The salmon fishing on this lake is on fire

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 24, 2025

While morning temperatures have been dipping into the 30s across Maine, the landlocked salmon fishing on Sebago Lake is on fire. One youngster recently caught a 7-pound, 27-inch fish. The minimum length for landlocked salmon on Sebago is 16 inches and the daily bag limit is two. Anglers have just 40 days left to take advantage of current regulations – after Oct. 1, when the regulations change, artificial lures only will apply, and all salmon must be released immediately.

2 young farmers work to protect a fertile strip of Maine’s developing coast

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 24, 2025

A new organic vegetable farm has opened in Blue Hill with the arrival of two young growers from neighboring Mount Desert Island. Reid Calhoun and Nikki Burtis moved to the peninsula from the island in November and converted an overgrown field into an acre of lettuce, carrots, melons, squash, tomatoes, peppers, sweet potatoes and more. In the next few years, they plan to add a farm-based preschool on-site. Their land on Route 15, now Moon Beam Farm, is part of a corridor of high-quality agricultural soil that stands out on the rocky coastal peninsula and has been a priority for local farmland conservation efforts for decades. 

Archaeologists in Penobscot County are attempting to date an artifact believed to be 10,000 years old

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 24, 2025

A group of nine archaeologists from across New England were surehanded from Aug. 11 to Friday when digging for a way to date an artifact believed to be around 10,000 years old. The artifact, a projectile point that could have been used on a spear, dart or as an arrowhead, was found in 1987 but has not been precisely dated. To date the artifact, the archaeologists, led by Nathaniel Kitchel, of Salve Regina University and a research associate at Dartmouth College, found the dig sites in Bradley where it was found and took dirt and artifact samples to carbon date them. The dig is part of a larger initiative to better understand what life was like at the beginning of the period we live in, the Holocene period, which directly followed the ice age. The project is trying to learn more about the environmental and social effects of the transition between these two periods and how that could help future societies.

A large, dangerous lizard is loose in Old Town

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 24, 2025

A large lizard is on the loose in Old Town. The tegu was seen in the area of Hillside Avenue, according to the Old Town Police Department. “While not inherently aggressive, they can lash out if they feel threatened,” the department said Sunday. Tegus have sharp teeth and claws and strong jaws. They can grow up to four feet long and weigh 10 pounds or more. They are native to Argentina.

South Portland beach reopened after ‘unusual substance’ report

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 24, 2025

Swimming at Willard Beach was temporarily closed on Saturday as multiple authorities responded to a suspected water quality issue that was soon determined to pose no danger. On Saturday morning, the Coast Guard, Portland Harbor Master, and South Portland Fire Department investigated an “unusual substance” on the ocean’s surface near Willard Beach. As the potential water quality issue was investigated, swimming was prohibited off of the beach for several hours. The investigation determined that the floating material was from the seafloor and was stirred up by boat traffic in the channel at low tide. The organic matter posed no threat to public safety, and the beach was reopened for swimming.

Celebration of ‘everything tomatoes’ draws hundreds to Buxton farm

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 24, 2025

For farmer Ramona Snell, 72, her favorite way to eat a tomato is whole like an apple. For the past five decades, Snell has mostly eaten tomatoes she has grown herself at the Snell Family Farm in Buxton, which she has operated with her husband, John Snell, since the 1970s. On Sunday, the farm hosted its first tomato festival, celebrating the farm’s connection with the local community that has enthusiastically supported it over the years. About 500 people wandered through the farm stands and vendors, purchasing produce and sampling baked goods that highlighted tomatoes.

Great white sharks head north, following seals and alarming beachgoers

ASSOCIATED PRESS • August 24, 2025

Rick Clough spent some four decades fishing for lobsters and sea urchins off the Maine coast before spotting one of the ocean’s most recognized predators — a great white shark. The shark, seen off the beach town of Scarborough in July, surprised Clough, but didn’t make him fear the ocean. Boaters, beachgoers and fishermen like Clough who spend time in the chilly waters of New England and Atlantic Canada are learning to live with great white sharks, the creatures made famous by the 1975 film “Jaws.” Sightings of the apex predators are up in places like Maine, where they were once very rarely spotted. New data show the sharks are heading farther north into Maine and beyond. A key reason for the shift seems to be the successful conservation of seals off New England and Canada via laws such as the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which has allowed seals to thrive and provide a food source for the predatory sharks.

A break in the heat, and rain — a little – is coming to Maine

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • August 24, 2025

The heat is beginning to break in Maine and some “much-needed, beneficial” rain is projected to fall Monday, forecasters say. However, the Maine Forest Service had all of southern Maine under a very high wildfire danger alert on Friday and most of the state is still in the grips of a drought. But cooler temps are providing some relief from the recent heat.

Opinion: Maine beach access case carries huge implications for private property

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • August 24, 2025

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court is weighing a case that could drastically expand public rights along Maine’s beaches. While popular sentiment often favors greater public beach access, there is another important side to the story. Private property rights down to the low-water mark along the coast date back to the Colonial Ordinance of 1641. Since then, the default rule has been that private homeowners own the part of the beach between the ordinary high and low water marks, subject to limited public uses. Today’s coastal homeowners purchased their properties relying on centuries of precedent affirming private ownership of the “intertidal zone.” No matter how desirable this area is to the public, the government cannot simply declare that long-held private property is public without paying for it. The Court should uphold these constitutional principles and reject the plaintiffs’ attempt to upend centuries of Maine law. ~ Chris Kieser and Paige Gilliard, Pacific Legal Foundation

Everything you need to know about Maine’s brook trout

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 22, 2025

No species of fish is more synonymous with Maine than brook trout. And you could argue that none is more important to the state. Brook trout are to interior Maine what lobster are to the coast, and as much a part of the North Maine Woods brand as moose and loons. Brook trout are fascinating fish. Maine is blessed to have several different lifeforms of brook trout. Brook trout are important to Maine, and Maine is important to brook trout. We need to do everything we can, and more than we are doing, to ensure that these unique wild native fish remain viable for generations to come. Before engaging in conservation-focused topics in future columns, a brief primer on brook trout is in order. ~ Bob Mallard

“Water battery” proposed in western Maine

MAINE MONITOR • August 22, 2025

Pumped storage hydropower could be coming to Maine. In July, Western Maine Energy Storage filed for a preliminary permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for a proposed development near the Central Maine Power transmission corridor. The project would be mostly in Dixfield, with a small portion in Canton, in Oxford County. The FERC permit, which will secure the site for further studies including economic and environmental feasibility, is the first step in a permitting process that will take years.

