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 • December 7, 2025
The small farm in Brooksville where homesteading icons Helen and Scott Nearing lived has drawn thousands of people, inspired by their model of “living sanely and simply in a troubled world,” even decades after their deaths. Jordan Humphrey and Lucy Marcus, who started work as traveling farmsitters during the pandemic, were hired to serve as its stewards this year. They were initially drawn to the job by the Nearing example of responding to troubled times by working hard, growing food and building, along with their principles of pacifism, vegetarianism and self-reliance. But in recent years, the politics of homesteading has expanded to the right to include more libertarian and conservative views. A new presidential administration has embraced a politically charged approach to healthy living that’s challenged the stereotype of the lifestyle as a mostly left-leaning pursuit.
MAINE MONITOR • December 5, 2025
During its first term and again this year, the Trump administration has repeatedly emphasized its commitment to cleaning up America’s toxic waste sites and addressing harmful “forever chemicals.” However, the Department of Defense has quietly pushed back the timeline to mitigate “forever chemicals” at more than 100 military installations, including the former Loring Air Force Base and the former Brunswick Naval Air Station.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • December 7, 2025
Even as December chills the air, Maine anglers can’t stop thinking about landlocked salmon. Though the fish may be deep in the lake, their presence drives dreams of the next season and the thrill of trolling a streamer across a glassy surface. Most years, ice-out on Aziscohos Lake doesn’t happen until early May. My wife, Trish, and I head to our cabin soon after word spreads that the lake is clear. Weather conditions vary drastically. Sometimes we arrive under bright blue skies, with temperatures climbing into the fifties. More often, overcast skies, rain squalls, or even a stray snowflake greet us — the type of harsh conditions favored by landlocked salmon and brook trout. After a long winter of inactivity, these fish are ravenous, often chasing schools of smelt across the lake. ~ Bob Romano
MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • December 7, 2025
At least three dozen schools in Maine, from South Portland to Skowhegan have embraced outdoor play and learning areas that use natural elements like boulders, logs, plants and water to encourage exploration, problem solving and an affinity for the environment. In these spaces, students study bees in the pollinator gardens. They hop from stump to stump, compost cafeteria food, build forts, splash in drainage ditches and streams, burrow in tunnels, and grow beans, tomatoes and flowers. Advocates claim green schoolyards have educational and environmental benefits that traditional playgrounds, which are dominated by athletic fields and prefabricated equipment, do not have. But not all districts are on board.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • December 7, 2025
Birds do not rely on feeders. They treat feeders as a supplemental food source. When there is plenty of natural food around, they may not visit feeders at all. Now that autumn lasts longer, feeders often hang limp until the first snow. Two climate surprises help explain why. Global warming is not happening evenly across the planet. Northern areas are warming faster. And winters are warming faster than summers. Many people watch the birds but miss what’s really going on. Casts change and the plot thickens. It’s almost like watching Netflix. But cheaper. ~ Bob Duchesne
MAINE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS • December 6, 2025
Mark Sullivan, of Hallowell, died on December 5, 2025. He served from 1997 to 2009 as communications director and senior policy advisor to former U.S. Representative Tom Allen. He had extensive experience in state government from 1982 to 1987, including serving as deputy commissioner of the Maine Department of Conservation from 1985 to 1987,. Sullivan worked with non-profit public interest groups, as editor of Maine Environment for the Natural Resources Council of Maine from 1979 to 1983, and as executive director of the Western Mountains Alliance from 1988 to 1990. In 2010, he joined the Maine Center for Economic Policy as its communications director. He also served as a member of the boards of the Natural Resources Council of Maine, and the Maine Association of Conservation Commissions.
THE GRIO • Dec 6, 2025
In an effort to emphasize its stance on diversity, equity, and inclusion, and to focus on America’s upcoming 250th anniversary, the Trump administration has removed Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth from the fee-free days calendar at National Parks for 2026. In their place are days honoring past presidents, like Theodore Roosevelt, and Flag Day, which coincidentally would be President Trump’s 80th birthday.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • December 5, 2025
For most of her life, the idea of shooting a deer was unthinkable to Amy Rush. An animal lover who once believed hunting was cruel, she grew up watching her uncle bring home “beautiful, free animals” and couldn’t understand why anyone would kill a deer instead of buying meat at the store. Her perspective began to shift when she got her hunting license so she could join her son, Jenek, in the woods and provide food for her family. “I cannot say enough about what hunting is to me now,” Rush said. “Crazy, since I was so against it in the past.”
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • December 6, 2025
John Henry Cashwell, III, died on November 24, 2025. Born in 1947 into two farming families in New Hampshire, in 1966, soon after graduating high school, he enlisted in the Army, was deployed to Vietnam, and become a gunship pilot. He returned to New Hampshire, where he became a jack-of-all-trades: carpenter, waiter, bartender, bus driver, even a one-time stint posing nude for art students. John graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Forestry in 1979 and began looking for a helicopter job. He was hired by Georgia Pacific based out of Woodland, Maine. In 1981, John was elected to Calais City Council and soon became mayor. In 1987, he became director of the Maine Forest Service and in 1993 the head of Seven Islands Land Company in Bangor. John played a key role in helping to create the largest conservation easement in the country, working with the New England Forestry Foundation. He also served as chairman of Maine Woods Company, director of Portage Wood Products, president of Black River LLC and most recently, as a consultant to BBC Land LLC. In 2009, thew Maine Forest Products Council presented John with the prestigious Albert D. Nutting Award.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • December 6, 2025
The Gulf of Maine is warming faster than nearly any ocean region on Earth. Sea levels rise. Waters warm. Marine ecosystems shift. These changes are reshaping our coast, our economy and our way of life. Portland, Maine, has decided to meet this moment head-on. The Wright’s Wharf bulkhead project has stabilized a critical piece of working waterfront. GMRI opened 10 public electric vehicle charging stations on Commercial Street. We’ve installed a marine charging station on our renovated bulkhead to provide critical infrastructure to electric boat operators in Casco Bay. New signs across the city transform climate infrastructure from invisible to inspirational, linking to detailed information about Portland’s climate adaptation efforts. Other coastal communities facing similar challenges should take note. ~ Glenn Prickett, CEO and president, Gulf of Maine Research Institute
MAINE PUBLIC • December 5, 2025
Squishy, blobby and alien-looking, some varieties of sea squirts — so called because they squirt water when they’re disturbed — have been in Maine for hundreds of years. But with the Gulf of Maine warming rapidly due to climate change, it has created a more hospitable habitat for new hangers-on from elsewhere: invasive sea squirts. For those who work in aquaculture, these invaders can be a constant source of annoyance and stress throughout the fishing and growing season. And some years, they can be a major hindrance to doing business.
