Maine to pilot Outdoor School for All

UMAINE • August 25, 2025

Maine Outdoor School for All is launching this fall thanks to $450,000 secured from private foundations, and bipartisan legislation establishing the program sponsored by state Sen. Rick Bennett and signed into law in May by Gov. Janet Mills. The program will be administered by University of Maine Cooperative Extension, which will make grants to certified outdoor learning centers, enabling them to provide students in grades four through eight immersive, three-day, two-night outdoor educational experiences. With the establishment of the program in state statute, initial private funding and a campaign to raise an additional $1 million this year, Maine has become one of just four states committed to providing outdoor learning opportunities for all public school students. UMaine Extension expects the program will serve 1,000 additional students in 2025-26. When fully funded at $6 million annually, the program will be accessible to all students in grades four through eight in the state.

Efforts to protect piping plovers on Scarborough beaches yield results

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 25, 2025

This summer, Scarborough’s beaches were home to 37 pairs of piping plovers, seven more than last year. Counters found 46 fledglings, or birds that are old enough to fly, a slight decrease from last year, which saw 55. The piping plover is an endangered shorebird that builds its nests on the sandy beaches. “They’ve always had a challenge,” said Brad Zitske, a shorebird specialist with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. “They nest in the same places humans like to recreate. Unless humans decide they don’t want to recreate on the beach anymore, these birds will be endangered.”

Mainer faces 23 charges for illegal night and Sunday deer hunting

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 25, 2025

The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has issued 31 summonses to five different people and seized four deer as part of a monthslong poaching investigation started in November 2024. Maine wardens recovered treestands and game cameras and multiple firearms and crossbows during the arrest. Officials were later able to determine that some of the gear had allegedly been stolen from the Unity, Palmyra and Corinna areas. One suspect facing 23 summonses failed to appear in court on the civil offenses and has been issued $2,300 in fines. Criminal charges are still pending. Anyone suspecting illegal outdoors activity related to Maine’s wildlife and natural resources can anonymously contact Maine’s Operation Game Thief by calling 1-800-253-7887.

Large coal pile on Portland waterfront could be removed by 2030

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 25, 2025

A 45,000-ton coal pile on the city’s waterfront that has for years been a source of complaints from neighboring residents and businesses is set to be removed by 2030 thanks to a measure adopted by the City Council on Monday. Councilors voted unanimously to approve an order that will prohibit large coal piles in the city. The pile’s history of spontaneously catching fire, Sarah Southard, a nurse practitioner and member of local advocacy group Coal Free Portland, said earlier this summer. The Cassidy Point coal pile receives shipments of coal by barge about twice a year, and loads are regularly delivered by truck to ND Papermill in Rumford.

Canadian firm pays $240K for violations at Aroostook mill

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 25, 2025

Canadian company Daaquam Lumber has paid $240,000 in fines to resolve wastewater violations at a Masardis mill it once owned. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the company entered into a consent agreement in May. Both the DEP and the state attorney general’s office signed off on the case on Monday, Since 2022, the company has addressed some of the violations, but didn’t stop the discharge of pollutants and raw materials into waterways, according to DEP. It also failed to train employees to minimize pollution and did not collect wastewater samples as directed.

Stubborn fire shrouds Lewiston in a blanket of smoke Saturday

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.

Presentation: Berkshire National Park for People, Biodiversity, and Climate, August 31

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.

Column: A Maine birder’s 657-species addiction

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

Salmon Restoration on the Penobscot River

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.

Maine hiker rescued after she injured her leg in the White Mountains

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, Maine Public team up on collaborative reporting on heat

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.

The LAP commuter bus saw close to 24,000 riders in pilot program's first year

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.

Who foots the bill when municipal responders rescue hikers, others in unorganized territories?

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.

Letter: Proposed EPA change not good for our health — or our wallets

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

Why Maine is losing out on a wood building boom

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.

Happy 109th birthday, National Park Service!

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!

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.