Drought: Causes & Impacts

MAINE PUBLIC • September 8, 2025

It's been a glorious summer for beachgoers and other outdoor enthusiasts—day after day of sunshine and blue skies. But that same weather pattern is not good for farms, lakes and ponds, private wells, forests, and fire danger. Experts discuss the impacts of the ongoing drought, and what it will take for conditions to improve. Panelists: Nick Stasulis, chief, monitoring operations section, New England Water Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey; Sarah Jamison, federal hydrologist, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, National Weather Service in Gray; Tom Gordon, program coordinator, soil & water conservation program, Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation & Forestry. VIP callers: Susan Gallo, executive director, Maine Lakes; Ivan Fernandez, professor emeritus and climate research scientist, University of Maine; also with the Maine Climate Council; Gale Ross, foliage reporter, Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation & Forestry.

Energy prices are complex. Here’s what Maine lawmakers can and have done to lower them

MAINE MORNING STAR • August 8, 2025

House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham (R-Winter Harbor), said, “The reason Maine ranks so high in electricity rates is because of bad policies” that encourage sustainable energy. However, the actual dollar amount ratepayers end up shelling out each month is influenced by a multitude of factors. While the global markets that dictate prices of natural gas and other energy sources are beyond the reach of state senators and representatives, there are some ways that energy costs can be addressed from Augusta. In June, Gov. Janet Mills signed legislation to reform net energy billing and rein in future costs. The new law is projected to save Maine electricity customers more than $1.2 billion over the next 16 years. Electricity prices in New England could have been 11% lower last winter if contracted offshore wind projects had been operational. That would have translated to about $400 million in savings. However, the Trump administration took action early on to pause the development of offshore wind projects.

Column: Are Maine summers losing their magic?

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 8, 2025

Summers in Maine always go by too fast, but did this one even happen? It started with the rain. For a dozen straight Saturdays, soggy weather shut down hope of squeezing in any seasonal activities before Massachusetts schools let out. Then, the heat set in, bringing seven days when the “feels like” temperature exceeded 90 degrees; there are usually four. Soon after, the shark sightings started and didn’t stop. Deer ticks the size of a sesame seed have been spreading Lyme disease at a higher rate and with a larger reach in Maine than ever. Wildfire smoke from Canada resulted in multiple alerts. Most of these things have something to do with climate change, meaning there’s more to come. Meanwhile, I’ll be re-attempting my staycation this month. ~ Leslie Bridgers

More tourists than ever are visiting a remote part of Acadia

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 8, 2025

The Schoodic section of Acadia National Park so far this year is busier with tourists than it ever has been, and area business owners say the increased traffic has been paying off. As of last weekend, the area tallied roughly 40,000 more visits so far in 2025 than at the end of August in recent years, which saw park visitations nationwide surge in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 268,000 estimated total visits at Schoodic from January through August is more than any entire year prior to 2016 — and Maine’s tourist season is expected to last another several weeks.

House Natural Resources Committee Holds Hearing on Another Ill-Conceived Permitting Reform Bill

LEGAL PLANET • September 7, 2025

On September 10, the House Natural Resources Committee will convene a hearing on the SPEED Act—the latest NEPA reform bill championed by Chairman Bruce Westerman. The bill includes provisions that would fundamentally compromise the integrity of federal decision making processes by allowing—or even compelling—the government to ignore scientific and technical information critical to understanding the effects of a federal action and how those effects could be mitigated. It is Orwellian indeed to require an agency to seek input from the public that the agency is expressly excused from having to consider. And if you’re wondering if this is an intended consequence, it clearly is, because the bill specifies that permitting agencies to ignore information in environmental review processes does not affect their obligation under the Administrative Procedure Act to respond to comment when issuing or revising regulations.

On land and at sea, Maine’s chaplains tackle climate anxiety

MAINE MONITOR • September 7, 2025

As a maritime chaplain with Seafarer’s Friend, a 200-year-old New England organization, Thomas Kircher boarded vessels from Portsmouth to Searsport. Research shows that climate change has led to more frequent marine heatwaves and more intense storms, among other changes, according to NASA. The seafarers Kircher worked with had more immediate concerns than a warming planet, he said, but they all had stories of bigger waves and stronger winds. This summer, Kircher retired from Seafarer’s Friend to focus more on climate advocacy within faith communities, joining other faith leaders in Maine who are putting more emphasis on addressing people’s spiritual needs in the face of a warming planet.

