Bigelow Labs researching zooplankton's role in carbon storage

MAINE PUBLIC • August 4, 2025

Scientists at Bigelow Labs in East Boothbay are studying how zooplankton help to store carbon in the ocean depths through their daily migration. "It's the largest migration of life on Earth, and it happens every single day," said Karen Stamieszkin, a biological oceanographer at Bigelow Labs who has been studying zooplankton for years. Carbon capture and storage is a growing area of interest as companies become increasingly interested in purchasing carbon credits to offset their emissions. The most common type of carbon offset is usually land-based, like reforestation projects. Marine carbon sequestration is a newer field of study.

Offshore wind leasing is officially dead under Trump

MAINE MORNING STAR • August 4, 2025

Offshore wind leasing is effectively dead in the U.S. following a Trump administration order issued last week. Large swaths of U.S. waters that had been identified by federal agencies as ideal for offshore wind are no longer eligible for such developments under an Interior Department statement released Wednesday. In the four-sentence statement, the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) said the U.S. government is ​“de-designating over 3.5 million acres of unleased federal waters previously targeted for offshore wind development across the Gulf of America, Gulf of Maine, the New York Bight, California, Oregon, and the Central Atlantic.” The move comes just a day after Interior Secretary Doug Burgum ordered his staff to stop ​“preferential treatment for wind projects” and falsely called wind energy ​“unreliable.”

Mainers line up for the water at these 3 roadside springs

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 4, 2025

There are three roadside springs — all in Oxford County — that the state regulates, testing monthly for contaminants. On weekends, people line up to fill containers of various sizes to bring home for drinking and cooking, whether they have concerns about what’s in their tap water, believe this has to be healthier for them or prefer the taste — often all three. There used to be more, maybe 150 statewide when the Legislature passed a law in the late 1970s exempting them from state regulation. Many are gone, covered by highway crews to prevent traffic hazards or shut down by property owners after the state tried to require regular testing earlier that decade. The state still oversees these three because they meet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s definition of a public water supply.

Opinion: Let’s get specific about defending Maine’s outdoors

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 4, 2025

Americans love their public lands, but budget proposals and policy changes signal a shift away from bipartisan dedication to preserving our shared lands. The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) is one of the most successful conservation programs in U.S. history, with broad support across the political spectrum. Because it is funded through offshore oil and gas revenues, it doesn’t cost taxpayers a dime. Earlier this month, President Trump signed an executive order that created a commission to advance efforts to conserve public lands and water. However, in contradiction to the commission’s own goal, the White House budget proposes a 90% cut to LWCF programs. In Maine, LWCF has helped protect Acadia National Park, Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, the Appalachian Trail, and our beloved state and local parks. Outdoor recreation is a $4 billion industry in Maine, supporting nearly 30,000 jobs. Tell your members of Congress to reject any cuts to or diversions of LWCF. ~ Betsy Cook, Trust for Public Land

Maine cities are promoting native plants. Here’s how you can too.

SUN JOURNAL • August 3, 2025

Plant sellers are reporting more people turning to native plants. “Native plans are best known for their support for wildlife and pollinators and their ability to withstand harsh winters, our hot, dry summers, and also wet seasons as well,” said Matt Bilodeau of Longfellow Greenhouses in Manchester. “They are plants best suited for our environment.” Andrew Tufts, program manager of Bringing Nature Home at Maine Audubon, said the organization has helped several cities, including South Portland and Bangor, as well as schools across the state incorporate native plants into their landscapes or as an educational opportunity for schools. Native plants provide food for native insects and animals that in return support a healthy ecosystem.

Waterville’s Pine Ridge trails getting $158,000 upgrade

MORNING SENTINEL • August 3, 2025

The project to rehabilitate and build more than 4 miles of trails is funded with a $69,650 state Department of Conservation grant, $78,150 from a city recreation bond and $10,000 from the city 's airport fund. The  Waterville Parks and Recreation Department partnered with the Outdoor Sport Institute for assessment and recommendations for the trail system rehabilitation. Kennebec Messalonskee Trails, of which Pine Tree Trails are a part, and the Central Maine Chapter of the New England Mountain Bike Association, also got involved. The Kennebec Messalonskee Trails system includes more than 60 miles in Waterville, Winslow, Fairfield, Oakland and Benton.