SUN JOURNAL • December 5, 2025
With all the leaves off the deciduous trees, except for beeches and maybe some persistent oaks, you may be noticing various nests around that were otherwise obscured all summer. Typically, a bird nest is only used for raising young. Squirrels, on the other hand, will use their dreys throughout the year, so we can think of them as more like a house than just a nursery room. Squirrels will often have several dreys, three or more in an area, which you can think of as different rooms of their house. Most tree squirrels don’t store food in dreys, but I’ve seen them carry acorns in for eating, so it’s perhaps more of a dining room than a pantry. These dreys are used throughout the year and require maintenance. ~ Maine Audubon Staff Naturalist Doug Hitchcox
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • December 5, 2025
Talking about conservation during times of economic stress is difficult, but how to bring more folks to support the future of Maine’s woods, waters, and wildlife assets? A concept that resonates with rural voters is the outdoors as a “second paycheck.” Going duck hunting before breakfast, going skiing or snowmobiling after dark and after work, and maybe wading into most any stream with your kids and fishing it. In Maine, where wages are often substandard, the idea that we have this precious, invaluable “second paycheck” hits home because people know it from their lives. It needs to get better framed up by the enviro-community as a real-life-asset. Big money is buying up and posting access to our woods, waters, and wildlife assets; inequality is reaching deep into what matters daily to us. We might create more support for Land for Maine’s Future Program and public lands acquisition if the threat to our “second paycheck” was a clear message. ~ Sandra Neily, Greenville
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • December 5, 2025
Many parts of Maine were blasted with frigid air Thursday night into Friday morning, and meteorologists say the overnight cold temperatures broke decades-old records. Portland reported a low of 2 degrees, and Augusta reported a low of 3 as of 7 a.m. Friday, according to the National Weather Service. Gusty winds made those single-digit temperatures feel even colder. First, a disruption in the polar vortex is helping build atmospheric pressure over the Arctic and Greenland. Another potential factor Butler pointed to is a high-pressure system building over the Pacific Ocean near Alaska.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • December 5, 2025
Traveling along the bank of Musquash Stream in Nahmakanta Public Lands, a scenic hiking trail visits a series of small waterfalls before turning back into the forest and forming a small loop. This 0.9-mile trail is one of the many hikes located on the state-owned property, which encompasses 43,000 acres about halfway between Moosehead and Millinocket. Constructed in 2013 by the Maine Conservation Corps, the trail will be a part of a longer trail that is being developed in the region.
MAINE PUBLIC • December 4, 2025
The bitter cold temperatures and wind chills Thursday night into Friday are the result of a disruption in the polar vortex, according the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The polar vortex is located in the stratosphere about 30 miles above the Earth. A sudden stratospheric warming broke the polar vortex on November 28. At the same time, a large high pressure ridge over Alaska is driving Arctic air down into northern states including Maine. Dr. Amy Butler, Research Scientist for NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory, said we're likely to see bigger impacts from the polar vortex disruption in the next week or two.
MAINE PUBLIC • December 4, 2025
A few dozen volunteers have been transplanting grass from Popham's eroding sandbanks into its imperiled dunes. The hope is the grass can help reinforce the beaches' dune system against further erosion. Popham Beach is one of Maine's most popular day-use state parks, attracting about 200,000 visitors a year. It's also eroding faster than other beaches in the state losing more than 91 feet of beach a year since 2017. A shift in the Morse River is mostly to blame for severe erosion. Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands Director Andy Cutko said the agency intends to hire a consultant to develop a range of options for the long term future of the park. Meanwhile, it is trying projects like the dune grass replanting to shore up the dunes in the near-term.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • December 4, 2025
Boating through familiar waters near The Brothers islands in Casco Bay, Michael Scafuro and Rachel White were excited. After two years of work, they were going to sample for the first time oysters that they had grown in their aquaculture operation. “We pulled up and it was completely gone. There was nothing there. We were just shocked, and it felt surreal,” said White, 40. “It still does. It was a lifelong dream that we had just finally started.” Maine Marine Patrol, assisted by the anti-poaching nonprofit Maine Operation Game Thief, is investigating the possible theft of the 40,000 oysters and 14 aquaculture cages from Falmouth waters. The missing gear and shellfish are valued at nearly $20,000.
NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO • December 3, 2025
The Trump administration has started the process of dramatically easing fuel economy requirements for new vehicles, part of a broad pivot away from cleaner cars. At the White House on Wednesday, surrounded by the executives from several major car companies, President Trump said the move would make cars cheaper. "We're officially terminating Joe Biden's ridiculously burdensome, horrible CAFE standards that impose expensive restrictions," Trump said. Previous research from Consumer Reports has challenged the argument that regulations make cars more expensive. Stringent fuel economy standards also carry an economic benefit in the form of lower fuel costs over time.
