The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
SUN JOURNAL • August 25, 2025
A Lewiston firefighter was taken to a hospital Saturday for heat exhaustion while the Lewiston Fire Department put out a fire in a large pile of debris at ReEnergy Lewiston, a recycling facility for construction and demolition materials. A 50-by-50-foot pile of debris was already fully burning when firefighters arrived on scene. Parts of the city saw smoke as high wind fueled the fire, spreading smoke through neighborhoods miles away.
MAINE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS • August 25, 2025
Michael Kellett, executive director of RESTORE: The North Woods, will talk about a proposal to create 100 new national parks across America — including ten in New England. The science is clear: we need natural and near-natural areas to stabilize climate, prevent massive biodiversity loss, and benefit public health and well-being. Yet, less than 4% of New England meets this protection standard. Can we address this gap? Yes! National parks have provided this protection since the designation of Yellowstone in 1872 as the world’s first national park. A campaign to designate a new generation of national parks offers a positive way to highlight important places, connect the public to our natural heritage, and enact strong legislative measures to provide permanent protection. At Bascom Lodge, Mount Greylock State Reservation, Adams, Mass, August 31, 2025, 5:30 pm, free.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 23, 2025
A life list is a list of all species seen in one’s lifetime. Roger Tory Peterson’s groundbreaking Guide To The Birds, published in 1934, included a checklist of all recognized North American birds. The 1960s edition of Peterson’s guidebook fell into my hands at an impressionable age. I wanted to find every single bird in that book and check them all off. I still do. I have officially seen 657 species in the ABA Area, sort of. Last week, I added a new bird to my list without ever leaving the couch. The American Ornithological Society determined that warbling vireos in the east and west are genetically different, and reclassified them as two separate species. Where did it all go so wrong? If I had just kept my checklist in that original guidebook, I might be all done by now. One thing’s for certain, it’s too late to start over. Or is it? I still have my Peterson. ~ Bob Duchesne
MAINE PUBLIC • August 25, 2025
In this video, Penobscot Nation shares their perspectives on the importance of Atlantic Salmon to their Tribe and their efforts to restore this native species, which is endangered in the United States and found only in a few rivers in Maine in concerningly small numbers.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 25, 2025
A Kittery woman was rescued Saturday night after she injured leg while hiking in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. Florence Hunter, 22, was descending from the summit of Mount Moriah in Bean’s Purchase with her hiking partner about 5 p.m. when she slipped and injured her lower leg, according to New Hampshire Fish and Game. Hunter couldn’t put any weight on her leg, so her hiking companion called 911. Hunter turned down an ambulance ride to the hospital and chose to seek medical treatment on her own. Hunter and her friend had enough gear and supplies to last several days in the woods.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 25, 2025
Dangerous heat is still relatively unusual in Maine, but several heat waves this summer have given us a taste of what’s likely to become routine as the state’s climate warms. Maine Public Radio and the Portland Press Herald have been reporting on the ways extreme heat will change how we live, and what’s being done to protect vulnerable populations. Penny Overton, climate and environment reporter at the Press Herald, and Peter McGuire, Maine Public’s climate reporter, explain.
MAINE PUBLIC • August 25, 2025
The state Department of Transportation said the LAP commuter bus connecting Lewiston, Auburn and Portland carried almost 24,000 riders in the first year of the pilot program. July was the busiest month with 2,500 passengers.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 25, 2025
Who is paying for firefighters to rescue or recover lost hikers on mountains in unorganized territories in Maine? Weld Fire Rescue Chief Corey Hutchinson says in his area the money is coming out of his department’s budget and that concerns him. Each call totals on average about $1,200 to $1,300. The Weld department has responded six times just since June 8 to help hikers who have either been hurt or lost on Tumbledown Mountain in Township 6, north of Weld, and one on Little Jackson Mountain, which connects to Tumbledown via trails. One of those search and rescue missions turned into a recovery after the hiker died from medical issues while up there. The state has an estimated 70,000 hikers annually. It is heavily advertised by tourism groups and some people are not prepared for the hikes.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 25, 2025
I was horrified when I heard that the Environmental Protection Agency proposed to rescind a 2009 declaration that greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide are a danger to public health and welfare. The stated goal for this rollback is to remove the need for regulations and to save Americans money. The announcement did not include any acknowledgement of the reality of climate change or any proof that it actually would save any money. But the changes from a warming planet are very clear. I see them here in Maine with higher temperatures, increased tick activity and haze from Canadian wildfires. No matter which way we look at it, this change isn’t good for our health or wallets. ~ Erica Bartlett, Portland
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 25, 2025
Millard Dority is the former building manager at College of the Atlantic, which has two structures that use cross-laminated timber, a competitor to steel and concrete. The college had to source its material from Austria. For an expansion at Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor, Dority wanted to use Maine wood. He figured in a state with millions of acres of forests, it would be easy to source wood and process it into CLT. But Maine doesn’t have any factories, so the wood had to be transported from New England to Illinois and then trucked back to the library. “When you consider we have all of these paper mills that are laying fallow, if one of those was a CLT manufacturer, it would make life a whole lot easier,” Dority said. Maine gets interest from CLT companies looking to locate here four or five times a year. After they research the market, nothing happens. The state is making efforts to turn that around by supporting workforce development, offering a 10% capital investment credit, and promoting its forest resources at national and international industry events.
MAINE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS • August 25, 2025
The National Park Service was created on August 25, 1916, to "preserve unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the National Park System for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations." Over the hundred plus years, NPS has grown into more than 400 national parks and many programs that reach communities around the country—and even the world!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