Letter: Experience the healing power of Maine’s wild places

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • August 3, 2025

With all the uncertainty and rising hate in the country, I’m grateful to live in Maine. Our wilderness is some of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen, especially the state’s whitewater rivers. This state reminds me that real connection doesn’t come from screens or headlines — it comes from shared experiences, from nature, from being fully present. I’ve guided people from all over the country, and without fail, they leave a little lighter than when they arrived. That’s the power of Maine’s wild places. ~ Billy-Joe Smith, Standish

Letter: Our environment is at its breaking point

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • August 3, 2025

It is clear as glass our adaptable democracy is one of humanity’s successes but, when broken, glass shatters. We are close to shattering our environment. If we do, democracy will fall close behind. Earth has a disease never before experienced by humans, global warming, due to our carbon burning addiction. As an engineer, I understand that global warming will cause billions, yes billions, of people now living in mid latitudes to die of heat and starvation. Worldwide violence and confusion will result. We have an American administration (Trump) in denial of climate disaster and actively eliminating diversity programs like solar energy which could wean us from carbon. If we are to have human survival and world peace we must turn away from his environmental disregard. Our time is wasting. ~ Phillip Davis, West Gardiner

Column: Why Maine shorebirds are so hard to identify (and how to get started)

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 3, 2025

I customarily preach that bird identification is easier than it looks, and anybody can do it. Alas, that wisdom does not apply to shorebirds. Here are some tips, tricks and shortcuts to get you started. First, rather than trying to identify each bird, first sort them all into different piles. One pile is all the shorebirds listed in your field guide that are unlikely to be in Maine. Next to that pile is a pile of shorebirds that are findable in Maine, but not at the seashore. Next, sort by size. Most shorebirds on Maine’s mudflats are gradually migrating southward from their nesting territories in the subarctic. They’re trickling in now, and the trickle will become a torrent by mid-August. The wave will begin to subside after Labor Day. Now is the time to play in the mud. ~ Bob Duchesne

Orrington trash incinerator says it will start accepting waste this month

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 2, 2025

The owner of the Orrington trash incinerator said it will start processing trash as a transfer station in August, but the state says it hasn’t issued the required license. EPEC has a solid waste incinerator license but not a solid waste transfer license, according to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. Currently, trash from 42 municipalities is collected and taken directly to Juniper Ridge Landfill.

Letter: We’re all paying to store nuclear waste

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 2, 2025

Maine Yankee produced power from 1972 to 1996. It was shut down in August 1997 as no longer economically viable, with decommissioning completed in 2005. The cost of decommissioning was $700 million and 542 metric tons of high level waste is stored on site. Decommissioning costs are paid for by utility ratepayers. Since 1998, Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company, has been in litigation with the U.S. Department of Energy seeking monetary damages as a result of the DOE’s partial breach of its contractual obligations to take title and begin removing spent nuclear fuel. The cost of storing the waste is essentially paid by taxpayers. There is no end in sight. ~ Patrick Walsh, Belfast

Firefighters battle fire on island in Pushaw Lake

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 2, 2025

Firefighters from several towns battled a late Friday fire on an island in Pushaw Lake. The fire, which was reported around midnight, destroyed a couple of small buildings and one firefighter was treated at the scene for minor injuries. Firefighters weren’t sure whether anyone was on the island. No one was found, and no civilians were reported injured. Fire officials warned boaters on the lake to expect smoke in the coming days and advised the public to avoid the island because of hazardous rocky terrain and lingering fire conditions.

Column: Eastern cottontails are making their way into Maine

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 2, 2025

Many invasive species in Maine have been here since the first Europeans arrived, though we still see new threats to our native biodiversity regularly. Cats (domestic cats allowed outdoors) are non-native and are the No. 1 anthropogenic cause of mortality in birds, killing more than 2 billion birds per year in the United States. There is a new invasive mammal that has been knocking on Maine’s door for some years, and just recently seems to have kicked it down: the eastern cottontail. In the early 1900s, eastern cottontails were introduced into New England states to supplement and increase hunting opportunities, but because of their quick rates of reproduction and high survivorship, they’ve become a problem for our native rabbits. For decades, there has been a successful effort to keep eastern cottontails from Maine, but the dam has broken. The love for these non-native, invasive rabbits is similar to the love for invasive lupines. ~ Maine Audubon Staff Naturalist Doug Hitchcox

