Society has brought Western Maine’s Olympic legacy to life, tracing nearly a century of ski and snowboard history through the athletes who carried the region’s snow-covered traditions onto the world stage. Housed in the Robinson House on Broad Street in Bethel, the display highlights 11 Olympic athletes from the towns of Rumford, Andover, Mexico, Paris, Fryeburg and Bethel. It is open through March 27. Visitors learn about the early days of rope tows and the terrain parks of today in an adjoining permanent ski exhibit.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 24, 2026
An oil spill was reported on Pushaw Lake. The spill happened near Lakeside Landing, according to the Glenburn Fire Department. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has evaluated the spill site “Environmental spills can be complex, particularly during winter conditions with freezing temperatures, ice, and snowfall,” the fire department said Tuesday morning, calling Pushaw Lake an “important natural resource” for the area.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 24, 2026
Citizens don’t need to be environmental scientists to weigh in on potential impacts of climate change on infrastructure, natural resources and local services. So, Standish, in collaboration with Greater Portland Council of Governments, is offering a survey on the town’s website to better prepare the community for future climate change events. Other towns included in the study are Bridgton, Gray, Westbrook and Windham. The technical analysis will identify areas of potential concern, such as roadways located in “high flood-risk zones, and highlight where future planning and investment may be most needed.”
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 24, 2026
More than 1,000 anglers spread across the ice Valentine’s weekend for the Sebago Lake Rotary’s 25th annual Ice Fishing Derby, making it the third-largest in the past decade and one of the biggest winter events on the lake in years. Warden Mike Pierre stopped by to check in and alerted me to one of my flags that had just popped. I hurried over and soon had a 20-inch lake trout on the ice. At the Raymond Beach registration station we saw the fish everyone had been talking about. Adam Hamilton registered a 17.45-pound lake trout measuring 38.34 inches — a true whopper.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 24, 2026
Lynne is a photographer in midcoast Maine and the “sister” half of a brother-sister wildlife collaboration that began in August 2025. The duo created Backyard Wildlife Maine to share the joy they find exploring their extensive family property in Lincoln County. Roughly 30 cameras are placed across a few hundred acres of woods to document wildlife. On Feb. 6, Lynne’s father called to tell her about a roadkill deer near her home. After obtaining a permit, they wrestled the mangled carcass into her new SUV and hauled it more than a mile into the woods, where they set up several trail cameras. Within two hours, a bald eagle arrived at the carcass. The next morning, around 11 a.m., a cellular camera notification showed something different. Lynne posted the image to the Maine Birds Facebook group seeking confirmation. Responses quickly affirmed her suspicion: an adult golden eagle. A few hours later, a second golden eagle appeared. State biologists confirmed both identifications.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 24, 2026
As a society, we’ve decided you can’t just throw trash from your car and you can’t dump chemicals in the water. So why is it that we let oil and gas corporations off the hook for the mess they’ve created? As early as the 1950s, there was knowledge among oil producers that CO2 would warm the planet, but things got really damning by the 1970s. Exxon hired its own science team to investigate and model the impact of fossil fuel emissions on the Earth. Despite this knowledge, Exxon went on to fund climate misinformation campaigns and kept pushing its product as safe for the Earth. Now, Maine has a mess to clean up in the form of the costly damage created by more extreme storms, higher sea levels, droughts and other climate disasters. LD 1870 would require oil and gas corporations to pay us back for the damage that they caused. ~ Keith Carson, director of environment and science communications, Maine Conservation Voters
ENVIRONMENT MAINE • February 23, 2026
Although many Americans are trying to save energy in their homes, this week the U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to take up a bill that, if it becomes law, would likely lead to more energy waste. The legislation, H.R. 4626, would endanger the current U.S. appliance efficiency standards by giving the executive branch new powers to amend or roll back those requirements. It would also direct the Department of Energy to “evaluate” standards in the two years after they are finalized – creating immediate uncertainty for manufacturers, who invest in upgrading their product lines to prepare for set compliance dates. The bill also threatens the government’s ability to adapt efficiency standards to technological improvements.
