The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO • June 23, 2025
The Trump administration is rolling back a landmark conservation rule that prevents roadbuilding and logging on roughly 58 million acres of federal forest and wildlands including 6,000 ares in Maine in the White Mountains National Forest. The announcement rescinding the 2001 Roadless Rule comes as the Forest Service is under orders by President Trump to increase logging.
MAINE PUBLIC • June 23, 2025
Environmental advocates are calling on Congress to preserve clean energy tax credits, which are facing severe cuts in the big, beautiful bill. Lucy Hochschartner with Maine Conservation Voters said uncertainty in Washington is already affecting Maine clean energy projects and jobs. "It targets wind, solar, battery and home energy upgrades that are helping millions of people save money and lower emissions here in Maine," she said. "Cean energy isn't just about climate. It's about jobs, it's about health and it's about keeping our energy dollars here at home." Hochschartner said the cuts would drive up Maine energy costs at a time when the state already has some of the highest energy prices in the country.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 23, 2025
A group says it has enough signatures to give Portland voters the chance to weigh in this fall on whether to limit coal piles in the city, targeting a 45,000-ton pile on a waterfront piece of land that has long raised complaints from neighbors. Coal Free Portland’s petition aims to bring “An Act to End Fugitive Coal Dust” to a referendum in November, which would allow city voters to decide on the pile removal. If passed, the move would require large coal piles to be permanently covered and eventually removed within the next few years. It would also seek to levy fines against entities or individuals not in compliance. Sierra Club volunteers who gathered signatures estimated that around 75% of voters they spoke to supported the petition, said David von Seggern, an outings leader who often walks by the pile in the West End.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 23, 2025
The epicenter of Maine’s tick problem is the Midcoast, according to researchers. In six years of operation, the University of Maine Cooperative Extension tick lab has tested more than 22,000 ticks from every corner of the state. They found ticks from Hancock, Knox, Lincoln and Waldo counties are most likely to carry the pathogens that cause Lyme disease, anaplasmosis and babesiosis — the three most common tick-borne illnesses in Maine. The Midcoast also has the most reported human cases of those illnesses and related hospitalizations.
MAINE PUBLIC • June 23, 2025
With breeding season upon us, it's a fun time to spot birds nesting and feeding their young. We'll discuss what to look for, where to go‚ and how to identify birds that you see and hear. Also: what to keep in mind for bird conservation, especially as federal actions such as changes to the Endangered Species Act are making wildlife more vulnerable. Panelists: Nick Lund, Maine Audubon and The Birdist blog; Derek Lovitch, Freeport Wild Bird Supply.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 23, 2025
A group of Blue Hill residents opposed to a plan to subdivide and develop 38 acres of local blueberry barrens overlooking Salt Pond have come up with a plan to purchase the property. But it is not clear the developer is on board with the idea. Geoff Bowley, who owns the property and wants to convert it into nine house lots, submitted a proposal to the town last year, but Blue Hill’s Planning Board rejected his plan in April. A group of area residents called Save the Salt Pond Blueberry Barrens has opposed Bowley’s plans, citing the property’s scenic value and history of public access. A nonprofit development group said it has “reached an agreement” with Bowley to purchase the parcel for $1.8 million, which is roughly twice the amount that Bowley paid for it in 2023. The plan is to donate the land to Blue Hill Heritage Trust. The group’s goal is to raise $1.8 million over the next 18 months to repay the interest-free loan.
CBS 13 • June 23, 2025
Maine will experience the hottest temperatures so far of the season over the next few days. An Extreme Heat Watch has been issued for parts of the state. This will go into effect Tuesday morning through Tuesday evening as high dew points and warm air temperatures combine to make it feel near 107 degrees.
ASSOCIATED PRESS • June 23, 2025
Americans’ support for green energy tax credits and renewable energies like wind and solar power has decreased in recent years, according to a new poll, driven by a softening in support from Democrats and independents. While Democrats remain the strongest supporters of these initiatives, the poll reveals signs of growing cynicism within their ranks. The poll results coincide with sweeping changes President Donald Trump’s Republican administration is making to regulations related to energy and climate change, including slashing the federal workforce in these departments. And although Democrats and independents have weakened their support for some green energy initiatives, there has not been an increase in support for Trump’s energy policies.
MAINE MORNING STAR • June 23, 2025
Sweeping changes to the 1980 Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act have failed. Instead, the governor, lawmakers and Wabanaki leaders have successfully made some targeted reforms. There’s a philosophical argument, known as Zeno’s dichotomy paradox, that essentially reasons if you are trying to reach a specific destination, and you go halfway there, again and again, you’ll never actually arrive at your end point. That seems to be the approach Maine officials are taking to tribal rights. Taking incremental steps toward sovereignty while refusing to step back and accept the totality of the landscape, tribal sovereignty for now remains an unreachable destination.
MAINE MORNING STAR • June 23, 2025
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency restored two of the three Maine-based grants for forever chemical research that it terminated this spring. Without explaining why, or first considering the researchers’ appeals, the EPA notified teams led by the Mi’kmaq Nation and the University of Maine that their grants have been reinstated this month, however the agency has yet to notify the Passamaquoddy Tribe about whether their grant will be restored. U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree said she was pleased to see the grants restored but that they shouldn’t have been terminated in the first place. “This is just one example of a much broader problem,” Pingree said. She pointed to other proposed cuts to environmental programs, such as a 55% funding cut to the EPA budget and the elimination of other PFAS grants that support cleanup and prevention efforts in vulnerable communities.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 23, 2025
Sam Zuckerman, owner of Brunswick-based Maine Solar Solutions, said the business has grown steadily over the last few years, buoyed in part by federal income tax reductions that cover nearly a third of a new residential solar system. Home systems can cost more than $20,000, meaning reductions can be five-digit sums. Those credits have existed for years and, under current law, aren’t slated to expire until the 2030s. But that could soon change with Congress’ budget reconciliation bill, which gives the incentives a new expiration date of about six months from now. Founded in 2013, the company now employs about 50 people. “We’re going to be facing layoffs,” Zuckerman said. “These are employees that we brought up and brought them into the trade.”
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 23, 2025
As a retired asthma and allergy physician and a new grandmother, I am extremely concerned about a bill being considered in Congress that would devastate the Medicaid program and significantly cut programs that clean our air. All of the Medicaid policies that Congress is considering are cuts that will terminate health care coverage when people need it most. And cuts to clean air programs will worsen air quality, aggravating asthma attacks in kids. ~ Peggy Pennoyer, Scarborough
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 22, 2025
Emerging in full force mid-summer, deer flies and horse flies are among the most intimidating creatures in the Northeast. Their bites are painful, and once they’ve home in on a target, they’re nearly impossible to shake. When pest experts talk about these types of flies, it sounds like they’re discussing monsters or aliens from a Hollywood thriller. “Their mouthparts are described as knife-like or scissor-like,” said Jim Dill, a pest management specialist for the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. “They basically slash their way in[to your skin]. They have a saliva that acts as an anticoagulant. And when you start bleeding from the wound, they lap it up.” t’s only the female flies that bite.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 22, 2025
In the spring of 2010, I walked up to sedate my first bear in a trap in Down East Maine. It was a 130-pound female that lunged toward me and woofed. It was intimidating, but thrilling. Today, 15 years later, it’s still exciting to see a bear in the woods. I love them all. The difference is that now when I walk up to a bear in a trap, it’s with my Henry .44 Mag, which I use to harvest that bear for meat. My respect for wildlife has only grown with time and exposure to their behaviors, habits and traits surrounding survival and reproduction. ~ Susan Bard
MORNING SENTINEL • June 22, 2025
Fourteen students, mostly from Maine, a handful of auditors and several instructors, attended a two-day workshop on sheep shearing at Sunrise Farm and adjacent North Belgrade Community Center, organized by the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. Students learned about sheep handling, shearing and equipment maintenance, with participants expected to have had prior basic sheep-handling experience. Some of the students took the course in hopes of becoming professional sheep shearers and some because they own sheep and want to shear themselves.
