Former longtime Bangor city forester dies at 89

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 19, 2025

Rolland F. Perry, for whom Bangor City Forest is named, died Thursday at the age of 89. Perry was the city’s forester for 42 years and was responsible for planting many of the trees lining Bangor’s streets today. By the time he retired in 2006 when he was 70, he had planted 812,809 of them. His goal was 1 million. But Perry’s legacy has far outlived his career. Perry established tree nurseries to replace thousands of trees along residential streets. “Rolland has bestowed the city of Bangor with shady, mature tree-lined streets, as well as left his legacy behind in many of the city’s parks, cemeteries and municipal properties in the form of planted and pruned trees,” said Ben Arruda, the city’s current urban forestry manager.

Peru takes custody of dozens of farm animals lacking proper care

SUN JOURNAL • May 19, 2025

The town has taken custody of cattle, goats, pigs, chickens and rabbits from 50 Stagecoach Road after an investigation showed they did not have “adequate shelter, food or water,” according to a court order requested by Animal Control Officer Eric Giroux. Justice Philip Mohlar granted the order May 5 in Rumford District Court, the day it was filed. The order names the defendants as Denise and Steven Letarte of Rumford.

Endangered whales gave birth to few babies this year as population declines

ASSOCIATED PRESS • May 19, 2025

A vanishing species of whale gave birth to few babies this birthing season, raising alarms among scientists and conservationists who fear the animal could go extinct. The whale is the North Atlantic right whale, which numbers only about 370 and has declined in population in recent years. The whales give birth to calves off the southeastern United States from mid-November to mid-April, and federal authorities have said they need to have at least 50 calves per season to start recovering. The calving season produced only 11 mother-calf pairs.

Lawmaker seeks to refine ‘overly broad’ PFAS definition to allow for some pesticide use

MAINE MORNING STAR • May 19, 2025

Rep. Amy Arata, a Republican from New Gloucester, got approval from legislative leaders to introduce a late-session bill (LD 1982) to change how PFAS substances are defined in state law. She believes the current definition is overly broad and could include chemicals that don’t pose the same long-term health problems as PFAS, which have been linked to cancer and weakened immune systems. Arata’s proposal is for Maine to adopt the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s narrower definition for PFAS. Arata is largely concerned with farmers being unable to use certain pesticides. The Department of Environmental Protection opposes the bill because the state already has a process to seek exemptions to use products with PFAS that would otherwise be prohibited under the state ban.

Maine marine scientist elected to America’s oldest honorary society

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 19, 2025

A University of Maine marine scientist has earned a place among the likes of George Washington, Albert Einstein, Duke Ellington and Madeleine Albright as members of the nation’s oldest honorary society. Bob Steneck is one of nearly 250 members elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences this year. His four decades of research at UMaine have impacted how lobster fisheries research is conducted — and, in working closely with fishermen, focused on research to support the industry and its harvesters.

Maine Calling: New Life for Old Towns: Focus on the Outdoors

MAINE PUBLIC • May 19, 2025

Maine is widely known for outdoor recreation and eco-tourism. Some towns are making the most of that reputation by drawing visitors and supporting businesses centered on the great outdoors. We’ll learn how community leaders, businesses and venues in places like Rockland, Biddeford, and Westbrook are re-energizing their local economies. Panelists: Anne Ball, Maine Downtown Center; Carolann Ouellette, Maine Office of Tourism. VIP Callers: Kristina Cannon, Main Street Skowhegan; Amy Grommes Pulaski, Discover Downtown Westbrook; Captain Tyler Waterson, A Morning in Maine, Rockland; Delilah Poupore, Heart of Biddeford.

A fisherman is missing off the Down East coast

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 19, 2025

A clam fisherman is missing off the coast of Milbridge. Alton Wallace, 51 of Milbridge was reported missing about 4 p.m. Sunday when he failed to return home after a day on the water, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. Searchers found his 14-foot skiff near Pinkham Island.

