The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 10, 2025
Where the Saco River drifts into the Saco Bay sits Camp Ellis, a shoreside neighborhood with a rich history as a working waterfront. As both the memory of its robust fishing culture grows more distant and the shoreline itself is threatened by erosion, a festival on the pier Sunday showed the lively persistence of the community and its commitment to preserving Camp Ellis.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 10, 2025
Game wardens pulled the bodies of two anglers out of Grand Falls Flowage in Baileyville. On Friday, a volunteer found the body of Charlotte Evans, 67, of Cibolo, Texas, approximately 100 yards from shore. On Saturday, warden divers found the body of Douglass Bass, 67, of Agawam, Massachusetts. Neither of the victims were wearing life jackets. The deaths are not considered suspicious.
CENTRAL MAINE • August 10, 2025
June Roullard and Joe Baltar donated a 56-acre lot, now named the Eaton Mountain Conservation Area, to the Kennebec Land Trust in March. An official dedication of Roullard’s 74 Kimball Pond Road property and optional guided hike will kick off the Land Trust’s annual celebration Monday. Members of the public are welcome; the Kennebec Land Trust’s 8,191 acres are preserved not just for wildlife habitat but for public access. Two other properties will also be a part of the two-day celebration: a 56-acre lot along Parker Pond in Mount Vernon and a 56-acre conservation easement in South Gardiner. Another soon-to-be donated property, an 86-acre farm on Sturtevant Hill Road in Readfield, will host an event at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • August 10, 2025
I was delighted to read the Aug. 3 article on the work that is being done on the Pine Ridge Trail system after the damage caused by the installation of the solar farm. I was disappointed, though, that the Kennebec Messalonskee Trails group was barely mentioned. John Gardner, maintenance director for our group, contributed greatly to the Recreational Trails Program grant that helped fund this effort, and that same group are often the people removing trees after storms, fixing washouts and redirecting existing trails. ~ Barbara Bowling, Kennebec Messalonskee Trails Organization, Oakland
MAINE MONITOR • August 9, 2025
A University of Maine initiative exploring ways to bring renewable energy to Indigenous and rural communities was gaining momentum this spring when the Trump administration abruptly cancelled its $1 million federal grant. The Environmental Protection Agency award is one of dozens of federal grants to Maine research institutions that have been cancelled or paused as the Trump administration cracks down on what it sees as wasteful spending. This includes cuts targeting environmental justice initiatives and climate change research. The UMaine project, which was in its second year of a Science to Achieve Results award, had pulled together more than 100 people from the Wabanaki Nations and rural communities throughout Maine to discuss local renewable energy goals and pathways to reach them.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 9, 2025
All snakes, most lizards and some politicians shed their skins. Actually, all humans shed their skin, including the political subspecies. In fact, we shed about 30,000-40,000 skin cells per minute, totaling over eight pounds per year. Our skin completely renews itself every 28 days. Replacing our outer covering is straightforward and routine for humans. However, this isn’t the case for birds. Replacing feathers is complicated, varying widely by species and sex. Some bird species molt in summer before migrating, so they’ll have brand-new feathers for the long journey. Others molt after migration, so they can spend the winter foraging with fresh plumage. ~ Bob Duchesne
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 9, 2025
Each day brings another outrageous executive order, false accusation or blatant lie from Donald Trump. A newly minted outrage involves Trump’s EPA chief, Lee Zeldin, who is attempting to rewrite science by discrediting the fact that carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. As though Trump’s efforts to halt offshore wind farms, open up federal lands to fracking and expand natural gas exports were not contributing enough to the climate crisis. We, in Maine, can do our part by urging our representatives in Congress to block Trump’s anti-environment agenda; switching to renewable technologies, particularly electric vehicles and heat pumps; altering our lifestyles to reduce energy consumption; and never giving up hope. ~ Joe Hardy, Wells
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 8, 2025
Massive data centers needed for generative artificial intelligence systems like ChatGPT require enormous amounts of electricity, putting new strain on power grids. While that’s driving up the cost of electricity in some parts of the country, regulators say Maine has yet to feel that pressure.
MAINE MONITOR • August 8, 2025
Early last spring, while still cleaning up the wreckage of devastating winter storms, southern Maine towns began drafting new rules governing how they’d rebuild or develop on stretches of land that were widely inundated months before. The process coincided with the adoption of new federal flood maps and is required by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for participation in the National Flood Insurance Program. After years of back-and-forth between FEMA and local officials, the agency finalized its first flood map updates for Cumberland and York counties in decades. That meant local officials had to update their floodplain ordinances to FEMA standards or risk their residents losing out on federal flood insurance — often a requirement for homeowners with government-backed mortgages who live in FEMA flood zones.
