Fact brief: fDo forests cover nearly 90% of Maine land?

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 10, 2025

Forest covers about 89% of Maine’s land area, comprising an estimated 17.5 million acres. Maine boasts the highest percentage of forest coverage of any U.S. state. Nearly 92% of Maine forest is privately owned. State and local governments own just under 7%, and the remaining 1.4% is federally owned. Despite a slight decline in the number of trees since 2016, the overall volume of live trees in Maine has grown, reaching 27.7 billion cubic feet in 2021, according to a survey by the U.S. Forest Service. Annual harvests have decreased and tree mortality has risen, but more than a billion cubic feet of live tree volume is added to Maine’s forests annually. Each year, about 9,500 non-forest acres in Maine revert to forest, while 20,000 acres of forest are lost — an annual net loss of 10,500 acres.

America’s ‘roadless areas’ are under attack. Here’s what New England stands to lose.

MAINE MORNING STAR • September 10, 2025

If you have enjoyed a hike to a summit in the Green or White Mountains, there’s a good chance that a U.S. Forest Service “Inventoried Roadless Area” is to thank. But on Aug. 29, the Trump administration put New England’s irreplaceable roadless areas in its crosshairs for logging and development by announcing its intent to rescind the “Roadless Rule.” More than one-fifth of the White and Green Mountain National Forests are at risk. America can’t afford to lose its roadless areas. For an administration that has made big claims about improving government efficiency, rescinding the Roadless Rule may be among its most foolish stunts yet. The Forest Service has a $10.8 billion road maintenance backlog on its 370,000-mile road network. Only 3.3% of New England is protected from timber harvest and road construction, but scientists broadly agree we must protect at least 10% of the region for the benefit of biodiversity, the climate, and the well-being of our communities. Rescinding the Roadless Rule would set our region back, making our conservation goals harder to achieve than ever. ~ Zack Porter, Standing Trees

Column: Maine birder blends old-school skills with new tech to grow YouTube following

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 10, 2025

For the last century, birders have relied on books to increase their knowledge and improve their field identification skills. Smartphones and the internet are rapidly changing that. It’s a tough adjustment. I appreciate apps like Merlin, eBird and iNaturalist, but I still prefer to make my own mistakes rather than let AI do the work. Nonetheless, modern technology has its advantages. I have David Sibley’s “Birds of North America” downloaded on my smartphone. I routinely look up birds online at AllAboutBirds.org. I recently enjoyed a superb webinar through the Cornell Lab on confusing fall warbler identification. I started a YouTube channel because birds give off more ID clues than AI can reliably process. I’ve posted about 130 videos so far. My channel is approaching a million views and 14,000 subscribers. Ultimately, my message is always this: birding is easier, more fun and more accessible than you think. ~ Bob Duchesne

Maine hiker Carey Kish completes Triple Crown of long-distance hiking

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September x, 2025

Carey Kish, a hardcore hiker from Bar Harbor, just completed the 2,700-mile Continental Divide Trail from Mexico to Canada. Kish, who is well past his youth, spent six months walking alone through some of the wildest, loneliest, most rugged terrain in the lower 48. His feat proves that, aside from sore feet and relentless leg cramps, he has mastered the test of emotional endurance. So let’s share in the wonder and inspiration of the Carey Kishes of this world, who remind us of what is possible when passion and perseverance carry us forward.

Letter: Presque Isle allows uglier things than solar panels

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 10, 2025

I read with interest Saturday’s story of Presque Isle’s push to require solar projects to be hidden behind four rows of trees and 1,200 feet from roads and residences. I do not personally consider photovoltaic installations to be particularly ugly, certainly less so than, for instance, gravel pits, landfills, or even fuel storage facilities, so I wonder if those also face the same requirement. If not, I am suspicious that the good people of Presque Isle are being taken for a ride by fossil fuel interests. ~ John Marshall, Sedgwick

From slavery to pollution, National Park employees flagged material deemed ‘disparaging’ to US

ASSOCIATED PRESS • September 10, 2025

President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March directing the Interior Department — which manages parks, monuments and other designated land — to ensure public property doesn’t contain elements that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.” The Trump administration is reviewing material about slavery, the destruction of Native American culture, climate change and more at federal parks that could be “disparaging” to Americans. The directive has raised concerns about sanitizing and erasing dark sides of American history.