Letter: Nature should be for all, not a few fishermen

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 19, 2025

The May 3 column by Chris Sargent, “It was my secret fishing spot. Then a land trust bought the property and ruined it.” implies: Beware fishermen, the land trusts are after you and they must be stopped! The use of the word “my” in the headline denotes some inherent exclusive right of possession. Does he own the property? Does he have some Indigenous right to it as his and his only? I think not. This “me, my, mine” culture grows daily. A safeguarded area of land, without secret caches and misplaced rights of ownership, is a good thing. ~ Cheryl Harry, Orono

The battle behind the Maine salmon sold at grocery stores

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 19, 2025

Maine has a controversial and outsized role when it comes to Atlantic salmon. It’s the only remaining state where what’s known as the King of Fish can be farmed in ocean net pens. But it’s also the only state where endangered wild Atlantic salmon survive, in a handful of rivers. To salmon conservationists, those two are at odds, pointing to concerns that the pens could be contaminating surrounding waters and putting wild salmon at risk. Wild-caught Atlantic salmon hasn’t been sold commercially since the fishery was closed in 1948, but Maine companies have been raising them since the 1970s. Proposals for multiple land-based fish farms in Maine have failed to take shape in recent years. The biggest threats to wild salmon conservation efforts are dams and culverts blocking the fish from good upstream habitat, along with international fishing and changing water conditions.

Why homes on Maine’s Moosehead Lake are prized for privacy

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 19, 2025

People of all stripes have long flocked to the Moosehead Lake region to get away from everyday life, making the region prized for its privacy for regular Mainers and high-income outsiders alike. The pandemic-era real estate market has tilted things more toward wealthy buyers, something that has been a slow trend in the region’s long tourism history. Property has remained affordable because of inaccessibility. But the pandemic changed that dramatically. Home values in Greenville have increased over 75 percent. Luke Muzzy, executive director of the Moosehead Historical Society, doesn’t worry about the region changing forever because of new buyers. “You’re looking at an area larger than the size of Rhode Island that will always remain undeveloped,” he said. “The overall footprint of where development has occurred in the last 100-plus years is relatively unchanged. Never will change.”

Livermore woman works hard to maintain ATV trails | Face Time

SUN JOURNAL • May 18, 2025

Ashley Langlin-Hebert has enjoyed riding an ATV for years and is putting her love of the sport into organizing and helping to maintain the local trails. “I have always enjoyed getting out into nature with friends and seeing places you might not always see, local and afar.“

Column: A conservation success story in Maine’s North Woods

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • May 18, 2025

Maine is the only state with wild populations of Atlantic salmon. Yet these sea-run fish face significant threats as they attempt to migrate thousands of miles from the ocean to their natal waters to spawn. Barriers such as dams and inadequate culverts that block their safe passage have impeded the recovery of this ecologically and culturally important species. In 2003, the Appalachian Mountain Club launched the Maine Woods Initiative to promote multiuse conservation and recreation in the famed 100-Mile Wilderness. This initiative included one of the largest fisheries restoration projects in the country, helping protect and enhance the habitat that salmon, brook trout, alewives and many other species rely on. Restoration efforts have already demonstrated early signs of success. ~ Steve Tatko, Appalachian Mountain Club

Hatchery upgrades will boost trout stocking in Maine lakes and ponds

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 18, 2025

Three of the state’s eight hatcheries are undergoing major renovations, including its oldest facility in New Gloucester built in the 1940s and not updated since the early 1990s. The other two facilities are in Grand Lake Stream, which is the most difficult to reach because of its remoteness, and in Embden, which was the state’s first round tank farm and had a major renovation in the early 2000s. The state is using more than $25 million in one-time American Rescue Plan Act funding for the renovations. The hatcheries produce approximately 1 million fish that are released in some of Maine’s 6,000 lakes and ponds. The public can learn what lakes and ponds the DIF&W stocks, with what fish and when on the department’s stocking report online.

