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Editor, Maine Environmental News

Upstream pig poop stymies Maine town’s desire to reopen polluted clam flat

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 6, 2026

Soft-shell clams face steep challenges along the coast of Maine, where harvests have fallen by 75% since the mid-1970s amid warming waters and the arrival of invasive green crabs that eat their young. On the shores of Herrick Bay in the Hancock County town of Brooklin, once its most productive flat, testing suggests harvesters face an additional issue: pig feces washing down into a bay from Selectman David Reiley’s small farm upstream, where remediation efforts have apparently stalled for more than a year.

An illegally killed bull moose became an unusual classroom lesson for Maine students

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 6, 2026

East Grand High School students in Danforth got a hands-on lesson in processing wild game Wednesday, learning how to butcher, package and preserve meat from a bull moose. The Maine Warden Service recovered the moose last week after it was illegally shot in northern Maine during Maine’s antlerless-only moose hunt.

Undeveloped 30-acre island in Blue Hill Bay hits the market for $1.75M

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 5, 2026

A 30-acre private island located just north of Swans Island in Blue Hill Bay is on the market for the first time in at least 50 years. Orono Island, part of the Acadia Archipelago, is largely undeveloped except for two docks and a roughly 10-by-20-foot shelter with wooden sleeping bunks. The property hit the market on Monday with an asking price of more than $1.7 million and has already garnered the attention of multiple prospective buyers.

Judge grants injunction to temporarily halt removal of beloved York tree

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 5, 2026

A York County Superior Court judge has issued a restraining order against the town of York, temporarily halting the removal of a tree that some residents want to save. The honey locust tree, located on a traffic island in York Village Square, has been at the center of a weekslong debate over whether it should be saved as work begins on a long-awaited revitalization plan.

Hannah Pingree taps former Republican and tribal leader to build her Cabinet

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 5, 2026

Gov.-elect Hannah Pingree on Thursday named a former Republican state senator who once co-hosted a TV talk show with her and a Penobscot Nation leader to co-chair the committee that will help pick her Cabinet. Roger Katz, a lawyer who served four terms as a state senator and was Augusta’s mayor, and Maulian Bryant, the executive director of the Wabanaki Alliance and former ambassador for the Penobscot Nation, will lead a volunteer Transition Committee whose full membership will be announced in the coming days.

Maine fisheries biologists study stocked salmon in Albany Twp.

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 5, 2026

Songo Pond in Albany Township was the focus last month of a salmon-sampling program by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. It is is known as a “put-and-take” winter salmon fishery, according to IFW Fisheries Resource Supervisor Jim Pellerin. That’s because it is stocked for fishing by the department with the expectation that the fish will be “harvested relatively soon after stocking. We’re not really looking or expecting to create a quality fishery with multi-age fish,” he said.

Column: Do Mainers really save energy with daylight saving time?

TIMES RECORD • October 5, 2026

Daylight saving time comes from the era of incandescent bulbs: Shift the clock so people are awake during more daylight, and they’ll use less energy to see by. Congress adopted it in 1918 to conserve fuel for World War I and extended it into November in 2007. The evidence for savings is thin. The U.S. Department of Energy found the 2007 extension saved just 0.03% of the nation’s yearly electricity. DOE estimates you can save up to 10% a year on heating and cooling by turning your thermostat back 7-10 F for eight hours a day. The catch: more than two-thirds of EIA survey households with a programmable thermostat never programmed it. ~ Fred Horch and Peggy Siegle, Sustainable Practice

Animal rights group petitions Maine agency to adopt rules for salmon farms

MAINE MONITOR • November 4, 2026

An animal rights group has petitioned the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry to establish new rules improving the welfare of farmed salmon in aquaculture operations. Animal Outlook, a Washington-based animal welfare nonprofit, launched the petition drive. Ben Williamson, Animal Outlook’s executive director, said the group took action after conducting two investigations into conditions at Cooke Aquaculture USA’s Bingham hatchery. Cooke Aquaculture USA, the U.S. subsidiary of Cooke Inc., holds 24 active permits covering 620 acres of Maine waters. It is by far the state’s largest finfish aquaculture operation.

New Opportunities for Our Parks

NATIONAL PARKS CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION • November 4, 2026

The next Congress will look very different with many new park champions. This is the biggest change in America’s congressional representation in modern history. Every new seat represents a fresh opportunity to elevate our public lands and inspire the next wave of champions that our national parks so desperately need. The past two years have tested our parks like few times in our history. Together, with the help of park advocates across the country we fought off the largest proposed cut in the Park Service’s history and defeated an effort to sell off millions of acres of public lands. Our national parks belong to all of us. Let’s keep standing together to protect them. ~ Tiernan Sittenfeld, President and CEO, National Parks Conservation Association

Who Governs the Oceans? The Law of the Sea in a Shifting World Order, Nov 7

CAMDEN CONFERENCE • November 4, 2026

Ezgi Yildiz, Assistant Professor of Government at Bowdoin College and a Research Associate at the Global Governance Center of the Geneva Graduate Institute, traces how the modern law of the sea took shape, what it has achieved, and why it now faces growing strain. At Camden Public Library, November 7, 2:30 pm.

