The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 31, 2025
Maine is home to nearly 32,000 miles of rivers. Spend some time wandering along one of Maine’s rivers and you’ll no doubt be amazed and awed by their power and beauty, and thankful for their preservation as an important ecological and recreational resource. Here’s a look at six gems to consider for a fun riverside ramble: Middle River, Bagaduce River, Seboeis River, Medomak River, Presumpscot River, Salmon Falls River. ~ Carey Kish
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 31, 2025
The spirit of Halloween is alive in the Maine wilderness. So, in that spirit, I’m sharing some of the spookiest things I’ve stumbled upon in the woods lately. It’s been a particularly strange autumn. First, we have a dead woodpecker with its head stuck in a tree. My dog, Juno, discovered the next spooky thing: an old deer skull atop a 2,600-foot mountain in western Maine. My final spooky sighting was made worse by the stench. I was walking along a trail near my house when I came across the carcass of a huge snapping turtle. The Maine wilderness is one of the safest places you can be — despite the fat but harmless spiders, congregating crows, clacking branches and rattling leaves. Enjoy its spookiness like you would a classic horror movie or local ghost story.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 31, 2025
Every Halloween, I ponder which Maine birds might be considered eerie. Crows and ravens are associated with death and mayhem. Double-crested cormorants adopt the “Dracula pose” when standing on seaside cliffs to dry their wings. Vultures are, well, vultures. Inevitably, owls emerge as number one. Screech owls screech. Great horned owls will attack humans who get too near their nest. Often I’ve felt like I was being watched by barred owls, and it turned out to be true. Northern saw-whet owls are tiny and their toot-toot-toot mating calls aren’t particularly alarming. Barn owls are ghostly white in the darkness. Owls face many environmental threats. The old-growth habitat that spotted owls need has been reduced by timber harvesting. Barred owls are being culled to rescue spotted owls from extinction. The widespread use of second-generation rodenticides are working their way into the food chain. ~ Bob Duchesne
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 31, 2025
Orland-area residents figured that, someday, the scrap metal company that owns dams on Toddy Pond and Alamoosook would want to get rid of them. Then, last summer, the company abruptly petitioned the state for permission to abandon those two dams and a third in Bucksport under an untested state law that some feel unfairly favors mill property owners. If it succeeds, the water will be released and the lake levels will drop, taking millions in tax value and business revenue with it while leaving the dams to crumble. Next came more than a year of work and emergency legislation that allows the towns bordering these two bodies of water to form two quasi-municipal watershed management districts that could take over the dams. Studies have shown ownership will save the towns money compared to abandonment.
ASSOCIATED PRESS • October 30, 2025
A new report says America’s lobsters, which have been in decline since 2018, are now being overfished off New England. The stock has declined by 34% since that year in its most important fishing grounds, the regulatory Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission said Thursday. The commission said it now considers overfishing of the species to be occurring, and that could bring new management measures that restrict fishermen from catching them in the future. The assessment said the decline and overfishing were taking place in fishing areas off Maine and Massachusetts where most lobster fishing takes place.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 30, 2025
With Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument staff furloughed because of the federal shutdown, supporters of the national space are concerned about adequate staffing and protection of the monument’s resources. Without the superintendent and other permanent staff, there is only one law enforcement ranger working fulltime to patrol nearly 90,000 acres, said Brian Hinrichs, executive director of Friends of Katahdin Woods & Waters. Additionally, important research and other building projects are at a standstill, he said Thursday. Similar to Acadia National Park and other national parks and monuments, Katahdin Woods & Waters buildings are closed, furloughed staff are not getting paychecks, and visitors are on their own, with the exception of a skeletal maintenance crew checking on bathrooms. Friends of Katahdin Woods & Waters financially supported the opening of the Tekαkαpimək Contact Station. But they want to emphasize how critical it is that the federal government take responsibility for its federal employees and private support is not a long term solution.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 30, 2025