Letter: Time to get on board with rapid transit in Portland

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 2, 2025

I used to love to go to restaurants in Portland. Now, finding it so hard and expensive to park, I avoid Portland. There is a partial answer to this situation and it is rapid transit. Thanks to Greater Portland Council of Governments, there is a vision for a rapid transit-style bus — many doors on each side opening rapidly together — that runs every 10 minutes through the center of Portland. It would have a dedicated lane and could control traffic lights. There would be covered waiting areas and a sophisticated fare collection system. Such a system would help people get to work in many places, including Maine Medical Center, and decrease the need to build expensive parking garages. ~ Nancy Hasenfus, Brunswick

The Last Fish House on Otter Creek

ISLAND INSTITUTE • August 1, 2025

On a warm July afternoon, Steve Smith sat outside a fish house in Otter Creek on Mount Desert Island, telling me stories. In the summer of 2024, Acadia National Park welcomed an average of about 20,000 tourists each day, many of whom drove along Route 3, a major artery that connects Bar Harbor, Seal Harbor, and Somes Sound. Otter Creek might be overlooked. Confined within the national park borders, to the undiscerning eye, the village is nothing more than a crossroad. A lifetime before Smith was born, we would have beheld a waterfront village bustling with commerce. Smith has spent his life fighting to conserve the waterfront identity of Otter Creek. at times illegally.

Canadian tariffs have increased to 35%. How will Maine be affected?

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 1, 2025

President Donald Trump increased tariffs on certain Canadian imports from 25% to 35% Friday. But the latest tariffs on Maine’s neighbor — by far its biggest trade partner — only apply to items that are not otherwise covered by the United States Mexico Canada Agreement, a major pact designed to alleviate trade barriers between the three countries. Maine brought in more than $4.7 billion worth of Canadian goods last year. The agreement is sweeping, and it could exempt the vast majority of Canadian imports from the 35% tariff.

Beech leaf disease has hit all 16 Maine counties. What does it mean?

SUN JOURNAL • August 1, 2025

A new forest disease identified in Maine just three years ago is now present in all counties, raising concerns among ecologists and wildlife managers as it targets one of the Northeast’s most ecologically valuable trees. Beech leaf disease is caused by a microscopic nematode, a worm, and causes leaves to present with dark banding and curling, eventually causing a dieback from the tips of branches inward to the tree. The leaf disease can attack saplings and seedlings, which endangers the species from long-term spread and growth. It’s causing great concerns about the production of beechnuts, a source of food for many of the state’s native species. Only a few experimental treatments in controlled environments have shown any promise in killing and preventing the disease. There are no known methods for containing the disease or eradicating it in natural settings.

Injured hiker recounts her treacherous night atop Katahdin

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 1, 2025

Battered by the wind and soaked by the rain, she thought the end had come for her atop Katahdin. But Beata Kosc, 47, of New York survived a miserable night on the Knife Edge with her hiking partner, 32-year-old Courtney Doyon of Maine, and a man and boy turned back from the summit by Pamola’s fury.Her ordeal atop Maine’s highest peak came just weeks after Tim Keiderling and his daughter, Esther Keiderling, died during a May 31 trek up the mountain. They spent the night fighting strong winds and chilly rain, holding onto the rocks to avoid falling. Finally, after daybreak on July 25, rescuers reached the group, bringing food, warm fluids and clothes, as well as a tent for Kosc to shelter in. Despite the humbling experience, Kosc told the Globe she is determined to hike Katahdin again. “This mountain taught me to be prepared for the unknown,” Kosc told the newspaper “It reminded me how strong I am.”

Letter: PETA claws back respect for lobster

CENTRAL MAINE • August 1, 2025

Regarding the July 24 article “PETA sues Maine Lobster Festival in an effort to stop steaming of 20,000 pounds of live lobster,” I say kudos to PETA. Lobsters are living creatures that, of course, feel pain. If Maine held a “Dog Festival” that involved boiling thousands of puppies alive, there would be national outrage. It’s time to stop killing animals. ~ Nick Van Tubbergen, Portland

Should Mainers be concerned by shark sightings?

MAINE MONITOR • August 1, 2025

As of July 31 this year, there have been 15 confirmed sightings of white sharks off of Maine’s coast. Those who spot a shark should contact their local harbor masters with the location and time of the sighting. Doing so can help spread awareness and reduce paranoia. Avoid swimming with the bait and remember the ocean is home for sharks. “It’s a sign of a healthy, productive ecosystem, so having white sharks around is a really good thing,” said biologist Kyle Oliveira, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Maine and Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences.