The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 24, 2025
Bangor’s high-temperature record for June 24 had stood for 30 years, but it didn’t stand a chance on Tuesday. The high of 98 degrees in the Queen City surpassed the old high mark of 93 degrees reached in 1995, 1975 and 1963.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 24, 2025
Versant Power customers will see their electricity bills rise slightly beginning July 1. The rate increase follows an earlier, larger increase that took effect in April. When the new rates go into effect, a typical residential customer in the Maine Public District who uses 500 kilowatt-hours per month will see a $2.80 increase to their monthly bill, Versant said. a typical residential customer in the Bangor Hydro District using 500 kWh per month is expected to see a 31-cent increase to their monthly bill. Versant, which is Maine’s second-largest electric utility, serves about 165,000 customers in northern and eastern Maine.
SUN JOURNAL • June 24, 2025
A Bangor company is acquiring the landfill and wastewater treatment plant at the former Androscoggin Paper Mill. JayCo LLC has signed the documents to take over the site and is awaiting the transfer of permits, at which point the facility will become part of a statewide network of waste collection sites that feed a processing hub in Hampden operated by Municipal WasteHub, formerly known as the Municipal Review Committee. The nonprofit organization provides waste management services for about 115 Maine member municipalities. “We’ll use this site (Jay) for grinding wood debris and other environmental services, always keeping everything in state, with no out-of-state waste to be accepted,” Michael Carroll, executive director of Municipal WasteHub, wrote in an email.
MORNING AG CLIPS • June 24, 2025
Farm to Neighbor Maine (F2N) has been awarded a $99,000 New England Food Vision Prize by the Henry P. Kendall Foundation. This significant award recognizes F2N’s innovative work, “Growing Collaborative Menu and Crop Planning with Maine School Nutrition Directors and Farmers,” which aims to enhance regional food sourcing by Maine’s K-12 cafeterias. Portland-based nonprofit Cultivating Community (a member of the F2N collaborative), is the fiscal sponsor for the award.
SMILEHUB • June 24, 2025
Outdoor activities from water sports to searching for geocaches to hunting provide a wide range of benefits for states and their citizens. For individuals, being in nature boosts their physical and mental health. For states, the presence of outdoor activities provides an economic benefit, while also helping preserve natural areas through increased participation in conservation efforts. SmileHub compared each of the 50 states based on 18 key metrics. Outdoor Activity Friendliness of Maine (1=Best, 25=Ave):
• Overall Rank: 8th
• 10th - Outdoor Recreation Economic Impact
• 4th - Air Pollution
• 14th - Share of Adults Reporting No Leisure Time Physical Activity
• 26th - National Parks per Capita
• 1st - Camping Spots per Capita
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 24, 2025
The ocean is the next battleground for so many projects including large-scale industrial aquaculture, offshore wind, and climate change. Embedded in all these conversations is what we want to produce and how we want to do it in our oceans. What are the impacts from any and all of these proposed projects? Maine likes to create task forces, but rarely does it let science or long-term data reviewed by marine industry experts – meaning those people who make their living on the water, lead its decision making. Take for example the membership of the Blue Economy Task Force. Many of the appointees to the committee make money from industrial-scale aquaculture, whether its building, shipping or equity investment. Protect Maine, however, is a cheerleader for science. If Maine really wants to be a leader and not just an apologist for industrial-scale aquaculture, Protect Maine believes the state needs more science and unbiased participation in mapping the Maine ocean. We should be asking what the inputs from every vantage point are and what the impacts are. ~ Crystal Canney, Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation
WMTW-TV8 • June 24, 2025
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced Monday that the Trump administration plans to rescind the Roadless Rule, which blocked logging on national forest lands for nearly 25 years. The Roadless Rule has affected 30% of national forest lands nationwide, or about 59 million acres. This includes the White Mountain National Forest. Part of that national forest is in western Maine bordered by communities such as Stow, Lovell, Stoneham, Bethel and Gilead. The White Mountain National Forest contains approximately 368,000 acres of inventoried roadless areas. The Roadless Rule has kept logging at bay on about 213,000 roadless acres, but the remaining 155,000 roadless acres are vulnerable to road construction and timber sales because they were identified later in the 2005 Forest Plan. The change marks a sharp turnaround from the Biden administration, which far from opening up more areas to timber harvesting sought to do more to restrict logging and protect old-growth forests.
