The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
WGME-TV13 • September 22, 2025
Tuesday marks the start of fall, but it was a very dry summer. According to the National Weather Service, 2025 was the sixth driest summer on record in Maine history. The severe drought conditions are drying up wells statewide. The Maine Emergency Management Agency created a dry well dashboard for people to report dry wells in the state. Their data shows there are 236 dry wells in Maine. The vast majority of them are in Oxford County.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 22, 2025
Southern Maine lost more than a quarter of its coastal sand dunes in the historic 2024 winter storms that caused an estimated $70 million in damage from record-setting high water levels, according to a new study from the University of New England. Less than half of the dunes at four beaches in Biddeford, Kennebunkport and Saco had come back at the end of last year’s seasonal growth cycle, when dunes are at their highest, according to research published Monday in Geomorphica, an earth sciences-based science journal.
SUN JOURNAL • September 22, 2025
Norway Selectmen voted Thursday to accept a consent agreement negotiated between attorneys for the town and a property owner cited last May for six code violations at 33 Old Pulp Mill Road. Attorney Sam Hamilton presented the agreement to Norway’s Select Board on behalf of his client, Jonathan Shilalis, who owns the property on the Crooked River he rents out through Airbnb. The consent agreement calls for Shilalis to undo much of the excavation and luxury additions he installed on the property in violation of Resource Protection setbacks. Those include improper removal of vegetation and trees from the riverbank and adding luxuries,
SUN JOURNAL • September 22, 2025
Selectmen voted Thursday to accept a consent agreement negotiated between attorneys for the town and a property owner cited last May for six code violations at 33 Old Pulp Mill Road. Jonathan Shilalis owns the property on the Crooked River he rents out through Airbnb. The consent agreement calls for Shilalis to undo much of the excavation and luxury additions he installed on the property in violation of Resource Protection setbacks. The Crooked River is a major tributary of Sebago Lake, which provides the drinking water for the greater Portland area in southern Maine. The river section that travels through Norway is also considered to be critical spawning grounds for wild salmon and brook trout. The 33 Old Pulp Mill parcel has been intermittently listed for sale for more than a year. It currently appears on real estate sales platforms as being on the market for the last six months, at the price of $1,000,000.
SUN JOURNAL • September 22, 2025
Close to a hundred people gathered Saturday to inaugurate the 446-acre Rumford Community Forest at 161 Isthmus Road, celebrating years of effort to protect forested lands and provide a recreation area available to people of all abilities. “After decades of doubt over the future of mill towns, like this area, it’s only fitting that we’re here today to celebrate another symbol of Rumford’s resurgence,” Gov. Janet Mills said. “Developing this particular parcel of land would have threatened local water supplies and wildlife habitat, while worsening future flooding events in Rumford and Mexico. Instead, using funding from the state of Maine’s Land for Maine’s Future and the U.S. Forest Service Community Forest, the town of Rumford has been able to complete this conservation project and create the Rumford Community Forest in less than a year,” she said.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 22, 2025
Sandy Carder, chair of Gray’s Resiliency Committee, discussed the town’s watershed management plan, developed in conjunction with several town- and county-level water protection associations. Carder said that after the state government came out with its Maine Won’t Wait climate action plan in 2020, Gray went through the process of joining the state Community Resilience Partnership. This allowed the town to apply for a $49,960 grant from the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future in 2024. Carder said the process of becoming a Community Resilience Partner included surveys and outreach, and that one of the priorities that kept coming up the most was water quality, leading to the Resiliency Committee coming up with the idea of the watershed management plan to address.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 22, 2025
An earthquake rattled Limington on Sunday night. The magnitude 1.9 temblor shook the ground at a depth of 6.6 miles just about 4.3 miles southeast of the York County town about 9:18 p.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Since 1997, there have been more than 150 recorded earthquakes in the state.
MAINE MORNING STAR • September 22, 2025
Although farmers and growers have historically been able to rely on even rainfall throughout the growing season in Maine, the agricultural community has been forced to deal with more moisture extremes. The 2020 growing season marked the driest in state history, while the wettest growing season on record came just three years later. Coping with these conditions has become a challenge for farms whose income hinges on precipitation levels and could even have larger economic effects as wild blueberries alone contribute more than $350 million annually to the state economy. Many farmers don’t have the money or expertise to plan and install irrigation infrastructure on their land, so they are hoping state support can fill those gaps.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 22, 2025
Don’t just take a foliage drive this year. Take a vintage adventure. Maine has brilliant and breathtaking foliage most years. But the state’s small towns are also filled with antique shops and vintage stores, where you can spend blissful hours browsing all sorts of historic gems or charming clutter. Happily, just like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, it’s easy to combine two great things into one. Here are suggestions for seven foliage/antique destinations around the state.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 22, 2025
A couple flying into Maine and staying three nights at a hotel in Bar Harbor, eating meals out and having a few beers, would ending up spending $2,294 over their visit, according to personal finance website GoBankingRates, which in June ranked the Mount Desert Island town No. 4 on its list of America’s Most Expensive Tourist Destinations. But for Mainers living in driving distance, maybe even close enough for a day trip, visiting Bar Harbor doesn’t have to break the bank, especially with the help of some insider tips that will keep costs down without sacrificing any fun. ~ Leslie Bridgers
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 22, 2025
A recent surge in taxes on long-held generational lands and camps in the state’s unorganized territory threaten Mainers’ ability to hold on to cherished properties. Some of the hardest hit residents have been those in vacation destinations such as along Moosehead Lake and near resort areas such as Sugarloaf ski mountain. For some landowners in these real estate hot spots, their property valuations have recently doubled or tripled.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 22, 2025
Musicians played live music, vendors were set up in front of the local port authority building and City Hall closed at noon Thursday as Eastport welcomed the first Virgin Voyages cruise ship to ever visit Maine. As Bar Harbor sought to increase its cruise ship business, which over 30 years grew from a little over 20 visits a year to nearly 160 in 2019, officials there would hold similar events celebrating visits by ships such as the Queen Elizabeth 2. The red-carpet rollout for the Virgin ship Brilliant Lady, which can carry 2,800 passengers, contrasts with summer scenes in downtown Bar Harbor these days, which has banned large cruise ship visits. This year Eastport is expected to get roughly 25 visits; seven can carry more passengers than Eastport has residents.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 21, 2025
Several caterpillar species in Maine can cause skin reactions, including the invasive browntail moth. One of the most common caterpillars in the fall — the hickory tussock moth — can cause skin irritation if touched. At first glance, they may look almost cute, but don’t be fooled.