Maine CDC reports first human case of EEE this year

MAINE PUBLIC • September 9, 2025

A Maine resident is in the hospital after becoming infected with Eastern Equine Encephalitis, or EEE. It's the first human case of the mosquito-borne virus in the state this year. The agency says the risk of mosquito-borne illness across the state is high, especially because of recent heavy rain. And the risk for EEE in Penobscot, Piscataquis, Somerset, and Waldo Counties is especially severe.

RFK Jr. lists 100+ recommendations to ‘Make America Healthy Again’

MAINE MORNING STAR • September 9, 2025

The Trump administration released its strategy to Make America Healthy Again on Tuesday. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said during a briefing on the strategy the 128 “recommendations are things that I’ve been dreaming about my whole life.” The proposals range in scope from issues that have largely been addressed to initiatives that are likely to cause concerns among doctors and reputable medical organizations. The report doesn’t include any plans to reduce pesticide use.

PUC staff sides with Passamaquoddy Tribe in rooftop solar dispute

MAINE PUBLIC • September 9, 2025

Investigators from the Maine Public Utilities Commission have found the Passamaquoddy Tribe's plans to install solar panels on more than 200 homes in the Indian Township community will not violate state rules on the size of certain renewable energy developments. The project, funded with a $7.4 million federal grant, has been on hold since late last year after local utility Eastern Maine Electric Cooperative argued the rooftop arrays amounted to a single "discrete electric generating facility." An attorney who represents the Passamaquoddy in the dispute, said it is essential the tribe be allowed to move ahead with its project while it still has access to federal funding. The three-member PUC still needs to vote on whether to accept the examiners' report.

Dry year cuts into hay crops, leaving Maine farmers to adapt

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 9, 2025

Farmers say this summer’s hay crops have taken a hit from the long stretches of dry weather, leaving pastures brown and feed supplies thin. Most agree, though, that the swing isn’t unusual and this year is part of a larger cycle. In a typical year, pastures provide enough hay to harvest three times and, in a good year, sometimes four. Travis Haley, who runs Caldwell Farms in Turner, said this year’s second haying was “extremely, extremely short,” with some pastures not yet worth harvesting a third time.

Maine Republicans urge Trump admin to revoke Gulf of Maine wind leases

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 9, 2025

Maine Republicans are asking the Trump administration to revoke offshore wind leases off the coast of Maine that had been auctioned to developers last year, arguing they would harm the economy and fishing industry. Environmental advocates and state officials say the request is built on flawed logic and inaccurate claims. Representative Reagan Paul, R-Winterport, applauded the administration’s termination of more than $600 million in offshore wind projects late last month and asked for four commercial-scale leases in the Gulf of Maine to be revoked. Jack Shapiro, climate and clean energy program director at the Natural Resources Council of Maine, said the leases issued last year are for sites outside of Lobster Management Area One, which includes some of the most critical lobster fishing zones. Those sites were selected specifically to avoid harming the fishing industry.

Saco wayfinding signage guides residents and visitors

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 9, 2025

Brand-new wayfinding signs across downtown Saco will help guide residents and visitors to key destinations throughout the city. The project began in 2022, with the intention of highlighting Saco’s vibrant economic community in the business and industrial parks, the historic downtown area, and the waterfront, all while maintaining a unified, attractive design that complements the community. Throughout the summer, approximately 25 signs were placed in key locations around the city. Economic Development Director Tracey Desjardins said, “The pedestrian-friendly maps with custom illustrations are placed in high-traffic areas and will help people orient themselves as they explore the area on foot.”

POSTED INHUNTING Maine Guide and tracker recover partially eaten black bear

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 89 2025

Lindsay Ware, a large-game blood tracker, was called to assist with a black bear recovery on Friday for a client of registered Guide Corey Robinson of Briar Run Guide Service. What made this recovery unusual was the condition of the animal. The black bear Robinson was carrying out of the woods was partially eaten, missing its lower limbs and torso. It had been scavenged by coyotes or possibly another bear — though Ware and Robinson suspect the latter. Robinson said his hunter shot the bear with a crossbow. The bear went 400 yards from the shot location. The team’s efforts ensured the hunter was able to recover the animal, despite the unusual scavenging — a reminder of both the resilience of bears and the unpredictable realities of the Maine woods. 