MAINE MORNING STAR • June 24, 2025
Do you remember the shocking images from the Exxon Valdez or Deepwater Horizon oil spills? The oil-slicked birds, the wrecked beaches, the empty fishing boats, and worst of all, the stories of lost lives? The Trump administration wants to bring polluting and dangerous oil and gas offshore drilling back — including to our New England shores. Trump claims the U.S. is in an “energy emergency.” We’re not. In fact, we’re producing more fossil fuels than ever before. This isn’t about energy security. It’s about handing over our ocean to polluters. This flimsy justification won’t hold up in court, which is why we’ve joined Earthjustice and many other environmental organizations to challenge it. ~ Erica Fuller, Conservation Law Foundation
ASSOCIATED PRESS • June 24 2025
The Energy Star program claims that its blue seal of approval on efficient appliances saves households an average of $450 on their bills per year. Since its launch in 1992, Energy Star appliances have also prevented 4 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, the main cause of climate change. But the program’s future is unclear. The Environmental Protection Agency has announced an agency reorganization plan that would eliminate its Energy Star offices. That would make it more difficult for customers to find energy efficient appliances.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 24, 2025
Recent trade policies — notably, tariffs on Canada — would increase prices on gasoline, energy resources and daily groceries. All products except those that fall under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement are subject to 25% tariffs. Then there are tariff-related trade tensions, which could drastically reduce Canadian tourism to our state. Maine businesses rely heavily on tourist activity. However, we have a tool to help offset the adverse effect of tariffs: The U.S. Foreign-Trade Zone (FTZ) program provides businesses that engage in international trade with the means to decrease overall costs and increase supply chain efficiency. In these zones, domestic and foreign merchandise is considered outside of U.S. Customs territory, so businesses can defer, reduce or eliminate customs duties on imported goods. Maine has four active FTZs. ~ Jim Dinkle, FirstPark, Oakland, Maine
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 24, 2025
When Republican President Ulysses S. Grant created the first national park at Yellowstone after the Civil War, he acted to “bind up the nation’s wounds” by creating such a commonwealth in the spirit of democracy, owned by and open to all. I was blessed to grow up camping in national parks and forests, learning from them a citizen’s pride in our country and a desire to protect them. This led to my career in ecosystem protection and renewal. I’ve seen how our national park system is a model internationally. Our national parks and lands are not only the commonwealth of every citizen, but are economic engines for their neighboring communities. To “release” these to private industry would essentially be theft, a betrayal of trust that would wound the spiritual heart of America, diminishing our health and prosperity, our climate and environment, our unity as Americans, all while setting a disastrous example worldwide for those countries that still look to us for leadership. ~ Carol Kamala Kinsey, Stockton Springs
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 24, 2025
As leaders of two statewide conservation organizations, we’ve been dismayed recently to see some pointed criticism of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s (DIFW) outreach initiatives. Breaking down barriers that have limited who partakes in Maine’s outdoor heritage is good, both ecologically and economically. DIFW has prioritized introducing more Mainers from all backgrounds to outdoor pursuits. Under the leadership of Commissioner Judy Camuso and her team, we have seen the effects of these efforts in many ways, in all corners of the state. While hunting license sales have declined nearly 10 percent nationally since 2018, they have jumped 7 percent in Maine over the same period. And while fishing license sales are stagnant nationally, they have increased over 6 percent in Maine. Maine boasts one of the nation’s highest participation rates of women in hunting and fishing. ~ Andy Beahm, Maine Audubon, and Kate Dempsey, The Nature Conservancy in Maine
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 23, 2025
Somewhere in Maine, a few folks are about to get a big surprise. Nobody expects a sandhill crane to show up in their yard, until suddenly one does. Sandhill cranes are about the same size and shape as great blue herons. They both have long necks and long legs. The similarity ends there. Great blue herons nest in trees, often in colonies containing multiple nests. They feed almost exclusively on fish and other aquatic life. Sandhill cranes nest on the ground in marshy areas. They are omnivorous. Cranes fly with their necks straight out. Herons fly with their necks coiled in. Cranes stalk around fields. Herons pose motionless, waiting for unwary prey to approach them. As their population continues to grow, I expect them to keep showing up. Nonetheless, despite increasing numbers, sandhill cranes are still unusual in Maine. ~ Bob Duchesne
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 23, 2025
Gov. Janet Mills was in her hometown of Farmington on Saturday to announce the winners of Maine’s annual moose hunt permit lottery, but the process became a bit testy when she encountered hecklers who booed and shouted at her. “We have daughters,” one member of the audience under a tent at the Farmington Fairgrounds shouted. “I have five daughters,” Mills said. “Stand up for them,” an attendee replied, as part of an apparent reference to Maine’s policies allowing transgender girls to compete in female sports that drew attention this year after President Donald Trump began targeting Maine over the matter.
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.