The Gulf of Maine is changing faster than almost any ocean on Earth. Cod are gone. Lobsters are moving deeper and farther offshore. But while some fish leave, others arrive: black sea bass, longfin squid, Jonah crabs, scup, butterfish — valuable fish that could support Maine’s fishing future. The ocean is offering a new menu. The question is whether we’ll help fishermen take the order. We need to act fast to help fishermen experiment and find what works. First, fix the regulations. Speed up permits for new species. Adjust quotas quickly as fish populations move. Second, build markets. Third, celebrate fishing different species as smart business. ~ Chris Payne, Cumberland Foreside, graduate student at UNE, software architect, and active sailor
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 30, 2025
Rain in late October improved drought conditions in Maine’s western mountains but wasn’t enough to stop extreme drought from expanding to cover much of the southern part of the state, including Portland, according to newly released data. All of coastal Maine — other than the southernmost tip of York County — is now in extreme drought, according to an update Thursday from the U.S. Drought Monitor. Nearly 43% of the state is experiencing extreme conditions, a jump from 36% a week ago. Only northern Aroostook County and a small area in Penobscot and Oxford counties are in the less-severe moderate drought category.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 30, 2025
This year, all of the boats at the Port Harbor Marine’s five Maine locations will be wrapped in BioWrap, a single-use biodegradable plastic boat wrap made by a Rhode Island company called Bioaqualife. The pale green shrink wrap costs about 20% more than standard wrap but claims to be an eco-friendly alternative. Each year, as much as 1.5 million pounds of plastic from Maine boat wrap ends up in landfills, where it breaks down into microplastics and releases harmful chemicals into the environment. BioWrap is marketed as being able to be sent straight to the landfill, where it reportedly breaks down into water, biogas and carbon after 4.5 years and does not leave traces of microplastics or heavy metals. Experts question whether the new kind of wrap is as beneficial as it seems. Margaret Sobkowicz Kline, a plastics engineering professor at the University of Massachusetts, said it would be better to focus on reusing or recycling the oil-derived plastic wrap so it doesn’t end up in a landfill. Benjamin Holloway, the owner of The Shrink Wrapper based in Woolwich, said his company recycles about 15,000 pounds of single-use plastic wrap per year.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 30, 2025
On Monday, under gray skies, rain and a “salmon chop,” fisheries resource biologist Jeff Bagley and his assistants tended trapnets and tagged lake trout on Moosehead Lake as part of the second year of a research project aimed at understanding the species’ population and its impact on the lake’s ecosystem. The project builds on a pilot study launched in the fall of 2024, when biologists successfully netted and tagged more than 200 mature lake trout, some up to 31 inches long, on a known spawning shoal in the 75,000-acre lake. Lake trout are native to Moosehead and prized by anglers, but when their numbers rise too high, they can outcompete other coldwater gamefish, particularly salmon and brook trout, for food. Understanding lake trout abundance and adjusting management accordingly is key to maintaining the health and balance of the entire fishery.
MAINE AUDUBON • October 29, 2025
Maine Audubon is headquartered at the Gilsland Farm Audubon Center in Falmouth, and we care about protecting the lands and waters we share with our Falmouth neighbors. For several years we have helped support an effort to strengthen Falmouth’s fertilizer and pesticide ordinance. The resulting ordinance, passed in May, brings us in line with several neighboring municipalities and helps protect local pollinators, beneficial insects, and aquatic invertebrates. However, an effort to repeal this work is on the ballot during the November 2025 election season. Maine Audubon urges you to protect Falmouth’s environment and VOTE NO on Falmouth Article 1. The updated ordinance prohibits neonicotinoids (“neonics”), a widespread class of pesticides with devastating ecological consequences. There are plenty of organic pesticides available for use.
SEAFOOD SOURCE • October 29, 2025
he Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) has chosen to cut the 2026 Atlantic menhaden quota by 20 percent for 2026, drawing criticism from the fishing industry and environmental groups alike. Fishing organizations like the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition have advocated for relatively light (15%) cuts to the stock. The New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association (NEFSA) said the cuts were steeper than needed. The Maine Lobstermen’s Association said the 20 percent cut was a vast improvement over the calls for 55 percent cuts. Environmental groups, meanwhile, were pushing the commission for cuts as deep as 55 percent.