Maine packaging waste law needs improvement

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 17, 2025

Maine has long embodied its motto — Dirigo (I lead) — in environmental policymaking. Real leadership, however, requires a willingness to adapt when necessary to ensure policies remain effective, practical, and aligned with evolving realities. In 2021, Maine led the nation by passing a landmark law, shifting the financial burden of managing packaging waste away from municipalities and taxpayers and onto the producers that generate it. The Board of Environmental Protection in December 2024 voted on a detailed rule outlining how the Stewardship Program for Packaging will be implemented. However, the rule didn’t undergo legislative review. That decision has left critical concerns raised by Maine’s business community unresolved. LD 1423 would clarify the law’s definitions, better align Maine’s program with national peers, and prevent unintended economic harm. ~ Ashley Luszczki, Maine State Chamber of Commerce

Opinion: Gorham’s deer population is under threat

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 17, 2025

Gorham is home to one of southern Maine’s most robust and thriving deer herds, but our town officials, if allowed to continue on their present track, are pushing the entire herd into extinction. The deer herd in the Narragansett Game Sanctuary has been protected by state law since 1927, but our present crop of elected and appointed officials seem hell-bent on sidestepping the law’s protections and killing off the herd by systematically destroying its habitat. Rezonings have then been followed by massive development proposals. ~ Roger Brown, Gorham

Maine preservation commission cancels grants, layoffs loom without without federal funding

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 16, 2025

Facing delays in receiving federal funds, the Maine State Preservation Commission has canceled more than half a dozen grants in an attempt to avoid laying off nearly half its staff. The terminations included about $145,000 worth of grants to nonprofits and municipalities, which were canceled last week. Developers and preservation advocates say that a potential loss of funding and personnel would be devastating to historic rehabilitation projects that rely on the commission to secure major tax credits. In recent years, the state office has received about $870,000 annually from the federal government, which is distributed by the National Park Service. The National Park Service has been subject to widespread staffing cuts.

Column: The best place for spring birding is right in Bangor

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 16, 2025

Quit reading this. Grab your binoculars, and get outside. We’ve arrived at peak bird-finding season. Here are my top three places to go in the immediate Bangor area. Rolland F. Perry City Forest. If I could bird only one place in the area, it would be here. There are so many different trees at various heights that habitat is plentiful for every woodland bird. The Orono Bog Boardwalk offers an entirely different habitat for bog specialists. This boardwalk is as good as it gets. Essex Woods is my second favorite birding spot in Bangor. The walking path around the wetland is awesome for birding. Rounding out my top three: Caribou Bog Conservation Area in Orono. It was always good for birding. It’s now extraordinary, thanks to land trust efforts to reclaim the wetlands and improve the paths. ~ Bob Duchesne

Maine resilience projects face yet another funding setback

MAINE MONITOR • May 16, 2025

Just a month after the Trump administration cancelled a popular grant program and millions of dollars for local Maine climate resilience projects along with it, Maine municipal officials are facing yet another potential federal funding setback. This time it’s the Hazard Mitigation and Grant Program that the administration is downsizing, a multi-billion dollar program that states have long used to protect vulnerable homes and infrastructure from floods and other disasters. As a former FEMA official with decades of emergency management experience at the state and county levels, York County emergency management director Arthur Cleaves has seen the federal agency at every angle and is keenly aware of the opportunities to improve its efficiency and cost-effectiveness. What he doesn’t understand, however, is what good will come out of sinking vital FEMA programs that can protect communities like his from the next big storm. 

Aroostook County sawmill fined $240,000 for environmental violations

MAINE PUBLIC • May 16, 2025

A Canadian-owned saw mill in Aroostook County has agreed to pay $240,000 dollars to resolve water pollution violations. The state Department of Environmental Protection says Daaquam Lumber Maine Inc. failed to control stormwater runoff, illegally discharged wastewater and had an improperly sited and unregistered sand salt pile. The owner, Quebec based Lebel Groupe, has since corrected the problems. The mill was sold to J.D. Irving Limited in 2025, according to Lebel's website. The company did not respond to a request for comment. The company was fined $99,000 and will pay another $141,000 to enhance fish habitat in a nearby stream.

Funding approved for Camp Ellis erosion project

MAINE PUBLIC • May 16, 2025

Residents of Saco’s Camp Ellis neighborhood are hoping they may finally get relief from severe coastal erosion that has plagued them for generations. $23 million in the federal budget will pay for construction of a 750-foot stone jetty spur intended to reduce wave force and sand loss. Shoreline damage is blamed on a nearby Saco River jetty expanded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the 1950s.