MAINE PUBLIC • August 8, 2025
The Trump administration has stripped Maine of a $62 million grant to help low income households access solar power. In a Thursday letter to the state, the Environmental Protection Agency said the recent Republican tax law, called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, revoked the $7 billion "Solar for All" national grant program. "Thus, any attempt to continue the program’s administration, in the absence of any authorizing legislation or appropriated funds for that purpose, is no longer legally permissible," the agency said. But supporters of the national program claim it is being shut down illegally and will hurt Americans struggling with high electric bills.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 8, 2025
The Trump administration is moving forward with plans to take back more than $60 million in already-promised funding for low-income solar grants in Maine, part of a program commonly referred to as “Solar for All.” The Maine Governor’s Energy Office said Friday that it had received a termination letter from the Environmental Protection Agency, which in 2024 had awarded Maine $62 million to expand solar access for low-income communities. Those funds were fully obligated to Maine in December, the office said. The state office had been in the process of developing its plan for the money, which it had intended to begin distributing to residents and community groups across Maine.
NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO • August 8, 2025
The current Trump administration has made 70% more changes to government environmental websites during its first 100 days than the first Trump administration did, and those changes are bolder. A report published by the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative found climate change information has also been altered or removed from federal websites, though less consistently than environmental justice and DEI sites. The federal climate change research website globalchange.gov was shut down. A widely used National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) site, climate.gov, stopped publishing new content this summer, after the staff of 10 people who contributed to it was terminated.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 8, 2025
Federal regulators are considering a rule that would allow Maine lobstermen to fish in an area that closes seasonally to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales. The catch? Fishermen would need use experimental ropeless fishing gear to do so. The restricted area is a 967-square-mile stretch of the Gulf of Maine that runs from the New Hampshire border to Midcoast Maine. It’s closed to fishing each year from Oct. 1 to Jan. 31 because officials say it is a hot spot for the whales.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 8, 2025
Portland Planning can finally close the Hope Avenue permit application, initiated over two years ago by Miami-based developer GenX Capital Partners, since the parcel is going into foreclosure. Throughout this years-long saga, GenX botched a development in Saco and had an unfinished condo complex foreclosed in Cumberland. And, in the two-plus years that the Hope Ave permit has been active, GenX neglected to pay its property tax, damaged the Presumpscot River Preserve, refused to pay the ensuing fine and failed to appear at any of its court hearings, forcing Portland to issue a motion for contempt of court. Portland should designate this parcel for conservation to protect the delicate and beautiful Presumpscot River and adjacent preserve. ~ Emily-Anne Garland, Scarborough
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 7, 2025
A bald eagle found injured along the roadside in Bar Harbor on Wednesday has died. The eagle was fighting with another bald eagle when they became interlocked and came down on the road. One of the bald eagles died from a severe spinal injury. The other eagle suffered a severe fracture and was brought to a veterinarian in Greater Bangor to determine whether the bird can be treated.
HARPSWELL ANCHOR • February 7, 2025
Created in May 2024, the town’s Aquaculture Working Group set out to examine how Maine’s aquaculture licensing process works, assess its impact on Harpswell and gather public feedback on the growing number of seafood farms in local waters. The group’s efforts culminated in the creation of a new map of local commercial fishing areas, which it urged state officials to use when evaluating applications for aquaculture leases to help avoid conflicts with fishermen.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 7, 2025
The 2010s were a tough decade for bats in Maine and across much of the United States and Canada as a disease called white-nose syndrome spread quickly, decimating populations as it went. First identified in Maine in Oxford County in 2010 or 2011, the syndrome led to an estimated 97% decline in the number of bats here: A survey that counted 790 bats in 2010 found just 27 by 2016. But according to Corey Stearns, a biologist with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, but bat populations have been rebounding in recent years as well, bringing back a species that was as much a part of Maine summer nights as peepers and lightning bugs.
SAND COUNTY FOUNDATION • August 7, 2025
Fnalists have been selected for the 2025 New England Leopold Conservation Award. The award honors farmers and forestland owners who go above and beyond in their management of soil health, water quality and wildlife habitat on working land. Named in honor of renowned conservationist Aldo Leopold, this award recognizes landowners who inspire others with their dedication to environmental improvement. The finalists include: Appalachian Mountain Club’s Maine Woods Initiative. Since 2003, this effort has conserved 114.000 acres of forestland straddling the Appalachian Trail in the 100 Mile Wilderness Area of Piscataquis County, Maine. AMC has removed barriers to fish passage, reopening 147 miles of rivers and streams for wild, native brook trout and the endangered Atlantic salmon. Its goal is to create a new economic model for forestland ownership.
MAINE PUBLIC • August 7, 2025
Maine efforts to help low-income people hook up solar power could be at risk through the Trump administration’s reported plans to end grants that fund the program. It's the latest round of uncertainty for Maine's Solar for All plans. This winter, the administration temporarily cut the state's access to its $62 million grant before restoring the funding. Now the Environmental Protection Agency is contemplating ending the program for good.
TIMES RECORD • August 6, 2025
Public access to Squirrel Point Light and Bald Head Preserve in Arrowsic has been secured thanks to a custom-designed footbridge installed in July. The new structure, designed, built and installed by Modern Edge Metal Fabrication of Georgetown, replaces a wooden bridge that was rapidly deteriorating due to frequent flooding by ever-increasing high tides and storms. The footpath, which winds through coastal wetlands and forest, leads to two significant sites along the Kennebec River: The Nature Conservancy of Maine’s 296-acre Bald Head Preserve and Squirrel Point Light, a lighthouse built in 1898 that is being restored for the benefit of the community under the direction of the volunteer-run Citizens for Squirrel Point.