Colby College to build new science complex using $150 million anonymous gift

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 9, 2025

Colby College announced Tuesday that it will use the largest donation in its history — a $150 million anonymous gift — to build a science complex on its campus and expand its statewide research footprint. The new 200,000-square-foot complex, slated to be complete by 2030, will include classrooms, laboratories and new specialized equipment. “We’re trying to build a science complex and a science program for the next century, not for the last one,” Colby President David A. Greene said. Last month, the college announced it was building a Center for Resilience and Economic Impact in Port Clyde, where interdisciplinary researchers will work on solutions before and after natural disasters.

Maine’s black market for baby eels is spawning a crime-thriller subgenre

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 8, 2025

In the mid-2010s, the elver fishery became one of Maine’s most profitable. But legally catching the young eels, also called glass eels, meant following government regulations to prevent overfishing, including a limit on how many could be captured. Under those restrictions, a high-stakes black market for elvers soared — until a federal sting started taking it down. Joshua Viertel looped in his father, Jack — a retired Broadway producer living in Deer Isle — and they began cowriting under the pseudonym J.J. Viertel. Their debut novel,“The Glass Eel,” is headed to shelves on Tuesday, Sept. 9.

Navy dispute threatens angler access to Great Pond in Aurora

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 9, 2025

Going back to the 1800s, there was always a public boat launch and right-of-way to Great Pond. That changed when the U.S. government was gifted part of the lakeshore. The government later developed an elaborate recreational facility known as the Great Pond Adventure Center for active and retired military. In 1946, Rick Musson’s father built and ran a sporting camp on the lake’s Loon Island until 2000. Called Great Pond Lodge, hunters and fishermen reached the island from a boat that launched at the now-disputed access point beside the military facility. Musson, who lives on Great Pond and inherited the now-closed lodge, alleges that in 2018 the government confiscated his $25,000 aluminum dock at gunpoint. He says he has not been compensated. Tom Stott, a Great Pond selectman, warns that “there is a cloud hanging over this entire issue — not only regarding the public road ownership, but the public right-of-way to the boat launch.”

Massachusetts man found dead near Bremen accidentally drowned

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 8, 2025

A Massachusetts man whose body was recovered hours after he was reported missing from his sailboat near Bremen last month had accidentally drowned, according to the state’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner. Mark Metzger, 74, of Waltham, Massachusetts, was reported missing on Aug. 31 after his friends noticed he was not aboard his 19-foot sailboat which was anchored on the western side of Bremen Long Island. Members of the public found Metzger’s body hours later near Long Island Ledges.

Falmouth Land Trust works to quell invasive plant takeover at new preserve

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 8, 2025

The woods at the end of Eagles Lane in Falmouth were once overrun with bittersweet. A woody vine with broad green leaves, the invasive species overtakes and strangles trees, creating a dense wall of vegetation and pushing out native plants, leaving behind a “food desert” for the insects and birds. But today, many of the trees in the 24-acre parcel are cleared of the creeping vine, and monarch caterpillars can be found feasting on the native milkweed growing between trees. The invasive species removal project is being managed by the Falmouth Land Trust, which acquired the parcel last year and started opening it to the public this summer.

Central Maine Power Co. taps longtime VP as new president

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 8, 2025

Central Maine Power Co.’s former vice president of customer service is taking over as president, effective immediately, the company announced Monday. Linda Ball, who had served in her previous role since 2019, succeeds Joe Purington, who became CEO of Avangrid Networks, which oversees parent company Avangrid’s utility subsidiaries in New York and New England, in July. CMP is Maine’s biggest electric utility and serves roughly 660,000 customers in southern and central parts of the state.

CMP adds new tech to minimize power outages

MAINE PUBLIC • August 8, 2025

Central Maine Power is installing hundreds of devices on its system to restore electricity more quickly following outages. CMP spokesperson Dustin Wlodkowski said the equipment can isolate problem areas and reroute power to nearby homes and businesses. The units can reduce restoration time from a few hours to just a few minutes.