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.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 17, 2026
Ellsworth is taking a composting company to court after getting repeated complaints over a consistent bad stench emanating from its property on Industrial Road. The city has filed a complaint against Maine Organics in Ellsworth District Court. The city alleges the company violated Ellsworth’s recently adopted odor ordinance on multiple occasions during the summer of 2025. It’s the latest in a years-long saga between Maine Organics, the company’s neighbors and the city’s code enforcement department, who have fielded and issued odor-related complaints and violations against the composting facility.
QUODDY TIDES • March 17, 2026
Following a toxic gas exposure incident in January, which caused the deaths of two workers, the Woodland Pulp mill experienced another accident on March 7. The Jan. 27 exposure to hydrogen sulfide gas occurred when the mill was shutting down operations because of the high price of natural gas. The March 7 leak of hydrogen peroxide occurred while the mill was in the process of restarting operations following the month-long shutdown. According to Scott Beal, spokesperson for the mill, shortly after 9 a.m. workers noticed a drain valve had become opened, which resulted in the loss of approximately 4,000 gallons of hydrogen peroxide into the mill’s sewer system. Peroxide is a compound used in the kraft mill’s bleaching process, along with chlorine dioxide. Exposure to hydrogen peroxide, which is considered a hazardous substance, can cause skin, lung and eye irritation, or even severe burns and blindness. It also can cause explosions.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 17, 2026
Challenges to understanding and managing the Maine woods have grown in recent years amid climate change, which has brought destructive new pests, fast-moving diseases, invasive plants that take over, and warmer winters that change growing, harvesting and wildlife conditions. It will take decades to see the extent of how these forces will shape Maine’s key timber industry and its characteristic forests which, unlike in most other states, are largely owned and managed privately. According to woodlot owners, current understanding of how to manage forests will have to evolve, and there’s no precedent in human memory for how to do it. “This ecological memory we have about how things are supposed to work is becoming unreliable,” said Bob Seymour, a retired UMaine silviculture professor..
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 17, 2026
For more than 40 years, my family has owned and operated biomass combined heat and power plants in Searsmont. I see every day how this local, renewable energy source supports jobs, businesses, and rural communities across our state. That’s why I’m grateful for Sen. Susan Collins’ leadership and support of Maine’s biomass industry. At Georges River Energy, our facility generates enough electricity to power our sawmill, Robbins Lumber. Our facility uses low-grade wood left over from local logging and milling. Unlike wind and solar, biomass provides firm, dispatchable power. It also supports Maine’s forest products industry. In 2022, Sen. Susan Collins and Sen. Angus King secured nearly $2.5 million in federal funding to strengthen Maine’s forest products sector and expand markets for wood biomass fuels. As Maine plans for the future, we should use every tool available. Biomass is provean and practical. ~ Alden Robbins, Georges River Energy biomass facility, Searsmont
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 16, 2026
A 250-foot ice carousel spun on Long Lake this weekend as the Northern Maine Ice Busters returned for their ninth year building the massive rotating disks. Crews drilled a circle of holes with augers to mark the outline of the carousel, then used long-bar chainsaws to cut through the ice and free the massive disk from the surrounding lake. Organizers said the 250-foot diameter was chosen as a nod to the nation’s upcoming 250th anniversary. The Ice Busters are planning another world-record attempt in 2027, when organizers say the carousel will measure more than 2,000 feet across.
MAINE PUBLIC • March 17, 2026
A planned 10 megawatt, gas-fired power plant to provide electricity and heat to a major redevelopment on the Portland waterfront is stoking opposition from neighbors and climate activists in the city. Barbara Vestal, who lives on Fore Street near the proposed development said she and others were shocked and surprised to learn about developer PF Land LCC's plans for the power plant. The company has requested that Maine Public Utilities Commission rule its facility will not be regulated as an electric utility. Vestal said the proposal is a major deviation from a master plan for the $1 billion housing, retail, office and hotel development on the 10-acre site of the former Portland Co. approved a decade ago. "It's bringing a major source of emissions, and noise and vibration to this neighborhood," Vestal said.
CENTRAL MAINE • March 16, 2026
Rabies in Maine is fairly uncommon. As of Monday, state data showed only three reported cases this year. Rabies is a disease caused by a virus that affects the brain and spinal cord, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. It is common in animals, especially wildlife, but very rare in humans in the United States. The rabies virus lives in the saliva, brain and spinal cord of infected animals, the Maine CDC says. It commonly spreads through animal bites and scratches. It can also spread if an animal’s saliva or neural tissue contacts the mouth, nose or eyes of a person or animal, or if it enters a cut in the skin. The virus does not spread by simply petting animals or touching dried bodily fluids of an infected animal.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 16, 2026
Leanne Tapley of Island Falls had traveled to Moosehead Lake with family for a weekend ice fishing trip. She and her husband have ice fished for years, but it was their first time on the lake. They planned to stay overnight on the ice to fish for cusk, a species more active at night. Around 1 a.m. Sunday, Tapley drove toward shore to use an outhouse near the boat landing. On the way back to the fishing shack, she shifted slightly left of her original path to avoid a slushy area. She heard a crack and the truck immediately dropped through the ice before stopping with the waterline just below the window. Her husband rushed from their nearby fishing shack. He carefully approached the truck and grabbed her hand to help her jump safely onto the ice. “Will I be driving a truck on the ice? No, absolutely not.”