Preliminary results in major Maine political races

• Governor: Hannah Pingree (D)
• US Senate: Troy Jackson (D)
• US House 1: Chellie Pingree (D)
• US House 2: Matt Dunlap (D) and Paul LePage (R) too close to call
• Maine Senate: Ds 16, Rs 8
• Maine House: Ds 66, Rs 28

Wildfire near Maine border grows to about 1,000 acres

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 4, 2026

A wildfire about a mile from Maine’s border with New Hampshire has grown to about 1,000 acres, the White Mountain National Forest said Wednesday. The Wild River fire is 11% contained and burning about 7 miles southeast of Gorham, New Hampshire. More than 50 firefighters and two helicopters are assigned to the fire.

Opinion: NECEC should not be renegotiated now

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 4, 2026

The debate surrounding the New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) project has lasted for years. The matter now under consideration is not whether NECEC should have been approved. That decision has already been made, and the line is operating. Nor is the question whether some people would prefer a different conservation approach than the one ordered when the Department of Environmental Protection approved the NECEC and upheld by the Board of Environmental Protection on appeal. The board’s responsibility is determining whether the applicant complied with the conservation conditions imposed. In my view, the answer is yes. The integrity of Maine’s regulatory system depends on the board being willing to say so. ~ Matt Scott, former chairman, Maine Board of Environmental Protection

Letter: Mainers, test your well water

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 4, 2026

My family is dealing with contaminated water — specifically uranium and arsenic in our well water. We tested the water eight years ago when we moved in but the levels of these chemicals have changed dramatically and now pose a serious health risk. We have no idea how long we have been drinking this poisonous water. Our two children have been drinking this water their whole lives. We’re in the midst of a lot of medical testing for all of us. Waiting for the results has been incredibly stressful. I urge everyone on well water to test their water regularly. ~ Ashley Bahlkow, North Yarmouth

Western Maine guide offers tips to families about nature journaling

SUN JOURNAL • November 4, 2026

Biddeford artist and author Rebekah Lowell shares how families can learn from nature year-round through journaling, with tips for fall and winter, guidance on raising monarchs and a simple kit that makes a good holiday gift.

Living with the Land 2026, Nov 12

MAINE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS • November 3, 2026

This event brings together conservation leaders, community members, and land stewards to explore how creative projects and community initiatives on conserved land can strengthen community health and holistic well-being. Attendees will have dedicated time before the panel to connect with one another and interact with panelists through dedicated time for Q&A. At Johnson Hall, 280 Water Street, Gardiner, Maine, November 12, 5-8 pm, General Admission, $30.

Wildfire in White Mountain National Forest grows to more than 375 acres

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 3, 2026

A wildfire just over the Maine border in New Hampshire has grown. The 378-acre Wild River Fire is approximately 11% contained, Sarah Hankens, a spokesperson for the U.S. Forest Service at White Mountain National Forest, said Tuesday afternoon. The fire is on the northwest side of the Wild River in Coos County, New Hampshire, in an area west of Mount Hastings. As the blaze spread, the Forest Service’s response grew from 40 assigned personnel on Monday to 50 on Tuesday. The cause is under investigation.

Salt Bay Farm interpretive panels explore the region’s rich environmental history

BOOTHBAY REGISTER • November 3, 2026

Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust is pleased to announce the installation of four new interpretive panels along the trails at the Salt Bay Farm Preserve. The displays were funded by the Maine State Archives and the Maine State Cultural Affairs Council through the Maine Semiquincentennial Commission, a grant program that funds inclusive, community-centered initiatives honoring Maine's past and inspiring its future as the nation marks its 250th anniversary. Coastal Rivers’ interpretive signage project invites visitors to explore how natural resources have shaped human life in the Damariscotta region for thousands of years. They connect past and present land use through the stories of oysters, alewives, timber and shipbuilding, and farming. 

The Axe Man’s collection preserves Oakland’s toolmaking history

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 3, 2026

Howard Hardy’s lifelong fascination with axes began in 1965 when, as a 12-year-old, he watched his father chop wood on the family’s 300-acre Farmington woodlot. That early spark was rekindled in 1978. He now has hundreds of vintage Oakland-made axes. From 1900 through the end of World War II in 1945, Oakland, Maine, produced more axes, scythes, and edge tools than any community in the world.