The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 24, 2025
Casco is in the midst of adding renovations to Pleasant Lake Beach that will protect the beach and lake from stormwater, as well as increase accessibility for disabled residents. The project dates to 2021, when the Select Board approved the initial plan for Pleasant Lake Beach. The process has gone through nearly two years of review from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 24, 2025
December could bring extra cold weather to Maine thanks to sudden stratospheric warming above the North Pole that could disturb the polar vortex. When the polar vortex is displaced or elongated, it can cause very cold air to spill southward into the United States. Long-range forecasts for this winter predict below-average temperatures across much of the northern parts of the country. Sudden warming in the stratosphere, the second layer in Earth’s atmosphere, is uncommon in November — it happened once in the 1950s — and its occurrence this week could become the earliest instance on record.
CENTRAL MAINE • November 25, 2025
Zoning reform has become Augusta’s favorite response to Maine’s housing crisis. It’s tidy, inexpensive and gives the comforting appearance of action. But in the places where the shortage is most severe — coastal towns, service-center cities and tourism-driven regions — zoning was never the real barrier. Making it the centerpiece of state housing policy has stalled the one conversation that could actually move the needle: the economics of building housing in Maine. Maine has strong tools for deeply affordable housing, but almost nothing for the middle of the market. Without infrastructure funding, a workforce-housing finance program, predevelopment support or risk-mitigation tools, zoning reform only rearranges possibilities on paper. ~ Audra Caler, Camden
CENTER FOR WESTERN PROORITIES • November 24, 2025
Former U.S. Representative Steve Pearce, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Land Management, is an avowed advocate of selling public lands, and his nomination is a clear endorsement of the plan to privatize and sell America’s public lands to the highest bidder. Pearce’s history reveals an extreme ideology focused on reducing public ownership and privatizing land for the benefit of developers and extractive industries over the American people. Here are seven times Steve Pearce attempted to dispose of or undermine the management of America’s public lands:
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 24, 2025
The Portland Water District will increase its rates by about 7% in January. The district will use that money to replace aging water mains, install new treatment equipment and help replace the more than 55,000 meters in its system. The Portland Water District is Maine’s largest public water utility, serving more than 57,000 customers, including over 50,000 residential and 3,900 commercial customers. Its system includes more than 1,000 miles of water mains and supplies water for more than 5,000 fire hydrants.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 24, 2025
Community solar companies across Maine sued the Public Utilities Commission Monday, attempting to block the implementation of a new law designed to reduce the impact of solar development subsidies on the state’s electricity customers. A group of 11 companies are claiming the law, which modifies Maine’s long-fought-over net energy billing program, violates their constitutional rights. The law, passed earlier this year, restructured the program. But the solar companies claim it would cause “immediate and irreparable harm” to their businesses and are asking for a preliminary injunction before Jan. 1, when the new law takes effect. The Maine Office of the Public Advocate forecast the law would save electricity customers about $1.2 billion over the next 16 years.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 24, 2025
A former Rockport dairy farm will be repurposed for farmland conservation and mid-market housing. Erickson Fields Preserve, a still-working farm on Route 90, has been conserved by Maine Coast Heritage Trust since 2009. Last year, the trust acquired 6 acres across the road that was once the farm’s family homestead; on Friday, it donated an acre of that land along with an 1850s farmhouse and old dairy barns to the Midcoast Regional Housing Trust, which plans to renovate the existing building and build new units. The remaining 5 acres of the homestead property will be added to the Erickson preserve.
MAINE PUBLIC • November 24, 2025
According to a new annual report from NOAA Fisheries, there were 95 total confirmed large whale entanglements nationwide last year. In the Northeast Atlantic, the majority of entanglements were reported in Massachusetts Bay and Cape Cod Bay. Three occurred off the coast of Maine. NOAA spokesperson Andrea Gomez says that two of those three whales were humpbacks, and one was a minke.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 24, 2025
Maine farmers impacted by the state’s monthslong drought can now apply for emergency loans from the federal government. The Maine Emergency Management Agency announced Monday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has declared the drought a natural disaster. All 16 of the state’s counties are included in the disaster declaration. “Almost every sector of Maine agriculture has suffered losses from this year’s drought,” said Tom Gordon, soil and water conservation program coordinator at the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation & Forestry. “These emergency federal programs will provide some economic relief for farmers as they prepare for 2026.”
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 24, 2025
The Downeast Salmon Federation, a nonprofit dedicated to restoring wild Atlantic salmon and sea-run fisheries, improving habitat and protecting the ecological and cultural heritage of Downeast Maine, has named Ashleigh Tucker Pollock as its new director of development and communications. Pollock brings more than a decade of nonprofit leadership experience, including fundraising, strategic communications and organizational development. Her connection to eastern Maine runs deep. The organization works to restore wild sea-run fish populations, revitalize river ecosystems and strengthen coastal communities throughout eastern Maine.
