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
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 13, 2026
Federal cuts to food benefit program funding throughout 2025 are rippling out into Maine’s agriculture industry. Programs providing for purchases directly from Maine farmers to supply food access programs had paid growers on a steady upward trend between 2022 and 2024, from more than $2.75 million to more than $3.5 million. That appeared to provide Maine farms a promising option for additional revenue streams, as many operations struggle to break even and look to diversify. But last year, the state saw “pretty significant decreases” in funding for some of those programs as federal priorities changed.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 13, 2026
After years of controversy, the New England Clean Energy Connect transmission line will begin commercial operations this week, according to documents filed with Maine regulators. The 145-mile line connects a hydropower generation facility in Quebec, Canada, to a converter station in Lewiston, cutting through Franklin and Somerset counties to inject 1,200 megawatts of renewable electricity into the New England grid. It includes a 53-mile segment that required trees to be cleared northwest of Caratunk; the rest runs along an already-existing corridor. Since its proposal in 2017, the project faced heavy opposition from environmental groups, which argued that its construction would disrupt the surrounding environment and wildlife.
MAINE PUBLIC • January 13, 2026
Maine has awarded $1.2 million to help build the state's energy efficiency workforce. The Maine Department of Energy Resources said the grants will help grow the state's ranks of HVAC technicians and upskill workers to install heat pumps and other energy efficient improvements. The programs are expected to serve about 1,200 workers across Maine the department said in a press release. "These investments will strengthen career pathways, support local businesses, and ensure Maine has the skilled workforce needed to meet growing demand for energy efficiency services across the state," said department acting commissioner Dan Burgess.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 13, 2026
Paul Dest has retired after 25 years as the executive director of the Wells Reserve at Laudholm, but his time with the nature reserve is in no way finished. Jennifer Seavey, formerly the chief programs officer for the Island Institute in Rockland, took the reins of the organization Jan. 5. Though he’s stepped down, Dest said that aside from spending more time with his family, he plans to spend his retirement doing volunteer work with the reserve. The Wells Reserve, located off Route 1 near the Wells-Kennebunk line, is Maine’s only National Estuarine Research Reserve. Visited by more than 50,000 people annually, the reserve offers 7 miles of trails, education about coastal ecosystems and research opportunities for scientists in several areas, including salt marsh habitats and restoration.
MAINE PUBLIC • January 13, 2026
Small businesses and non-profits in 12 of Maine's 16 counties that suffered economic impacts from last summer's severe drought are now eligible to apply for low-interest federal disaster loans. The loans are for up to $2 million with interest rates as low as 4%, according to the Small Business Administration. Small businesses in all but Androscoggin, Cumberland, Franklin and Oxford counties, are eligible to apply. The declaration for York County covers economic losses incurred later at the end of October. The Small Business Administration said the loans can be used to pay outstanding debts, payroll and other bills directly related to the drought. These loans are separate from federal assistance offered to farmers through the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
MAINE PUBLIC • January 13, 2026
Maine's highest court has upheld a lower court's decision that affirms access to Popham Beach. The case involves two neighbors whose families have owned beachfront cottages for decades. But Richard Tappen purchased a parcel of land that cut in front of neighbor Clark Hill's cottage, then sued Hill for trespassing in 2022. The Maine Supreme Judicial Court Tuesday sided with a lower court that found Hill has an implied easement for recreational use of Popham Beach. "'No trespassing' signs have no place on a Maine beach," said Benjamin Ford, an attorney for the Hill family. "Today's law court decision really emphasized that." Ford said he hopes the trend of supporting beach access continues as the law court weighs a separate case about public access to Moody Beach in Wells.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 13, 2026
The poster for the 50th Common Ground County Fair in Unity this fall features a working border collie dog surrounded by flowers and a throwback font, the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association said Tuesday. Sebago artist Brenda McGuinness created the winning design in the organization’s annual poster competition, inspired by the popular sheep dog demonstrations at the fair each year. “Our 50th Common Ground Country Fair is going to be celebrating our past, and also continuing to rally our community members to build common ground,” fair director April Boucher said. The 2026 fair will be held Sept. 25, 26, and 27 at the organization’s headquarters in Unity.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 13, 2026
