Why this federal shutdown could be different for Maine

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 30, 2025

About 12,000 federal workers across Maine braced for a likely federal government shutdown at midnight Tuesday — a move that could lead to furloughs and firings, and potentially shuttering Acadia National Park and the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument at the height of foliage season. The federal government was last shut down in 2018 over Trump’s demands for funds to build a wall along the southern border. “The damage that occurred took many parks months, some years, to recover from,” the National Parks Conservation Association said of the 2018-19 shutdown. “And in some cases, it was irreparable.” The Trump administration has said it will fire many nonessential workers. Among those who could permanently lose their jobs are many of the 75 workers at Acadia National Park.

Midcoast kayak and paddleboard rental shop to close after 11 years

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 1, 2025

A Northport shop that has rented and delivered kayaks and paddleboards for the past 11 years is closing at the end of the season, owner Terra Warner confirmed. Don Pedro’s Kayak & Water Rentals, in Northport, will be fully liquidated by the end of October. She is stepping down amid obligations to her family, who are based out of Palm Beach, Florida. She wants to see her grandchildren grow up while remaining connected to the entrepreneurial ventures she’s long been part of, since all of her children are entrepreneurs themselves.

Government headed to a shutdown after last-ditch vote fails in Senate

ASSOCIATED PRESS • September 30, 2025

Senate Democrats have voted down a Republican bill to keep funding the government, putting it on a near-certain path to a shutdown after midnight Wednesday for the first time in nearly seven years. Threatening retribution to Democrats, Trump said Tuesday that a shutdown could include “cutting programs that they like.” The last shutdown was in Trump’s first term, from December 2018 to January 2019, when he demanded that Congress give him money for his U.S.-Mexico border wall. Trump retreated after 35 days — the longest shutdown ever — amid intensifying airport delays and missed paydays for federal workers. Democrats see a rare opportunity to use their leverage to achieve policy goals and as their base voters are spoiling for a fight with Trump. Sen. Angus King of Maine voted with Republicans to keep the government open.

Federal government shutdown has begun

ASSOCIATED PRESS • September 30, 2025

Plunged into a government shutdown, the U.S. is confronting a fresh cycle of uncertainty. Roughly 750,000 federal workers are expected to be furloughed, some potentially fired by the Trump administration. Many offices will be shuttered, perhaps permanently, as Trump vows to “do things that are irreversible, that are bad” as retribution. His deportation agenda is expected to run full speed ahead, while education, environmental and other services sputter. The economic fallout is expected to ripple nationwide.

Maine climate lawsuit to remain in state court

MAINE PUBLIC • September 30, 2025

Maine's lawsuit against giant oil companies for allegedly concealing the climate damage of their products will be continued in state court after a judge rejected companies' attempts to move it to a federal venue. In a Sept. 29 ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Torresen said defendants including Chevron and Exxon-Mobil were rehashing the same arguments used for years in attempts to move similar lawsuits out of state court to a more favorable federal jurisdiction. Moreover, the companies should have to pay Maine's costs for the "improper" legal detour into federal court, Torresen added.

Maine offers EV rebates as federal incentives lapse

MAINE PUBLIC • September 30, 2025

Federal tax breaks for electric vehicles expired on Sept. 30, but some Maine customers can still access incentives to make an EV purchase. A tax credit of up to $7,500 available to some electric vehicle consumers was cut by President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers. But Efficiency Maine still offers incentives to buy electric vehicles. Low- and middle-income individuals, businesses and non-profits and governments can apply for a rebate of up to $7,500 for a new or used EV. It also offers a steep discount on home chargers that power up car batteries during off-peak hours of electric use.

Greene man pleads guilty to illegally trafficking whale and bird pa

MAINE PUBLIC • September 30, 2025

A man from Greene pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Portland on Monday to illegally trafficking whale and bird parts he imported from Eastern Europe and sold online to buyers across the country. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Sergey Bachkovsky imported and sold items such as whale teeth and ear bones, and a hawk carcass, and forfeited other items he planned to sell — including bear teeth, whale vertebrae, and feathers and wings from birds of prey. These activities violate U.S. wildlife trafficking law, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

Maine's "Most Endangered Historic Places" 2025

MAINE PRESERVATION • September 30, 2025

Since 1996, Maine Preservation has released the list of Maine’s Most Endangered Historic Places to boost local efforts and focus positive media attention with an aim to preserve threatened places throughout the state. Nomination of an endangered place is a chance for Mainers to make their voices heard and to shine a light on the places that matter to their communities. Maine's "Most Endangered Historic Places" 2025:
• Governor Abner Coburn House, Skowhegan
• Guy P. Gannett House, Augusta
• Leach-Overlock House, East Vassalboro
• North Franklin Agricultural Building