MAINE MONITOR • June 22, 2025
Shellfish farming is a small but fast-growing segment of Maine’s seafood sector. Now these enterprises — and more broadly the aquaculture industry — are emerging as first movers in the quest to electrify Maine’s working waterfront. Phasing out gasoline and diesel fuel has obvious climate and pollution benefits, but there’s also a business case for electrification. Enduring the constant drone of gas-fired generators and breathing the fumes are hazards for sea farm workers. Generators also are finicky to maintain around salt water and the noise can annoy shoreside residents. Solar and battery power could lower operating costs and create quieter coves.
MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • June 22, 2025
Former President Joe Biden’s so-called Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), pushed through Congress without serious conservative input, was sold as a clean energy plan. In reality, it was a reckless green giveaway that benefited China, rewarded wealthy elites, inflated our national debt and punished working Americans. We call it Biden’s Green New Scam. The centerpiece of the law — $7,500 subsidies for electric vehicles — might sound good to the lobbyists and activists who helped write it. But for the rest of us, it’s a joke. The IRA included a slush fund for radical left-wing nongovernmental organizations that are at odds with Maine values. ~ Sen. Trey Stewart, R-Presque Isle, and Sarah E. Hunt, Joseph Rainey Center for Public Policy [a Washington, D.C. think tank with deep ties to the climate change denying, pay-to-play American Legislative Exchange Council]
MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • June 22, 2025
On June 9, state legislators approved LD 976, creating a working group to study restoring public transportation to Swan Island, three years after the U.S. Coast Guard shut down the operation for safety and inspection concerns. LD 976 was expected to automatically become law Sunday, even without Gov. Janet Mills’ signature. Currently, the public can access Swan Island only with a personal boat or kayak. The ferry that for six decades carried passengers between Richmond and the four-mile-long island has not operated since mid-2022. And the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife, the agency that owns the island, has expressed little interest in restoring that ferry service. State wildlife managers say such a plan would require staff and money and they prefer to focus on wildlife management and facilities maintenance.
MAINE MONITOR • June 21, 2025
Two of Maine’s largest paper mills are among the dirtiest in the country, according to a new study on U.S. pulp and paper plants, putting their emissions on par with some oil refineries. The report from the Environmental Integrity Project calls attention to the industry’s overreliance on dirty fuels and the old, inefficient technologies they use to burn them. “In Maine, there are several plants that are still burning coal and…tires,” said Courtney Bernhardt, EIP’s director of research. The group analyzed greenhouse gas emissions from 185 paper plants across the country, which Bernhardt says use a loophole in the reporting process: the EPA doesn’t include greenhouse gas emissions from “biogenic” fuel sources like biomass, which mills burn to power their operations and can be dirtier than coal. The agency’s rationale for excluding biomass from emissions estimates is “because trees can grow back in the future” and offset the carbon emissions from biomass fuels.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 21, 2025
As a practicing physician assistant living near the Sprague and Global tank farms, I fear for health impacts from tank fumes. Daily, I question whether to open my windows or leave them closed. Absurdly, after many years of activism around the hazards of these “neighborhood tank farms,” Sprague remains a DEP licensed emitter of 49.9 tons of air pollution and Global pollutes us with 21.9 tons of yearly. EPA air pollution lawsuits against Global and Sprague did nothing. The complaints of many to City Hall and DEP no result. Since new neighborhoods are proposed near the tank farms, such neighborhoods will suffer for decades to come. South Portland’s unfortunate legacy of mixing petroleum hazards with people needs to end. ~ Robert Klotz, South Portland
