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 18, 2026
Acadia officials are starting construction on a new trail that will prevent pedestrians from needing to walk on a busy roadway at the park’s highest peak. The trail will give visitors a dedicated walkway between the east and west parking lots along Cadillac Summit Road, one of the Acadia National Park’s busiest roads. The project is part of a broader push to invest more in pedestrian accessibility at Acadia.
LINCOLN COUNTY NEWS • August 18, 2025
After almost 50 years of farming and forestry, the owners of Hidden Valley Farm in Whitefield are looking for someone new to take over. Bambi Jones and David “Tracy” Moskovitz, owners of the 1,200 acres, said they are looking to either gift the property to an appropriate nonprofit or sell it and donate the proceeds to benefit conservation efforts. The couple has received around about half a dozen proposals, but are still accepting more. They plan to make a decision by this summer. “We’re just really interested in how, especially conservation organizations, can do a more effective job of fulfilling their missions,” Moskovitz said. “We want to help spur that along.”
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 18, 2026
An ice jam is raising flood risk on the Piscataquis River. The ice jam happened on the river in Maxfield on Wednesday morning, according to the National Weather Service.It’s already caused flooding on North Howland Road, and further flooding is possible.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 18, 2026
On the morning of March 10, two men hauled a 9-foot sculpture of a lobster off a pickup truck parked in New York City’s Financial District. People started speculating about its intent. It appears the crustacean emblem of Maine is emerging as a symbol in the AI sector, initiated by its use as the logo of OpenClaw, software that operates as a personal assistant capable of completing tasks like sending emails, ordering groceries, booking flights and even writing code for itself. “ClawCons” are being held around the world to bring together OpenClaw users, including one in New York City this month that featured a spread of free lobster tails. “Raising lobster” is the term used for training the AI agents, and other platforms developed as offshoots of OpenClaw, such as QClaw and MaxClaw, are perpetuating the theme.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 17, 2026
The foreclosure auction for a Kennebunkport camping resort was postponed indefinitely after the company that owns it filed for bankruptcy. The foreclosure auction of Sandy Pines Campground in Kennebunkport was set for March 5, but the event was “postponed until further notice due to a bankruptcy filing,” according to the Portland-based Keenan Auction Company. This is the latest financial hiccup for Tim Harrington, who is also facing liens and legal complaints over unpaid contractor services for work done at the Asticou Hotel on Mount Desert Island, which he also owns. That hotel re-opened last year after a $28 million renovation.
MAINE PUBLIC • March 17, 2026
Greg Hunton has been driving a snow groomer at Sunday River for 25 years, so he knows his way around the sprawling ski resort in Newry. The mountain is making new investments to increase snowmaking efficiency and use less water and energy. As a warming climate makes New England winters less cold and snowy, snowmaking has become an essential tool to give skiers the amount of snow they expect on the slopes. Last year, Sunday River used aircraft equipped with LiDAR to map out the topography of the mountain, almost down to the inch. Now when the two LiDAR-equipped cats go out, their scans show the difference between the trail surface and the base map, thereby giving the snow depth. Sunday River has committed to a sustainability "Forever Project" to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, reduce waste, and improve efficiencies.
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.
MAINE MORNING STAR • March 17, 2026
Electricity rates “increased significantly” in nearly every U.S. state in 2025, with residents in a dozen states seeing at least a 10% jump, according to a congressional report released Tuesday. The analysis came amid other gloomy economic headlines, including a steep increase in gasoline prices since the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran began, and a lousy jobs report last month. States that saw the highest spikes included Maine, 10.6%. Democrats on the committee pointed to President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to slash electricity costs, among other prices, by half. Affordability is a key issue ahead of the 2026 midterm elections in November that will determine control of Congress. Trump has repeatedly referred to the issue of affordability as a “hoax.”
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
