Column: Westbrook’s Vertical Harvest is an architectural response to food insecurity

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 2, 2025

A newly constructed Vertical Harvest growing facility in Westbrook is due to begin large-scale production of salad greens this autumn — about 6,850 pounds per day. With an urban footprint of just one-half of an acre, this automated farm can produce a yield equivalent of 250 rural acres of the same crop. It can sustain this production in all weathers and seasons, day or night. Vertical Harvest’s 1:500 spatial leverage is a result of the intensive stacks of moving modular trays inside a building designed exactly for this purpose, in which water, nutrients, light and temperature are controlled with strict precision. In short, the mysterious new building in Westbrook is a sealed clockwork for economical agriculture, a brilliant architectural reply to the pressing problem of food security. ~ Jon Calame

As Scarborough grows, new report tries to get a handle on traffic

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 2, 2025

For the first time in nearly two decades, the town of Scarborough has completed a townwide transportation assessment. As Scarborough’s population continues to grow, residents have expressed concerns about an influx of traffic and congestion. Approved by the Town Council last month, the study identified 11 intersections and road segments for improvements. The report identified 14 intersections and eight road segments as high crash locations. The findings focused on complete streets — thinking of roadways as home to pedestrians, bicycles and motorists. And the report identified a need to expand the multimodal transportation network within the town. Residents expressed interest in the addition of sidewalks and bike lines to major throughways.

Column: Choose your own fall migration experience

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 2, 2025

Birding in Maine is like a farm-to-table restaurant. The offerings are always fresh, and the menu changes with each season. Recently, I spent an afternoon on my deck overlooking the lake. Five loons and six ospreys were raising a ruckus for hours. Then a foraging flock came along; 20 warblers fluttered in the branches. I counted at least ten species. Last Saturday, Bar Harbor Whale Watch took 130 birders on a 12-hour voyage to Cashes Ledge in the Gulf of Maine. I saw more Cory’s shearwaters in ten minutes than I’ve previously seen in my entire life. There are so many adventures out there right now that I’m not keeping up. I have yet to go shorebirding this season. Most years I make at least one trip to the Lubec sand bar before Labor Day, and another after. Hawk-watching season has arrived. Now that reservations are needed to drive up Cadillac Mountain, this adventure requires pre-planning. Watch the forecast, look for a morning in mid-September when good weather and a northwest breeze are predicted, and hope there’s parking space available. If that sounds like too much effort, remember the simplest option: pour a coffee, sit on the patio and let Maine’s birds come to you. ~ Bob Duschesne

2 injured when floatplane crashes in Flagstaff Lake

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 1, 2025

Two occupants were injured when a small floatplane crashed into Flagstaff Lake near Eustis on Monday afternoon, state police said. The small single engine floatplane equipped with pontoons was beginning to take off from the lake when it plunged into the water. On board were the pilot, 62-year-old Stephen Vorpagel of Readfield and one passenger. Both individuals were rescued, brought to shore, and suffered minor injuries.

Lovesick moose sparks sex education lesson

SUN JOURNAL • September 1, 2025

In 1960, a visit of a bull moose on my grandparents’ dairy farm generated big news in Somerset County. Motorists slowly drove past our pastures to catch a glimpse of the moose, which had a crush on Ginger, our top milking cow. On the third morning of the moose’s visit, brother Don and I asked Grampa to explain the bull’s attraction to our prize cow. “Ask your grandmother.” Inside the kitchen, we ambushed Grammy with questions about moose sex. “Ask your mother,” she said. “For some reason,” mother explained, “the moose wants Ginger to be his mating partner.” Grandpa had had enough of the utterly bewildered moose. He sicced Bonnie, our border collie, on the brute to drive him into the woods. But Bonnie instead chased him into the barnyard. Bypassing the clothesline, his left antler snagged the backstrap of Grammy’s bra. She grabbed the porch broom and chased the moose yelling, “Drop that bra!” A month later, we spotted the tattered bra on a witch hazel bush. I handed the bra to Grampa, which he called an “over the shoulder boulder holder.” ~ Ron Joseph

The Next Acadia National Park?

THE TRAVEL • August 30, 2025

Acadia National Park is often one of the first places that comes to mind when travelers think of natural beauty in Maine. With its rocky coastline, scenic hikes, amazing spots to view fall foliage, and sweeping views from Cadillac Mountain, it ranks among the most popular national parks in the country. But there's another corner of Maine that has slowly gained attention over the past few years. Located in the state's North Woods, Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument has Americans buzzing, especially those wanting to completely unplug from the stressors of daily life. While many travelers have recently become aware of this area, it has long been on the radar of conservation groups. At one point, it was even tied to the Maine Woods National Park project, a proposal led by RESTORE: The North Woods.