FRIENDS OF KATAHDIN WOODS & WATERS • October 29, 2025
We are entering day 30 of the federal government shutdown. Tekαkαpimək Contact Station is now closed for the season. The monument's roads, trails, and overlooks remain mostly open, but services and maintenance are limited – and the regular seasonal closure of Loop Road is approaching on November 3rd. We have our immediate concerns. How are furloughed NPS staff doing, now that they’ve missed multiple paychecks, and with no end in sight? Has any damage occurred to the natural and cultural resources within the monument, as it remains open but with just one person monitoring nearly 90,000 acres? What about the park projects that are stalled; is there any hope they get done before the snow flies? Our biggest concern, though, is the trend that has been accelerating over the last 10 months: long-term damage to the National Park Service workforce. We need to prevent further cuts and restore funding and staffing to the National Park Service. That is a message you can bring to your elected federal officials.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 29, 2025
Maine State Police are investigating after a Kennebunk man was found dead in a bog in northern Hancock County on Tuesday. The body of 70-year-old David Bridges was discovered around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday in a bog just off 32000 Road, near Stud Mill Road, in Township 41. Investigators believe Bridges was fur trapping in the area. Bridges’ cause and manner of death will be determined by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, but police say it does not appear suspicious.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 29, 2025
The Gorham Fairways development on McLellan Road will seek Planning Board preliminary and site plan approval at a Nov. 3 meeting. The request is for Phases 1-5 of the proposed mixed-use residential and commercial development. The latest plan, smaller than the one proposed earlier this year, calls for 515 housing units in a mix of single-family homes, condominiums and apartments constructed over multiple years at the former golf course.
SUN JOURNAL • October 29, 2025
I’ve spent countless hours paddling over ponds, motoring across lakes and wading through rivers and backwoods streams in Maine’s backwoods. What some conservationists and environmentalists seek in the great silence found only in the most wild and distant places, I have seen in the clear, clean current of small mountain brooks and learned from the resilience of the wild fish there. Whether this world is a reflection of the Creator or a part of nature’s grand scheme, I hope you find your way to your own little stream or perhaps a bit of woodland or a garden path, where you may discover your own truth and perhaps even encounter a brook trout or two along the way. ~ Bob Romano
MAINE PUBLIC • October 28, 2025
Operators of the Juniper Ridge Landfill said they are moving ahead with plans to treat landfill leachate for PFAS, but some advocates said that doesn't justify an expansion of the facility. Jeff Ward, with Casella Waste Systems, which operates the state-owned landfill in Old Town, said it is assessing options to use foam fractionation to filter the leachate. The company uses the technology at a facility in Vermont and is working to scale up the process for Juniper Ridge. Ward said Casella plans to file permits for the treatment system next year, and have it operational in 2027. Nora Bosworth with the Conservation Law Foundation said the leachate should be treated, but no system will do enough to address the broader pollution concerns for the Penobscot River and the surrounding communities.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 28, 2025
Across the lawns of Falmouth, political signs reflect a battle over the very ground they stand on. “Save our lawns, Yes on Falmouth 1” and “Save our trees” read signs with the banner of “Repeal.” Other signs encourage the opposite vote: “Vote No on 1. Save Our Waters.” and “Limit Pesticides. Protect Falmouth. No on Article 1.” The Nov. 4 referendum will determine whether changes that would strengthen the town’s rules on pesticides and fertilizers should be repealed or go back into effect.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 28, 2025
Biddeford residents gathered last week to air grievances to the City Council about the proposed University of New England pier project. Moderator Craig Pendleton said that while UNE has followed the permitting process as required by law the pier project has been controversial, with residents pushing for a different location than the one proposed on the Saco River adjacent to the UNE campus. Wade Goldthwaite, a lifelong Biddeford resident and former lobsterman, said it “breaks his heart” that the city did not take the advice of the Marshall Alexander on where to place the pier. Carole Alexander, wife of the late Marshall Alexander, said, “He was familiar with the river, he knew that there’s an eddy up there…he knew everything about that river.” Shawn Tibbetts, a commercial fisherman in Biddeford, said, “There’s no way they can use these docks. There are times I can’t get my boat on my mooring. That tide turns sometimes every 15 minutes in that eddy. We left out the local knowledge in these decisions.”
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 28, 2025
A few years ago, Josh Landry, of North Anson, transformed a dead ash tree in Stephen King’s front yard into a bookshelf with critters huddled in the shelves and carved birds perched in the sculpted branches. People came and watched as he carved. “I tried to not let the pressure get to me,” he said. King posted about the finished product on his social media, and Landry’s business took off. Now, Landry travels across the state and country eight months a year to create custom, hyper-realistic sculptures out of tree stumps. The cost ranges from hundreds to thousands of dollars depending on the level of detail, the species of wood, the size of the tree and how much negative space is requested. His wife, his high school sweetheart, and their 7-year-old son accompany him to all of his jobs.