MAINE PUBLIC • November 24, 2025
In the Rangeley Lakes region of western Maine, an ambitious effort is underway to conserve tens of thousands of acres in historic Wabanaki territory. For centuries, these have been prized hunting and fishing grounds, home to bear, lynx, deer and moose and one of the last strongholds of native brook trout in the country. But with a recent construction boom, forest fragmentation and rising temperatures, woods and wildlife are under threat. The Magalloway Conservation Initiative aims to safeguard both while also protecting public access to the region. The groups have until the end of May to raise $62 million for a conservation easement. Right now, they're a little over halfway to the goal. Bayroot LLC, an investment company controlled by Yale University, owns the land, which is managed for timber. Under the terms of the easement, more than 60,000 acres would continue to be harvested.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 24, 2025
For Mainers planning to spend their holiday within the state or visitors coming from away, the travel forecast looks largely clear. On Tuesday night and Wednesday, a long line of rain is expected to slowly pass through the eastern third of the U.S. Precipitation moves into Maine on Tuesday night, with rain in most areas, said Michael Clair, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Gray. In the mountains, some snow may mix with the rain.
MIDCOAST VILLAGER • November 24, 2025
The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association is expecting to raise $365,000 by the end of this calendar year toward a planned $2 million endowment for its Maine Heritage Orchard project. MOFGA’s Heritage Orchard is a 10-acre preserve created in 2015 on what was previously an abandoned gravel pit on the group’s campus in Unity. It’s home to over 360 varieties of apples and pears traditionally grown in Maine, from all 16 counties, with some dating back as far as 1630. New old varieties are added each year. The $2 million goal will ensure the long-term sustainability of the orchard’s operations and staff.
MAINE MORNING STAR • November 24, 2025
As the movement to return more sovereignty to the Wabanaki Nations is poised to continue in the upcoming legislative session, tribal leaders say recent events underscored the benefits that even piecemeal wins have delivered for the tribes. The Penobscot Nation, Passamaquoddy Tribe, Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians and Mi’kmaq Nation — collectively known as the Wabanaki Nations — are treated differently than other federally recognized tribes, more akin to municipalities than sovereign nations because of a 1980 land settlement agreement. Wabanaki leaders have said that their Tribes signed the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act to get fair compensation for stolen lands, not to give up sovereignty. Two bills that the Legislature will contemplate next year are nearly identical to past proposals that were blocked either by the governor or through the Legislature’s opaque funding process.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 24, 2025
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, located in the northeast corner of Alaska, is under attack by the Trump administration. Spanning more than 19 million acres, it is the largest wildlife refuge in the country and home to all three species of North American bear, porcupine caribou, wolves and musk oxen — which once roamed alongside the woolly mammoth. Earlier this year, the Trump administration’s second attempt to lease out the refuge to drilling earned no industry interest. Despite failing twice, the administration is trying yet again to open up more than 1.5 million acres of beautiful, untouched wilderness to destructive oil and gas drilling. Contact your senators and representatives to urge them to vote against H.J. Res. 131 and S.J. Res. 91. ~ Connor Scafidi, York
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 24, 2025
The Lanes can’t wait to go rat hunting again on Monday. In the last two years, the homeschooling farm family from the Lincoln County town of Jefferson has traveled to 30-plus Maine farms and even a restaurant to do just that, bringing their specially trained dogs Echo and Finn to hunt and kill dozens of rodents in a couple hours. It’s a traditional solution to a long-running, apparently increasing problem for Maine farmers, homesteaders and businesses alike: rodents destroying their buildings, tunnelling under their property and killing their poultry.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 24, 2025
Few realize how rare it is for a Maine deer to top 300 pounds field dressed. Only a handful have ever reached that milestone. Troy Frye compiles and analyzes the state’s harvest records. His findings highlight the exceptionally large bucks that surpassed 300 pounds. Based on the numbers so far, Frye believes Maine is on track for the highest deer harvest ever recorded.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 24, 2025
Like most avid whitetail hunters I look forward to deer hunting season with a great deal of excitement and hopeful anticipation. The woods are quiet and void of gunshots, there are fewer hunters, deer have yet to be pressured, the woodlands are starting to change color and the weather is still nice. I enjoy the November gun season for primarily because of the rut. It’s a time of change for both hunter and hunted, an exciting period when anything can happen as the rut intensifies and reaches its peak. But as much as I like the early hunting seasons and the unique challenges each brings, it is the late season, the muzzleloader season, I look forward to most. ~ Al Raychard
TIMES RECORD • November 23, 2025
Great Wass Island extends farther out into the ocean than any other land mass in eastern Maine. The waters of the Gulf of Maine and the Bay of Fundy meet, and sometimes collide, near Great Wass Island. The result is a unique oceanic climate that likely explains the rugged coastline and the presence of several rare plants tolerant of extreme conditions. The Nature Conservancy acquired Great Wass Island Preserve in 1978 and has established a 4.5-mile loop trail in the northern part of the island. The hike consists of three named trails. Brilliant fall colors were found on our recent hike. ~ Ron Chase
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 23, 2025
“Unless Something Goes Terribly Wrong,” a documentary by Alex Wolf Lewis and his wife, Kaitlyn Schwalje, about Portland Water District’s East End Wastewater Treatment Facility, is a feature-length film that shines a light on the often-forgotten challenges of wastewater management – and more importantly, on the people tackling them every day. Using humor, energetic shots and quirky animations, the documentary shows the round-the-clock labor of staff as they work to keep the water of Portland clean and healthy. Facing challenges such as PFAS contamination and a sludge disposal crisis in Maine, the film also highlights how wastewater workers manage these problems with dedication to public health and the ability to laugh together in the face of frustrations. Selling out at its first showing at the Portland Museum of Art, the museum has added three additional screenings throughout December.