Massachusetts man found dead off coast near Bremen

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 1, 2025

Authorities are investigating the death of a 74-year-old man whose body was recovered near Bremen hours after he was reported missing from his sailboat Sunday, according to the Maine Marine Patrol. Friends of Mark Metzger, of Waltham, Massachusetts, reported him missing around 11:40 a.m. Sunday, the agency said in a statement Monday morning. Metzger was not aboard his 19-foot sailboat, which had been anchored on the western side of Bremen Long Island.

Tick check? This hiker starts with naked skin and a lint roller

SUN JOURNAL • August 31, 2025

Since I got pummeled by anaplasmosis, my de-tickification ritual has become rather extreme. For starters, I carry a bunch of lint rollers, the kind that uses sticky paper to pluck fuzz off your fabrics. Whenever I come out of the woods, I get as naked as is tasteful for the situation and I then run that roller over every inch of me in hopes of removing any clinging vectors of death that may have wandered onto my skin. I shake my hiking clothes vigorously and change into something fresh. At home, I throw all my hiking clothes into the dryer on its highest, most tick-killing setting. I then take a shower and use a particularly rough scrubby to scourge my flesh. If ticks are found on me in spite of my efforts, I have my steady-handed wife remove them with a commercially available tick remover. The chemical permethrin is used by some tick-averse folks as a way to treat clothing and hopefully repel the beasts. More tick prevention tips can be found at the excellent Tick Lab website at extension.umaine.edu/ticks.

Maine’s worst tick season ever is on its way. This writer knows what’s at stake.

SUN JOURNAL • August 31, 2025

For three days my temperature shot up to 102, so I’d feel burning hot one minute, Arctic cold the next. All I could eat was soup, and I did that with trembling hands. The result of my flesh being invaded by a tick so small it would be barely visible to the naked eye. Anaplasmosis, that’s what I had, an affliction I’d never heard of and still can’t pronounce half the time. It wrecked me for most of a week, subsided, and then came back a week later for a rerun. Then I started taking antibiotics and within hours of my second dose, I felt human again. But not everyone is so lucky. There’s Lyme disease out there in the world of poisonous ticks and Lyme is an infection that can impact, not just a week or two, but the entirety of a person’s life. In Maine, the rate of Lyme disease has increased more than tenfold in the past 20 years, and it continues to rise. This, experts said, will be another record-breaking year. I haven’t stopped hiking or rolling around in the grass like a dog for fear of ticks, even though I was so thoroughly humbled by one earlier in the summer. Give up doing what you love and the bloodsuckers win.

2 women killed in boat accident on Flagstaff Lake

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 31, 2025

Two women were killed and several injured after an 18-foot pontoon boat flipped on Flagstaff Lake in Eustis Saturday around 1:30 near the Cathedral Pines Campground. The victims were Farhana Nasir, 53, of Selden, New York, and Kiran Akbar, 23, of Lake Grove, New York. A third woman is in critical condition at Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center. The boat was traveling with seven people onboard when the bow started to dip underwater. The driver unsuccessfully attempted to raise the bow, and the boat flipped, throwing all seven passengers into the water 180 feet from shore. None were wearing life jackets. Witnesses rushed to assist the passengers, and were able to get all seven back to shore. Three of the passengers were unresponsive and CPR was performed on all three.

Fort Kent Outdoor Center launches plan to make up for lost funding 2

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 31, 2025

When Pineland Farms of New Gloucester and the Libra Foundation stopped funding the Fort Kent Outdoor Center last year and gave the facility back to the board of directors, the group knew a challenge lay ahead. Now, they need to come up with approximately $140,000 in annual funding if they want to keep the operation and its programs intact. The Fort Kent facility, along with the Nordic Heritage Outdoor Center in Presque Isle, were created in 1998 as part of the Maine Winter Sports Center. The center not only trains athletes and hosts local and international meets, but is an all-around recreation resource that helps draw people to the St. John Valley and Aroostook County as a whole. The board aims to put $2.4 million into an endowment, using the interest to generate annual funding to replace what Libra provided.

Katahdin Woods and Waters is the best place to see the night sky on the East Coast

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 30, 2025

The incredibly starry sky of the Katahdin region has long been celebrated, and now it’s being recognized internationally. Maine’s Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument has been recognized as the first International Dark Sky Sanctuary on the East Coast by the International Dark Sky Association, becoming the 12th such designation in the world.