Trump administration pulls climate change signs from Acadia National Park

MAINE MONITOR • September 26, 2025

The National Park Service recently removed numerous signs at Acadia National Park that detailed the mounting impacts of climate change on Maine’s coast and forests. The move is part of a sweeping campaign that the Trump administration says is aimed at “restoring truth and sanity to American history.” In practice, it has been an exercise in scrubbing historical and scientific truths from federal sites and institutions, including the horrors of slavery in the United States. Much like during President Donald Trump’s first term, the administration has worked to undermine established climate science while boosting the development of planet-warming fossil fuels.

High Peaks Alliance celebrates Bemis Track restoration

RANGELEY HIGHLANDER • September 30, 2025

High Peaks Alliance is pleased to announce the successful completion and reopening of the Bemis Track in the Rangeley Plantation area, restoring nearly eight miles of critical access for recreation, tourism, and local industry in the High Peaks region. Severely damaged during historic storms in December 2023, the Bemis Track was closed for two years, disrupting access to destinations such as the Appalachian Trail, Angel Falls, Ten Degree, and regional ATV routes. Originally built in the 1890s as part of the Maine Central Railroad’s Rangeley Branch, the Bemis Track follows the historic railroad grade that once brought tourists to the region’s grand hotels and sporting camps.

Opinion: Together, Maine timber companies and conservationists can protect old-growth forests

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 30, 2025

This summer, lawmakers in Augusta sent a resounding message: Mainers care about late-successional and old-growth (LSOG) forests, where most trees are older than 150 years. That message came in the form of LD 1529, which, among other things, directs state agencies to develop a comprehensive report by November 2026 on strategies to conserve LSOG forests. The bill, which received broad bipartisan support and was signed into law by Gov. Mills in late June, recognizes the importance of LSOG for Maine’s biodiversity, climate and communities. At the time of European settlement, 70 to 80% of Maine was LSOG. Today it’s less than 4%, and declining rapidly. LD 1529 makes clear that LSOG is no longer a niche concern for forest ecologists and conservation practitioners. ~ Jon Leibowitz, CEO of Northeast Wilderness Trust, and John M. Hagan, forest ecologist, Our Climate Common

Opinion: Under Trump, national parks are hiding inconvenient truths

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 30, 2025

There are few places more special than Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park. On the summit, there are informational signs about the park’s ancestral history, ecology, and how the park is changing due to our warming planet. That is, until the Trump administration systematically removed educational and historical displays from national parks across the country, stripping away factual, science-based information that helps visitors understand the world around them. In Maine, 10 interpretive signs have been pulled from Acadia alone — six climate-focused displays on Cadillac Mountain and four from the Great Meadow. Some explained how climate change is reshaping Acadia. But others were innocuous: One simply asked visitors to stay on marked trails to protect fragile alpine plants; another described the hardy vegetation that thrives in the summit’s extreme conditions. Our parks deserve better. Our visitors deserve better. And our democracy, which depends on an informed citizenry, demands nothing less than the truth. ~ U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, ranking member of the House Appropriations Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee

What happens in Maine during a government shutdown, from Acadia to the VA

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 30, 2025

The federal government is once again on the verge of a government shutdown with President Trump and Senate Democrats at odds on a spending plan ahead of a Wednesday deadline. The state stands to face consequences under a shutdown. Maine has more than 12,000 federal workers who would be affected. Workers deemed essential will continue their jobs without pay. Trump’s budget chief, Russ Vought, instructed federal agencies to prepare for mass firings during a shutdown to drastically cut the size of the government. It is not clear what the Trump administration will do with national parks. A group of former national park superintendents has urged that national parks be closed if the federal government does shut down arguing that continued public access amid park employees getting furloughed or laid off could put property and visitors at risk of harm. Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument Superintendent Neal Labrie said the Trump administration has not yet provided more instructions on what may happen there.