When I was growing up eitizens could bank on a Republican laissez-faire approach, which would encourage the government to abstain from interfering with free-market opportunities. What happened to the Republican Party to allow the current president to ruin specific industries because of his animus or to gain personal wealth? Based upon the bewildering rationale that East Coast wind projects are a “national security concern,” this administration has effectively stopped five commercial electricity generation projects. This will raise the price of electricity. This administration threatens our economy, the air we breathe, and guarantees the continuing rise in electricity costs for Mainers. ~ Tracy Floyd, Cape Elizabeth
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 13, 2026
Two years ago today, Jan. 13, 2024, while I was still in my role as a meteorologist at News Center Maine, the final in a series of three devastating storms hit Maine. It was this storm that ultimately broke Portland’s all-time highest water level record, beating out the Blizzard of 1978, which was one of the most infamous storms in New England history. By the end of the month-long blitz, at least 60% of Maine’s working waterfront was either severely damaged or completely destroyed. There was an acceptance that the extreme damage caused was tied to climate change. The anniversary of these storms should be a reminder that saying “this is the new normal” doesn’t make that “normal” any less destructive. It is also a reminder that we must keep pushing for policy solutions to reduce carbon pollution and ensure we have the resources needed to make our communities more resilient and better able to withstand severe weather fueled by climate change. ~ Keith Carson, former meteorologist for News Center Maine, now works on science and climate communications for Maine Conservation Voters
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 13, 2026
Owners of short-term rentals, single-family residential homes or fee-based residential campsites operating in the state’s unorganized territories must now notify the Maine Land Use Planning Commission of the rental. The commission’s new rule went into effect on Jan. 12. Maine’s unorganized area includes parts of northernmost Aroostook County to the New Hampshire border, with 429 townships that do not lie within municipal bounds. In recent years, the number of short-term rentals in the unorganized territory have been increasing, as have the number of complaints related to the rentals, according to the LUPC.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 13, 2026
The severe weather caused by climate change negatively affects people. I attend King Middle School. We’ve debated energy sources and climate change. I believe Maine should focus on wind and solar power to become carbon neutral by 2045 in order to reduce climate change. Maine should use wind, a clean energy source, to mitigate climate change. We need to focus on wind and solar power in order to reduce and reverse the effects of climate change and become carbon neutral by 2045. Whatever you can do to help, whether it’s installing solar panels on your roof, wind turbines on farms, growing your own food, or even riding your bike to work, I encourage you to do whatever you can to reduce our carbon emissions and help Maine stop climate change. ~ Mercury Kupferberg, Portland
MAINE PUBLIC • January 12, 2026
The Nature Conservancy last year unveiled a historic plan to purchase the four dams between Waterville and Skowhegan, with a goal of returning the river to its free-flowing state. The deal was championed as a historic development by environmental groups that have worked for decades to restore native sea-run fish to the river. But Sappi, along with business groups, oppose dam owner Brookfield'sapplication to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to transfer dam licenses to subsidies it set up to facilitate the possible sale. Sappi North America, which owns a paper mill in Skowhegan, has said it relies on a river impoundment created by the nearby Shawmut Dam to operate and it would have to shut down if the facility is removed. More than 700 people work at the Skowhegan mill and it is a major economic driver in the region.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 12, 2026
Maine’s K-12 students discard an estimated 8.4 million pounds of food annually, according to Susanne Lee, a faculty fellow at the University of Maine’s Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions. While that represents just 1% of the state’s annual food waste, Lee said it creates a “triple bottom line” of economic, environmental and social damage. The results of a pilot program to reduce cafeteria food waste at Sebago and the other schools were encouraging. Now a toolkit has been developed for any and all K-12 schools. It could be an important resource as Maine tackles statewide food waste reduction goals set by legislation that passed last year.
