The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 23, 2025
The Scarborough Town Council has passed a resolution opposing an amendment to state bill LD 1093, which would allow Maine State Park passholders to access Scarborough Beach State Park for free. Management and residents expressed concern for overcrowding and a loss of revenue.
WGME-TV13 • May 23, 2025
Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start to summer but a big question remains in Maine: How will the trade war between United States and Canada impact tourism in the state? According to the Maine Office of Tourism, nearly 800,000 Canadian visitors spent approximately $497.7 million in 2024. Overall, Canadians made up about 5% of last year's total of 14.8 million visitors, who spent more than $9.2 billion. That total spending supported 115,900 jobs in Maine and generated $5.4 billion in wages, according to the tourism office. Gov. Janet Mills, however, said in a radio address that Maine could lose an estimated 225,000 visitors from Canada this year as a result of U.S. tariffs on Canadian imports, as well as President Donald Trump's calls to make Canada the 51st state.
MORNING SENTINEL • May 22, 2025
A long-planned deal that would give the National Park Service 1,845 acres of forest next to the Appalachian Trail corridor in Somerset County hit a snag Wednesday when a majority of the county commissioners objected to it. The nonprofit land trust facilitating the transaction had asked the county to express its lack of objection, a requirement imposed at the last minute by the federal government before it would approve more than $2 million in funding for the conservation project. But three of the five Somerset County commissioners said at their regular meeting Wednesday in Skowhegan they would not support the county issuing a “no objection” letter, largely because the acquisition would close the area to hunting. Their decision, which could change in the coming days as the commissioners review more information, puts the chance to permanently conserve the land in jeopardy.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 23, 2025
Despite hailing them as important, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has cancelled $15 million in grants to research and reduce the effect of forever chemicals on farms, including almost $5 million in local research projects to the University of Maine, the Mi’kmaq Nation and Passamaquoddy Tribe. “These funds were congressionally approved and appropriated, and they cannot be terminated in this way,” said Chelli Stanley of Upland Roots, a group working on the Mi’kmaq Nation grant. “It is unconstitutional.” Earlier this month, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins assured Maine Senator Susan Collins that $17 million the agency had awarded to the Agriculture Research Service and UMaine to establish a new PFAS research lab was still intact.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 22, 2025
In Maine, the odds of a driver hitting an animal are 1 in 83. From large passages under roads to small ones for turtles and snakes, Maine is quietly embracing methods long used in the western U.S. to divert animals around high-strike roads and areas reshaped by development. Not visible to drivers, there are at least six such passages built or planned in Aroostook County. So far, they seem to be minimizing animal fatalities, human injuries and vehicle damage. “Anything that can keep wildlife off the roads that our people are using is very much appreciated,” said Penny Thompson, city manager of Caribou.
ASSOCIATED PRESS • May 22, 2025
The multitrillion-dollar tax breaks package passed by House Republicans early Thursday would gut clean energy tax credits that Democrats approved three years ago while supporting increased mining, drilling and other traditional energy production. A marathon session that began Wednesday resulted in 1,100-plus page legislation that curbs billions of dollars in spending across food assistance, student loans, Medicaid and action to address climate change.
MAINE MORNING STAR • May 22, 2025
The U.S. Senate voted early Thursday to prevent California from enforcing regulations on tailpipe emission from new cars and trucks, upending state regulations for the nearly 40% of Americans whose states, including Maine, follow California standards. The House has already passed an identical measure, meaning the Senate vote sends the resolution to President Donald Trump’s desk. Democrats blasted the near-party-line vote for contradicting the Senate parliamentarian, who’d ruled the waiver that the EPA had granted to California to set its own tailpipe standards was not a regulation that could be rolled back under the Congressional Review Act. Maine Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King split over the emission rule, with Collins joining all the other Republicans blocking the states from setting more stringent standards than Congress enacted in 1970.
MAINE MONITOR • May 22, 2025
Six years ago, Gov. Janet Mills set a goal of installing 100,000 heat pumps, an environmentally friendly alternative to oil furnaces and gas boilers, by 2025. The state, now a national leader for heat pump adoption, met that goal two years ahead of schedule, and Mills set a new target: another 175,000 heat pumps by 2027. Maine needs skilled workers to reach this goal. But the state must employ more than 14,000 new workers to reach its goal of 30,000 clean energy jobs by the end of the decade. While the state says it remains dedicated to this goal, some in the industry worry federal funding cuts and tariffs could create challenges for the workforce development pipeline.
SUN JOURNAL • May 22, 2025
Cyclists came to the corner of Lincoln Street in Lewiston Wednesday night to participate in a somber yearly occurrence to memorialize cyclists killed by motor vehicles, and to promote sharing the road. The Ride of Silence, hosted by the Maine Cycling Club and chaperoned by Lewiston and Auburn police, took place through the Twin Cities. The mission of the event is to honor cyclists killed by motorists while raising awareness about bicycling safety.