MAINE MONITOR • September 21, 2025
When a campfire jumped its ring near a remote northern Maine lake last month, it took Maine Forest Rangers five days of ferrying resources by boat and digging away vegetation around the resulting four-acre blaze to stop its spread. Just a few weeks later, rangers returned to the area by helicopter, canoe and foot to douse a cluster of escaped campfires before they reached the surrounding 100 Mile Wilderness. Campfires and open burns were two of the primary causes of wildfires this August, when Maine saw more wildfires than in any other August over the last 20 years, according to the Maine Forest Service. What made the landscape more susceptible to wildfires might seem counterintuitive: a wet spring. Plenty of rain in May sprouted the growth of fine fuels such as grasses and shrubs. Then three months of severe drought dried them out, turning the Maine landscape into a tinderbox.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 20, 2025
As visitation to Acadia National Park has soared over the past decade, social media has played a growing role in how people approach their trips. They often look to TikTok, Instagram and other sites for ideas, inspiration and travel tips. A decade ago, Facebook and Twitter (now called X) were the dominant platforms for people to share their photos and videos on social media. But in recent years, user-produced videos have exploded on other apps such as Instagram Reels, TikTok and YouTube, both from casual travelers and professional influencers. A spokesperson for the park declined to comment on what sort of impact social media might be having on visitation to Acadia, saying that park officials do not track or otherwise have data on it. Warm weather certainly is a factor in how busy the park is, but it’s unknown what other factors might contribute to high numbers at Schoodic or in the park more generally, the spokesperson said.
MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • September 21, 2025
Stefanie Damron walked into the woods on the family’s property in New Sweden on September 23 of last year and has not been seen since. Federal and state authorities have mounted a massive rescue effort for Stefanie in the last year, combing through more than 4,500 acres of thick backcountry forest between Caribou and Canada with searchers on horseback, packs of trailing dogs and a half-dozen helicopters. It’s easy to get lost in Maine’s vast wilderness. It’s much harder to be found. There are about a dozen active missing persons cases in the area.
MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • September 21, 2025
As Maine charts increasingly hotter and longer summers, businesses across all industries are planning for more weather extremes — and its impact on their bottom lines. Some are already feeling the effects of hot days on worker productivity and customer demand. Extreme heat manifests in higher energy bills at food banks, art museums and movie theaters. It can mean lower blueberry crop yields, but also longer growing seasons and new opportunities. It brings the dangers of uncomfortable — or unsafe — working conditions for those most exposed to the sun. And while Maine’s temperatures largely remain workable, business leaders say they are watching the thermometer, and their electricity bills, in ways they never needed to before.
MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • September 21, 2025
This is in response to the column “Are Maine summers losing their magic?,” by Leslie Bridgers. The real magic in Maine is not found at water parks, but in the nature this great state provides. Ticks are a problem, but they are a problem for most woodland areas, and that’s why it’s important to take the proper precautions. The waters are as safe as ever. What’s more, this column also referred mostly to the Portland area. Portland is only a small piece of Maine, and other areas don’t share its problems to the same extent — like the heat. Maine summers have attracted visitors from all over since I was a little kid. There is something magical about them. That isn’t going away anytime soon. ~ Joe Lazaro, Vinalhaven
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 20, 2025
We spend two nights and three glorious days at the Martin Ponds Lean-to, one of three shelters in the Katahdin Lake sector of Baxter State Park. The others are located on the south side and north side of Katahdin Lake. The shelter at the southerly of the two tiny Martin Ponds is a 2.3-mile hike from the Avalanche Field trailhead on the Roaring Brook Road. Katahdin Lake is a relatively new addition to Baxter State Park. In late 2006, after a long and complicated conservation deal involving a host of public and private entities, 4,100 acres around the lake were gifted to the park, finally fulfilling a long-held dream of Percival Baxter. Since that time, several other small private inholdings around the lake have also been acquired. ~ Carey Kish
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 20, 2025
The U.S. Coast Guard is seeking public input on proposed changes to buoy placement in Maine waters as its works to modernize its system of navigational aids across the Northeast. The Coast Guard previously announced in April that it would be removing more than 300 buoys in New England, prompting confusion and concern among mariners. U.S. Sens. Angus King and Susan Collins, along with eight of their fellow coastal New England senators, wrote a letter to acting Coast Guard Commandant Kevin Lunday in June calling for the agency to hold off on the changes. The Coast Guard said last month that it would pause and adjust its plan. It announced Saturday that it is reopening public comment through Nov. 15.