Maine scientist skis Greenland to document climate change

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • September 7, 2025

If all has gone according to plan, 38-year-old Susana Hancock should be more than halfway through a 600-mile trek in one of the planet’s most remote and hostile environments to document the rapid retreat of the Greenland ice sheet. The small, one-pound sensors she is installing as she skis across the world’s second-largest polar ice cap will measure greenhouse gas emissions and ice thickness. That data is critical for global climate monitoring in a region that is “very poorly monitored in real time,” Hancock said during an interview last month before leaving for Tasiilaq, an island in East Greenland, where she was set to begin her trip a week later.

See moose and stunning views of Katahdin on this 15-mile trail network

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 6, 2025

Since opening its doors and trails to the public in 2019, Penobscot River Trails has been welcoming local and far away visitors to experience riverfront recreation. The facility offers more than 15 miles of trails for biking and hiking, and they even groom the trails during the winter season for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. Shortly after biking past one of the kayak launch points, I came around yet another bend in the trail and river, and through a small opening in the trees, my eyes caught something moving in the water. It was a moose! Penobscot River Trails offers an opportunity for any and all to visit a riverfront nature preserve without the worry of needing gear (rental fees are by donation) or the complexity of how to get there. Also, the facility is home to the Maine Outdoor Education Program. [Originally published in July 2022.]

Pilot safe after plane crashes into Moosehead Lake

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 6, 2025

A solo pilot was rescued Saturday morning after his plane crashed into Moosehead Lake near Greenville during the 51st annual International Seaplane Fly-In. The plane is still submerged in the lake, and is believed to be sitting in about 90 feet of water. A plane flying to Fryeburg from Aroostook County crashed near the Eastern Slope Regional Airport on Thursday, killing the pilot. A crash at Bangor International Airport on Aug. 24 killed another pilot. It was the first fatal crash to occur at the airport. And a float plane crashed Monday on Flagstaff Lake in Eustis, injuring the pilot and a passenger.

Houlton rolls out the red carpet for eclipse documentary premiere

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 6, 2025

Houlton residents walked and worked the red carpet, taking center stage as “A Moment in the Sun,” an award-winning documentary featuring the community’s 2024 eclipse response, had its hometown premiere. New York City-based directors Mia Weinberger and Tom van Kalken shadowed several local people in the months leading up to the cosmic event. Shot all on location in Aroostook County, the 78-minute film explores how a rural community of 6,000 pulled together to welcome nearly 30,000 eclipse chasers, scientists and tourists from around the world.

Acadia monthly visits reach 36-year high in August

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 6, 2025

Acadia National Park had more visitors in August than any month since 1989. The park on Mount Desert Island saw a record-breaking 842,827 visitors last month. In July, the park hosted 797,030 visitors. August of 1989 remains the park’s busiest month on record, with 1,045,060 visitors making the trip to Mount Desert Island. It was also the park’s busiest year on record, with over 5.4 million visitors. The next busiest year was in 2021, after the Covid-19 pandemic, when the park saw more than 4 million visitors.

Man rescued after spending night stranded on Soper Mountain

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 6, 2025

Maine Game Wardens and members of the Maine Association of Search and Rescue Technical Rescue Team rescued a telecommunications worker Friday after he became stranded on Soper Mountain in northwest Piscataquis County the day before. Chad Wilcox, 51, of Connecticut, was hiking with two coworkers to service communications equipment when he became separated and trapped on a ledge with a steep drop.