Mapped: The States With the Most and Least National Park Land

MENTAL FLOSS • August 30, 2025

National parks are more popular than ever: in 2024, the National Park Service tallied more than 331 million visits, its biggest year on record. But some states have much more of their land dedicated to national parks than others. National Park Service oversees more than 85 million acres of land across all 50 states, roughly 3.5 percent of the country’s total area. More than half of those acres are located inside a single state: Alaska. The state with the least national park land is also the smallest in the country. Rhode Island’s five acres are spread across the national memorial to Roger Williams, the Ocean State’s founder, and three other units. New national parks, historic sites, and monuments are still being established every year. Some of the newest include the Frances Perkins National Monument in Maine.

New regional collaboration could boost stalled northern Maine power line effort

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 30, 2025

A new push to boost electricity capacity across New England could help to get a stalled transmission line project to northern Maine — and related wind energy development in the region — back on track. The effort by ISO New England will likely support the upgrade of a key substation in Pittsfield and other changes to move power farther south into New England. That could make it easier to tap the mostly undeveloped wind energy potential of northern Maine. Clean energy advocates hope the efforts could give a much-needed boost to Maine’s own plans to create more wind energy in Aroostook County and send it southward. State regulators are again seeking developers who could pull off a wind and transmission project with the new regional support. However, it’s an open question whether the northern Maine transmission project will be able to overcome some of the early roadblocks — including local resistance along the proposed corridor — that have already stalled the project for several years.

For Maine farmers, CSAs bring more certainty to an unforgiving industry

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 30, 2025

There is little stability in farming, from the field to the finances. There will always be expenses. That reality often forces farmers to have a diverse array of revenue streams to stay afloat. One of the ways some farms accomplish that is through Community Supported Agriculture, in which members of the community pay for a share of a farm’s produce, meat and other products. Through that steady income stream, CSAs give farmers a sense of predictability that is usually lacking in the industry. For some, it’s the difference between staying in business and losing the farm.

Standish officials weigh merits of Maple Street Wharf proposal

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 29, 2025

Portland Water District plans to demolish its building at the end of Maple Street, which goes all the way to the lake shore and is seeking grant money to design a new fishing pier. The project would remove the pavement, stabilize the ground with mulch to control erosion, and install an ADA compliant path to the fishing pier. Some residents say it would heavily inconvenience persons with disabilities. Standish Town Council members expressed skepticism of the proposal for a 300-foot walking path to replace the road.

Horse-drawn carriage rolls over on Acadia carriage trail

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 29, 2025

On Aug. 24, park rangers and the Mount Desert and Bar Harbor fire departments responded to a report of a horse-drawn carriage accident in Acadia National Park. at approximately 11 a.m., the park received reports of a privately owned horse-drawn carriage that had rolled over. The carriage was occupied by a 72-year-old woman and a 43-year-old woman, both from Vermont. Responding personnel were told that the carriage was being driven up the “first hill from Wildwood Stables” and apparently the horse began to back up unexpectedly. As the carriage went backward, the right wheel left the carriage road and the horse, carriage, and passengers rolled down “a steep embankment.” The women were transported to MDI Hospital by ambulance.

Warming climate is worsening droughts in Maine

MAINE PUBLIC • August 29, 2025

Drought expanded in Maine again in the last week of August, with about 1.2 million people are living in at least abnormally dry conditions. It took about a month for the state to go from having almost no areas with drought to 87% of the state in at least abnormally dry conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Maine Climatologist Sean Birkel said the drought's severity is driven by a warming climate. Short-term drought is fairly common in the Northeast, according to Birkel. But hotter weather is intensifying dry conditions, he said, pointing to a heat wave in mid-August that made the drought worse.

A conversation with Brian Ambrette, director of Maine’s new resilience office

MAINE MONITOR • August 29, 2025

When Governor Janet Mills introduced her landmark bipartisan climate law this January there was already broad agreement that Maine needed to do more to defend against rising sea levels and intensifying storms. The widespread flooding that occurred a year prior exposed vast weaknesses in both local infrastructure and the state’s emergency response and recovery efforts. More Maine communities than ever before applied for federal resilience grants and counted on them to bring vital projects to life. But now, nearly seven months and billions of dollars into the Trump administration’s grant cancellations, a new playing field has come into focus, one with significantly less federal support. Maine will need to become more self-resourced in its ability to make proactive resilience investments.