MAINE PUBLIC • May 22, 2025
More than 100 clean energy advocates gathered at the Maine State House in Augusta Thursday to urge lawmakers to pass several bills. Sierra Pearl is an electrical apprentice who said she sees solar as the future. But with federal uncertainty and sometimes hostility toward clean energy, she said the work she and her fellow apprentices have been counting on has dried up. Under consideration are bills aimed at reaching 90% clean energy by 2040, creating a cabinet-level Department of Energy, and creating new affordability standards for utilities. With the chilling effect uncertainty at the federal level has caused over clean energy tax credits and other funding, House and other advocates said that it's more important than ever to invest in renewables at the state level.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 22, 2025
Wild American oysters, long considered extinct in Midcoast Maine, have returned to the region, according to a recent study. With the help of local shellfish harvesters, researchers from the University of Maine identified the oysters in nearly 40 areas along the coastal Damariscotta River. And they raised questions about whether aquaculture farms could be responsible for the species’ return to the wild. The study also reported steep declines in soft-shell clam and mussel populations. The conclusion, the study asserts, is that industry input and participation helps scientists and rulemakers best understand Maine’s marine ecosystems — and, in turn, can help them better write the regulations that affect fishermen’s day-to-day lives.
MAINE MORNING STAR • May 22, 2025
While legislative committees are winding down their work for the session, the Legislature’s Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee has yet to decide what it will do with a slew of proposals aimed at reforming or outright eliminating the state’s clean energy credit program. Meanwhile, clean energy advocates, including representatives from the Natural Resources Council of Maine, Maine Youth for Climate Justice, Maine Conservation Voters, and Maine Community Power Cooperative, gathered at the State House Thursday morning asking lawmakers to reject any attempts at rolling back or making retroactive changes to the net energy billing program. Activists, solar customers and laborers also roamed the halls talking with lawmakers about continued support for solar energy.
MAINE MORNING STAR • May 22, 2025
U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree (D) of Maine pressed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on conflicting statements about why it cut grants for forever chemical research in Maine. Earlier this month, the EPA terminated all of the grants it had awarded for research into reducing PFAS in the food supply. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin publicly stated the grants were important and already congressionally appropriated when questioned by Pingree. But the EPA now says the Biden-Harris administration shouldn’t have forced their radical agenda of wasteful DEI programs and environmental justice.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 22, 2025
When people come to Vacationland, they almost always hope to see a moose during their visit. But no one wants to hit one. The hulking animals can total your vehicle, and moose crashes are around 13 percent more fatal than deer strikes. See the data on where moose strikes are most likely to occur.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 22, 2025
Author Rand Clark spoke at the Windham Public Library about his thru-hikes of the Appalachian and Pacific Crest trails, as well as about his forthcoming books highlighting the experience. Clark described the hike as a spiritual and healing experience, where the solitude and natural beauty deeply touches you. He mentioned that, since he got back, he has been simplifying his life, getting rid of unnecessary possessions, and becoming more intentional, deliberate and grateful. In between the major national trails, which took him around five months each to do, Clark has been hiking the 100 highest peaks in New England. In the coming months, he plans to tackle the highest peaks of New York state.
BOSTON GLOBE • May 22, 2025
Hydro-Quebec’s main transmission line into New England is considered the region’s largest potential source of electricity. But after reliably selling electricity into the New England market for years, Hydro-Quebec shut off the spigots in early March, reducing the flow to a trickle. The lack of Canadian hydropower isn’t a reliability issue for us yet. But the surprisingly long dry spell out of Hydro-Quebec should serve as a warning that the days of cheap, plentiful, low-carbon power from the north hitting the spot market are no longer guaranteed. A big power line under construction, dubbed New England Clean Energy Connect, was supposed to complement these existing imports, not supplant them. And scratch any thought of starting another one to Quebec anytime soon. The company says it simply can’t sell power profitably into New England right now, given the relatively low prices on the wholesale market.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 21, 2025
It has rained in Maine at least one day every weekend since the end of March. Through April and mid-May, most of the state has seen more precipitation than normal — an entire inch more than in a typical April. Since late March or early April, a cloud-causing low pressure system has tended to move through the Northeast every few days. That could be good news for farmers and gardeners who have faced drought conditions and occasionally dry wells in a handful of recent seasons. But too much rain has also challenged Maine growers as climate change causes swings between extreme weather conditions.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 21, 2025
Once a small college struggling with declining enrollment, Unity Environmental University is bringing in astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson as its commencement speaker to help graduate its largest-ever class this Friday. The president of Unity Environmental University, formerly Unity College, says the school has evolved in response to the challenges of higher education and its 10,000-person student body is now mostly online. Unity is now the second-largest university in the state based on enrollment, behind only the flagship public University of Maine with 12,000 students as of this fall. On Friday, more than 1,000 students will graduate with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in environmental fields.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 21, 2025
Gov. Janet Mills reiterated a warm invitation to Canadian visitors this summer during a roundtable discussion Wednesday with local business owners, who shared with her both concern and cautious optimism as the start of tourist season fast approaches. “Maine has a brand, and I think it’s a good one,” Mills told a group of 10 Kennebunk-area business people. “We want to protect it.” Mills said that although President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian products and his dismissive rhetoric toward the United States’ northern neighbor have been damaging, that doesn’t mean the upcoming season will be a bust. She pledged to continue supporting businesses and encouraging visitors not to blame Maine — or boycott us.
MAINE MORNING STAR • May 21, 2025
Though there are still funding details to sort out, a slate of proposals brought forward after 1,500 gallons of toxic firefighting foam concentrate spilled in Brunswick last August have been backed by the Maine Legislature. “Since August 19, 2024, hardly a day has gone by where our delegation hasn’t put work into an entire suite of legislation both to help Brunswick recover and, even more importantly, to make sure that what happened to us cannot happen anywhere else,” said Rep. Dan Ankeles (D-Brunswick) on the House of Representatives floor earlier this month. On Wednesday, the Senate passed the last of a package of three bills that Ankeles crafted in the aftermath of the spill.