WILDLANDS, WOODLANDS, FARMLANDS & COMMUNITIES • January 12, 2026
In September of 2025, more than 200 people gathered at Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf campus for the Northeastern Old Growth Conference to celebrate old-growth forests. The conference theme, “Wildlands and Old-Growth Forests: A Vision for the Future,” set the stage for the gathering co-hosted by Middlebury College and the University of Vermont. It was a celebration of old-growth forests and a call to protect them, enhance them, and encourage places for them to develop and thrive in the future. In this issue, we feature some of the high points of the conference, and we offer further exploration of old growth insights by a few of the speakers, as well as some other voices. ~ The Editors of From the Ground Up
MAINE PUBLIC • January 12, 2026
A new state law would require outdoor lighting across Maine to be dimmed at night in an effort to protect the state's wildlife and dark skies. Maine Audubon's Director of Advocacy Francesca Gundrum said the measurehelps protect Maine's dark night skies from increasing development. "Darkness is a natural resource just like land, just like water and it is absolutely deserving of conservation," Gundrum said. "And the only way you conserve it is if you take steps to regulate, in particular, outdoor light pollution." The bill only affects publicly funded lighting, like streetlights or lights on schools or town offices.
SUN JOURNAL • January 12, 2026
Skijoring is a fast-growing sport in which one person on skis is pulled behind one, or sometimes two, animals. On the snow, skijoring can look deceptively simple. A skier takes hold of a tow line and lets an animal provide extra pull. But Maine skijorers say the sport is far more deliberate than it appears, whether a dog is leaning into a harness on a groomed Nordic trail or a horse and rider are towing a skier through gates and jumps at a fairground. Dogs that succeed in skijoring are active, enjoy running, tolerate cold conditions and can learn to stay out front with tension on the line. In Franklin County and surrounding western and central Maine communities, skijoring has developed less as a spectacle and more as a practice-based winter sport, shaped by trail access, snow conditions and the realities of shared land use.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 12, 2026
Our children grieve as their friends are being disappeared by violent, masked thugs. Our communities are terrorized. Our neighbors live in fear that they or their parents will be next. Through my work, I talk every day with spiritual leaders seeking faithful responses to the climate crisis, and I find that they are also persistent supporters of immigrants’ rights. Migrants only sometimes cite climate concerns as a primary reason for their emigration, but in a time of accelerating global climate devastation a climate-related cause is almost always a part of the root cause for displacement. Those who have contributed the least to human-caused climate change almost always experience the worst impacts and bear the biggest burden. ~ Rev. Dr. Allen Ewing-Merrill, The BTS Center, Portland
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 12, 2026
Prior to European colonization, gray wolves and mountain lions could be found across the entire North American continent. However, once settlement began, both species were wiped out in the eastern U.S. because humans saw them as a threat to their safety and livelihoods. Despite our deeply strained relationship with these animals, they are necessary for a functioning ecosystem. I believe we should bring them back. Deer populations have exploded in the absence of their top predators. As a result, deer damage the environment through overbrowsing. Bloated populations make deer-vehicle collisions frequent, causing billions of dollars in damages and the loss of hundreds of lives annually. It is unfair to argue that these animals are pests simply because they are performing their roles in the ecosystem. Their ecological benefits vastly outweigh their negative effects on humans. ~ Brendan McGowan, junior Honors College student, University of Maine
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 10, 2026
Maine’s North Woods range across the state from border to border, encompassing 12 million acres of ecologically-rich wildlife habitat, incredible natural scenery and a wealth of outdoor recreation opportunities. A spectacular subset of this terrain is the sprawling expanse surrounding Moosehead Lake, which has been the domain of an indefatigable hiker named Christopher Keene since, well, around the advent of dirt. Over the past 20 years, Keene’s venerable guide, “North Woods Walks: A Collection of Hikes in Northern Maine,” has not only introduced countless trampers to the wonders of this vast forested region but entertained them as well with plenty of wry humor, nuggets of history and some pretty darn good around-the-campfire woodsy tales. The seventh edition of this invaluable trail companion, published last year, features 43 fantastic hikes totaling some 220 miles. ~ Carey Kish