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 16, 2026
“We love living in Winterport,” said Lily Calderwood, who chairs the town’s conservation commission. “But there isn’t any public access to the water, or even a place to walk along the water.” Every town along the lower stretch of the Penobscot River has some sort of public access point on the river, be it a boat launch, walking trail, park or nature preserve. Except for Winterport. Over the years, the town has tried different ways of creating public access to the waterfront, said longtime town council member Stephen Cooper. The will is there, he said. “It just hasn’t worked out.” Calderwood, as the conservation commission chair, is spearheading the town’s latest effort to acquire waterfront land.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 16, 2026
On a table in our living room we keep a copy of Peterson’s Field Guide to Eastern Birds. On the inside of the back cover and facing page is a running list of birds we’ve seen. one bird missing from the list is the Canada jay, also known as the gray jay, camp robber, whiskey jack or gorby. I like the name gray jay. It matches the bird’s plumage. As much as we enjoy our outdoor activities in the northern half of the state, the hope of seeing Canada jays is a big reason we go each year. When I’m in the North Woods I enjoy seeing Canada jays around camp as much now as I did when I was a kid. It’s good to know some things never change. ~ Al Raychard
SUN JOURNAL • March 15, 2026
Find dog-friendly walking paths and parks where you can bring your pooch in towns including Bethel, Farmington, Rumford and Rangeley and more.
CENTRAL MAINE • March 15, 2026
Maine is a poor state because we have a history of selling our resources on the cheap. First, the Europeans came for the fish. Then, they came for the pine trees. Next, they came for the falling waters. Later, they came for the clean water. Now, they want the wind, the sunlight and Maine’s metals. When we sell these resources Maine needs to maximize the value that flows to Maine people. There is no hurry. Both the resources and the people who wish to exploit them will be there tomorrow — unless we sell them on the cheap today. ~ Mark Isaacson, Cumberland
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 15, 2026
You can find three owl species in Maine. No, make that four. No, five. OK, maybe 10. Four species nest in Maine — great horned owl, barred owl, northern saw-whet owl and eastern screech-owl. Two species possibly nest here — short-eared owl and long-eared owl — but these two are rarely encountered in summer. Four species occasionally visit from the north in winter months — snowy owl, great gray owl, northern hawk-owl and (rarely) boreal owl. ~ Bob Duchesne
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 14, 2026
There’s nothing like the apricity of January and February. The light starts returning as soon as we celebrate the shortest day in December. We are supposed to hunch, shrug and bear it — but I like winter, watching the days lengthen and the light return. I like the effort. This is the most wonderful time of the year — clear, bright, blue, bugless, contemplative and snug. Winter gets a bad rap. It’s not just cold temperatures and suffering. Winter sounds are often subtle; sometimes fierce; always distinct. If I went away from winter, I would miss crunching snow underfoot, the ice falling off frozen birch branches and the “whomp” of heavy snow being shed by the fir trees, or the inner cracking of pines in the deep cold. ~ Todd R. Nelson, Penobscot
CENTRAL MAINE • March 14, 2026
This combination of highs and lows can make this one of the more challenging months to get out and enjoy nature. While these warm days are nice, it is still winter for many animals. There are early signs of spring that you can be on the lookout for, and we’ve had exciting reports come in from all corners. First, piping plovers are here. American woodcocks, aka timberdoodle, are very hard to detect during the day, but in the evenings can be heard doing their songs and flight displays near most wet fields edged by woods. The groundhogs are also here. I’ve seen a few reports of early salamanders – mostly yellow-spotted salamanders – on the move. ~ Doug Hitchcox
BOOTHBAY REGISTER • March 14, 2026
Midcoast Conservancy is pleased to announce the successful completion of a new conservation easement protecting 108 acres of forest, wetlands, and wildlife habitat along Pettengill Stream in Union. The property, now called Herbie Hill for the landowner’s beloved tortoiseshell cat, will remain permanently conserved, safeguarding an important stretch of land within the Upper Medomak River watershed. The conserved property is part of a larger 999-acre unfragmented forest block and lies within an important Focus Area and the broader 12 Rivers Conservation Corridor. The land includes approximately 10 acres of wetlands with approximately 8 acres that are classified as significant wetlands.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 14, 2026
I’ve been watching, first with confusion and then with anger, as a group of homeowners calling themselves the Friends of Belfort sues to block a 50-unit housing development on the vacant lot next to Talbot School. The project was approved by the city’s planning board last July. It meets Portland’s zoning. Thirteen of the units are designated workforce housing. It’s on a bus route, next to a school, on land that’s sitting empty. It’s exactly the kind of development the city needs. The Friends of Belfort say they support housing — just not this housing, not here, not in this way. These are euphemisms from people who can’t say what they really mean: we have ours, and we don’t want to share. ~ Andrew Shuttleworth Fowler, Westbrook