Column: In Waterville and China, a happy break from browntail moths

MORNING SENTINEL • September 6, 2025

I was a victim of browntail caterpillars a couple of times and don’t wish to revisit the experience. One of my favorite activities is hanging clothes outdoors on a windy day, inhaling the scent of laundry detergent and watching the fabrics flap in the wind. I especially love that exercise out at the lake, where in June we strung two, lengthy cotton clothesline ropes. I lost that privilege over the last few summers as browntail wreaked havoc at the shore, raiding the oaks and fruit-bearing trees. But the wet, soggy spring this year and efforts by the city of Waterville and our China neighbors the last few years to mitigate browntail has made it safe once again to enjoy the outdoors without angst. ~ Amy Calder

$1.4M price cut sparks new drive to save Presque Isle outdoor center

THE COUNTY • September 5, 2025

Presque Isle-area residents and officials are making a new push to preserve and reopen the city’s shuttered Nordic Heritage Outdoor Center after the asking price for the property was recently cut in half, from $2.9 million to $1.5 million. For 25 years, the 750-acre venue welcomed skiers, hikers, cyclists and student athletes to competition grounds and more than 30 miles of all-season trails traversing its wooded landscape. Last year, its builder and operator, the Portland-based Libra Foundation, closed it and put it up for sale. Schools and trail users were left hanging. Despite a public outcry, Libra didn’t change its mind and no one interested could afford to buy it. Designed as a world-class biathlon venue and ski trail system, the facility was built in 1999 as part of the Maine Winter Sports Center, which also included the Fort Kent Outdoor Center.

High Peaks Alliance raises funds for Rangeley region’s Junior Guides

RANGELEY HIGHLANDER • September 5, 2025

At its most recent monthly potluck supper, the Rangeley Region Guides’ & Sportsmen’s Association welcomed representatives from the High Peaks Alliance, who presented a check for $1,070 in support of the Association’s Junior Maine Guides program. The funds were raised during the High Peaks Outdoor Heritage Festival, which featured the Maine Moose Lottery, through a dunk tank fundraiser.

Newry couple’s plans to extract lithium-rich ore remains ‘on hold’

MAINE MONITOR • September 5, 2025

It was more than a year ago that Maine regulators approved final changes to Maine’s 2017 mining law, capping a yearlong process that was designed to clear the way for the development of a lithium-rich deposit in the western part of the state.  So far, the overhaul has done little, if anything, to inspire Mary and Gary Freeman, the owners of the land in Newry where the deposit was discovered in 2021, to move forward with a small-scale spodumene mining operation. Mary Freeman said the project remains “on hold.” “Unless the price of spodumene soars, the costs to remove it under current regulation is prohibitive,” she said. “The mining regulations in Maine are not designed to promote environmentally safe extraction but rather to ban mining.” Luke Frankel, a staff scientist at the Natural Resources Council of Maine, said the state has taken an appropriately cautious approach to mineral development, learning from past mistakes and in the case of spodumene, finding a reasonable middle ground.

Letter: Don’t let beach access opponents turn us against each other

CENTRAL MAINE • September 5, 2025

The Aug. 24 op-ed from attorneys Gilliard and Kieser (“Maine beach access case carries huge implications for private property“) was yet another attempt to tell us not to believe what we can see with their own eyes — our beaches and coastline are under attack in ways our Supreme Court, in 1989, surely didn’t intend. Today, families need permission slips to hold a sandcastle contest. Today, lawyers squabble about whether scuba diving counts as “navigation,” whether seaweed is a fish and whether clammers can continue doing what humans have done for thousands of years. Mainers won’t let ideologues turn us against each another. We know that letting kids play soccer on the beach isn’t the same as the government taking our trucks. When the lawyers have flown back to California, we’ll still be here, digging each other out of snowbanks, the same way we always have, and always will. ~ Benjamin E. Ford, Archipelago Law, Portland

Cape Elizabeth will soon be home to a solar field

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 5, 2025

There will soon be a solar field on the capped landfill next to Cape Elizabeth’s transfer station. After six years of consideration and planning, Encore Energy, a Vermont-based solar company, was approved for a land lease by the Town Council for the parcel off Spurwink Avenue near the Gull Crest Fields. The 6.5-acre parcel will be home to 2,796 solar modules.

Berwick man dies after ATV crash

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 5, 2025

A Berwick man was killed and his passenger injured when his ATV crashed Thursday evening, according to the Maine Warden Service. Tyler Anderson, 31, was driving the Polaris ATV on a trail near Hall Road when he veered off of the trail, hit an embankment and rolled. Anderson was taken by helicopter to a hospital in Dover, NH, where he died a short time later. The passenger sustained facial injuries that were not life-threatening, according to the warden service. An initial investigation indicates that excessive speed for the terrain likely contributed to the crash.