Reid State Park to build educational hub in Georgetown

TIMES RECORD • August 22, 2025

A rundown former concessions stand overlooking a lagoon in Reid State Park will become the new base for the park’s educational programming. In partnership with the Friends of Reid State Park, the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry’s Bureau of Parks and Lands is accepting donations to transform the old food stand on Griffith Head. The fundraising goal is $100,000. “We’ve got very, very high hopes for this little building,” said Gary Best, southern regional parks manager at the BPL. The new nature center will include hands-on exhibits and host the park’s educational programs — such as nature walks and talks on lobsters, sharks and jellyfish — said Reid State Park Manager Haylee Parsons.

Canada lifts tariffs on most imports from Maine under trade pact with US, Mexico

ASSOCIATED PRESS • August 22, 2025

Canada is dropping retaliatory tariffs to match U.S. tariff exemptions for goods covered under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement trade pact, a government official familiar with the matter said Friday. The move will remove tariffs on the majority of goods Maine sends to Canada, its biggest trading partner. The move is designed to reset trade talks between the two countries. The USMCA is up for review in 2026.

Experts say droughts could impact potato harvest

MAINE PUBLIC • August 22, 2025

Maine potatoes could take a hit this year due to ongoing drought conditions affecting most areas of the state. The U.S. Drought Monitor says about 80% of Maine is in some sort of drought condition. Jake Dyer is an agronomist and the director of seed production for the Maine Potato Board. He said, even though the droughts are worse in the southern part of the state, conditions could still stunt crop growth.

Family used a blow-up paddleboard to flee a sinking boat in Penobscot Bay

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 22, 2025

The family riding a 31-foot recreational motorboat that hit a ledge and sank off North Haven on Sunday is thankful that one of its members thought to bring an inflatable paddleboard on the excursion. Of the 11 people on board the boat, five were able to get back to shore using the paddleboard, which one relative ferried back and forth twice, according to Lily Goodale, a seasonal resident of Lincolnville whose husband, Nathaniel Goodale, owns the boat. The other six passengers, along with five dogs who were on board, managed to swim to the island, which officials say was less than 100 feet away from where the damaged vessel was taking on water.

The ghost of Bucksport’s paper mill looms over new funding challenges

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 22, 2025

For a decade, Bucksport kept property taxes down using about $8 million it saved to prepare for the 2014 closing of the Verso Paper mill, which had made up more than 40 percent of its tax base. After the closure, local government maintained services, invested in infrastructure and courted new industry while attempting to shelter residents from rising costs that have hit Maine communities. Now, Bucksport has spent almost all of that cushion and is entering new territory as it looks to make spending cuts. “We cannot live like a mill town and not have a mill,” said Donald Jewett, a retired logger.

Maine Med addressing bat problem in neonatal intensive care unit

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 22, 2025

MaineHealth Maine Medical Center in Portland has struggled in recent years to keep bats from getting into the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit, prompting a complaint last year to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Hospital officials said on Thursday they are currently addressing the “occasional incursions from bats.” Despite efforts to control bats at the Coulombe Family Tower, where the NICU and the critical care nursery are located, hospital officials confirmed there have been seven bat sightings this year.

Yarmouth pauses development to ease strain on aging sewage treatment system

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 22, 2025

The Yarmouth Town Council unanimously approved a six-month development moratorium on certain areas Thursday night that will give the town time to upgrade its sewage treatment system to handle anticipated growth. The council also approved a $7.5 million question for the November ballot, when town residents will be asked to fund the design and replacement of the Royal River Pump Station, which is running at capacity and has caused recent system overflows. The 180-day moratorium will take effect Sept. 5 and apply to 1,225 parcels across a wide swath of town

Opinion: We must all be stewards of Maine’s precious lakes

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 22, 2025

Maine’s lakes help define our state and our way of life. We have some of the cleanest, clearest lakes in the nation. Maine’s lakes are where many children learn to swim, families fish for trout and landlocked salmon and we hear the haunting call of loons. But these treasures are not immune to change. Our lakes need our help. At Lake Stewards of Maine, we work with hundreds of trained volunteers across the state to monitor lake health. Our community tests the water, documents invasive aquatic species and watches for signs of ecological change. This work is both scientific and deeply personal. You can help protect. Natural Maine lakes have wooded shorelines, not lawns. Clean your boat after each use. Never release live bait or move aquatic plants or animals. With vigilance, education and action, we can protect the lakes we all love – not just for ourselves, but for wildlife and future generations. ~ Tristan Taber, Lake Stewards of Maine

Maine’s drought conditions are getting worse

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 21, 2025

Drought conditions have worsened in parts of Maine, pushing areas of Down East and the Midcoast into severe drought conditions, while much of the rest of the state still faces moderate drought or abnormally dry conditions. National Weather Service forecasters have said drought conditions are expected to spread and worsen in part because of weeks of dry weather and periods of extreme heat. More than 1 million Mainers are in drought-stricken areas.