Column: The mystery of ruby-throated hummingbirds’ migration

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 29, 2025

The more I learn about ruby-throated hummingbirds, the less I understand. For instance, there are more than 325 hummingbird species in the New World. A couple dozen visit the western United States, and half of them nest there. But the ruby-throat is the only hummingbird to nest east of the Great Plains, and I don’t know why. Perhaps one reason no other hummingbird lives in the east is because none can accomplish the ruby-throat’s migratory route. To reach its wintering grounds in Central America, it flies across the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean, making the 500-mile jump in a single flight lasting 20 hours. That requires a lot of stored energy, and tiny hummingbirds have little room for storage. ~ Bob Duchesne

Bethel man carried on 11 generations of logging legacy in Maine

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 29, 2025

Bob Chadbourne, who died Sept. 17 at age 84, continued a family tradition of logging that stretched back 11 generations, helping shape the woods and economy of western Maine. The Chadbourne family’s roots in the lumber business trace to 1634, when William Chadbourne arrived from Devonshire, England, on a King’s grant to harvest masts for the Royal Navy. He built what is believed to be the first sawmill in America in South Berwick. In the 1930s, Bob’s father, Philip Henry Chadbourne, established a logging operation in Bethel. After his father’s death in 1986, Bob bought out his siblings and took over the sawmill and timberland management. He emphasized sustainable forestry practices. Chadbourne’s wife, Nancy, and daughter Nancy Stearns and her family continue the family legacy, now managing 4,000 acres in the Bethel area.

Andover residents challenge ‘eyesore’ solar expansion

BETHEL CITIZEN • September 29, 2025

An effort by Andover residents seeking a rewrite of the solar moratorium ordinance has gained momentum in recent weeks. Select Board member Justin Thacker, who attended two recent meetings, said residents at the Sept. 16 meeting complained that the solar farms are an “eyesore” and clash with the natural beauty of Andover and its surrounding mountains. He said there are two solar farms in operation, with two more “in the pipeline.” At the annual town meeting in June, voters approved a 180-day moratorium on utility-scale solar projects. Following the initial 180-day moratorium, the board has the authority to extend it for another 180 days, which would carry it through to the next annual town meeting in June 2026.

Here’s the latest on the Kennebec River dams sale announced last week

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 29, 2025

A week after The Nature Conservancy announced it plans to purchase and remove four Kennebec River dams owned by Brookfield Renewable Energy, initial fears about flooding, immediate layoffs, recreation and environmental harm have subsided. But questions remain about the impacts of one of the largest river restoration efforts in the country. The Nature Conservancy — which hopes to remove the four dams to restore sea-run fish passage— has repeatedly expressed its commitment to finding a solution that keeps the Sappi’s Somerset paper mill open. The conservation organization also has a stake in the forestry products industry, being one of the state’s largest forest landowners and using paper manufactured at the mill to print 3 million copies of its magazine each year. And it’s unlikely that the dams being removed would have a serious impact on floods. The dams are run-of-river dams that use the natural flow of the river to generate electricity.

In Sipayik, the Passamaquoddy are finding resilience in a half-acre of clams

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • September 28, 2025

For almost 1,000 pounds of invasive European green crabs each week, Erik Francis’ traps are the end of the line. He pulls one from the water. Armed with one beefy “crusher” claw and one finer “cutter” claw, the crustaceans are notoriously aggressive and insatiable predators. Francis is the steward of the Sipayik Community Clam Garden, an industrious mariculture project that sits yards offshore of his home community, the Passamaquoddy Reservation at Pleasant Point (Sipayik), population 600. Over 1 million soft-shell clams are growing there under Francis’ diligent watch. He is learning to foster them to size so the clams can feed his Indigenous community — and not the expatriate crustaceans that see his garden as a buffet.

Maine’s longer, hotter summers are reshaping our natural world

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • September 28, 2025

The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram spoke to two dozen experts this summer about the ways increasing heat is affecting Maine’s environment, ranging from the short-term impacts of heat waves on bats and birds to the long-term effects of warming lakes, forests and oceans. A state and federal research team that has spent two years documenting the Narraguagus River’s temperature and flow to explore how close, how big and how cold these spots must be for salmon to survive. The state’s iconic spruce and fir populations are declining and heat-tolerant hickories and oaks are taking their place. The rising heat is taking a direct toll on moose, endangered bats, rare turtles and various species of birds that fall from their nests or are hit by cars when roused from dormancy too early. Maine scientists believe that people can help the environment adapt to the changing climate.

Opinion: Maine is choking its future. It’s time to loosen the grip

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • September 28, 2025

Maine’s regulations are some of the tightest in the nation. Look at zoning, which jacks up housing costs, or environmental rules that, while well-meaning, make it near impossible to build anything new. When our renewable energy mandates drive up electricity bills and slow down development, we’re shooting ourselves in the foot. We’re stuck leaning on lumber and seafood — great industries, but we’ve lost more than we’ve gained over the years. Why? Because it’s too damn hard to innovate here. Other states are building tech hubs and industrial parks while we’re tangled in permits and debates over lot sizes. We need to streamline permitting, cut back on zoning rules, offer tax breaks for small businesses. ~ Theo Daikh, Portland