Woodpeckers in Maine are acting weird

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 29, 2025

Last week, a neighbor asked if it was possible an immature red-headed woodpecker was outside their cabin in Carrabassett Valley. It was, I opined, highly unlikely. Birds that migrate are more likely to get caught up in storms or wander off course. Most woodpeckers don’t migrate, so they’re less likely to show up out of range the way long-distance migrants sometimes do. I suggested the mystery bird could be an immature yellow-bellied sapsucker. I was wrong. My friend’s subsequent photo confirmed a juvenile red-headed woodpecker. Red-bellied woodpeckers pop into Maine every year. But that’s not the weirdest thing. On Nov. 16, Maine recorded its first-ever hybrid yellow-bellied x red-naped sapsucker in Alna. Frankly, I didn’t know there was such a thing. Jeff Cherry produced the photos confirming the identification, and I am in awe. My New Year’s resolution for 2026: Be wrong less often. ~ Bob Duchesne

Federal shutdown delays Mi’kmaq fish hatchery expansion

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November x, 2025

The completion of a substantial expansion to a Mi’kmaq-run fish hatchery in Aroostook County has been delayed until at least June of 2026 because of the U.S. government shutdown. The 9,000-square-foot hatchery, which is primarily funded through a U.S. Economic Development Administration grant, was slated to be completed this month. But the shutdown delayed the release of federal funding, and as the Caribou-based farm waits for that money, construction has stalled. The tribe’s plan to construct the new hatchery was announced in late 2022, with the intent for construction to be completed in 2023. The project was delayed after increased costs drove the price tag from $3.9 million to $5.5 million and the Mi’kmaqs needed to raise additional funds. It will also allow them to explore selling their trout in national and — potentially — international food markets.

Does technology blur the lines of ethical hunting?

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 28, 2025

What is ethical hunting? It’s following the laws, for sure, but much is left up to personal choices that we sometimes make in an instant. I am a meat hunter, not a trophy hunter, but I also am a nature lover. And I believe in fair chase. How all of that fits into my views on technology is complicated. I see nothing wrong with using game cameras. But the law doesn’t address the newer cameras that can be viewed in realtime from your cellphone. The difference between the newer cameras and drones is that you still have to walk to where the camera is and the deer or moose may no longer be there, whereas with a drone, you can follow it directly to an animal. Drones also are noisy and border on harassing the animals — and the people who also enjoy the nature experience. Using a drone to hunt with is not only illegal in Maine, it’s unethical. As with so many things, there could be compromise. ~ Julie Harris, BDN Outdoors editor

Acadia to start charging foreigners $100 to enter the park

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 28, 2025

Starting in a little more than a month, Acadia and 10 other national parks will start charging $100 entrance fees to each non-U.S. resident. The surcharge will be in addition to other entrance fees that Acadia charges, including a $35 charge for each private vehicle that enters the park, according to federal officials. For a family of four visiting the U.S. on vacation, the cost of driving a rental car through the Sand Beach entrance station in Acadia will be $435. The fees go into effect on January 1, 2026, federal officials said. Non-residents will be eligible to purchase an annual park pass to Acadia for $250, which for U.S. residents will cost $80. Non-residents without an annual pass will be charged $100 apiece.

Column: Appalachian Trail survey highlights do’s and don’ts of the hike

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 28, 2025

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy recently released the results of their annual hiker survey. The No. 1 item was the importance of solitude. Camaraderie ranked high, too, but most hikers concurred that enjoying time alone amid the peace and quiet of the woods and mountains, and absorbing the many beautiful sights and sounds along the way (in contrast to the hubbub of busy lives back home) was paramount. The ATC survey also highlights the top gaps in backpacking skills. Many who begin their AT hikes are inexperienced. In addition, poor behaviors impact the trail experience for everybody. These can be attributed to a lack of knowledge and simple inconsideration. ~ Carey Kish

Coastal Maine fishing newspaper prints final issue after more than 50 years

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 28, 2025

Commercial Fisheries News came to an end with its December edition in the face of declining advertising revenue, a changing media landscape and the retirement of its current senior editor, Stonington native Brian Robbins. The closure is another casualty in the shrinking news landscape and represents changes in how people find and share information today. It also marks the end of a local institution rooted in Stonington that reached around 5,000 subscribers, which for years focused on telling the stories of people in Maine’s iconic fishing and boatbuilding industries.

He almost died sailing around the world. Now he’s getting ready to try again.

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 28, 2025

For more than 100 days, he had been winning his battles against the world’s fiercest seas and most of the other 15 sailors he was racing around the globe. Never before, in all those wet, cold, sleepless nights, had he truly been afraid. Now, as a massive storm hurdled toward the spot where he bobbed some 700 miles off the coast of Argentina, it seemed that all was lost. The race. His dream of completing a solo lap of the planet. The partner waiting for him back in Maine. It took something approaching a miracle — technological and otherwise — for Simpson to be rescued that day in February 2024. It’s something else that has compelled him to try it all over again. In 2027, Simpson plans to compete in the second-ever Global Solo Challenge, an around-the-world race that pits sailors against each other, the elements and the limits of their own will to endure. As he did two years ago, he will base his campaign in Portland, quietly the American epicenter of the little-known sport. 

50 years on, Maine's black bear study is still essential tool for population management

MAINE PUBLIC • November 28, 2025

Maine's black bear monitoring project — one of nation's longest-running bear studies — turns 50 this year. Scientists say the data collected have been an essential tool in helping to manage the state's healthy bear population. A half century later, a lot more is known about the more than 25,000 black bears in the state. Thanks to the huge data set from this field study, combined with data collected during the hunting season, biologists now have a better understanding of not just how big the population is, but also of black bear denning habits, what habitat they prefer, and how they're impacted by natural food cycles.

Trump administration proposes stripping wetland protections

MAINE PUBLIC • November 28, 2025

A rule proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency would strip federal protections from seasonal and intermittent wetlands, including streams and waterbodies in Maine. Anya Fetcher, federal policy advocate with the Natural Resources Council of Maine said the rule could impact more than 200 miles of streams in the state. Wetlands are protected from unpermitted pollution or destruction under Maine environmental laws. But Fetcher said there have been efforts in the past to dilute those safeguards and the could be rolled back in the future. "Without the safety net of the federal protections that is where we would see more risk of pollution or loss of these streams and wetland areas," Fetcher said.

Maine lawmakers outline competing visions for energy policy, agree affordability is key

MAINE MONITOR • November 28, 2025

As the Trump administration works to dismantle renewable energy initiatives and boost oil, coal and natural gas, states such as Maine with aggressive climate initiatives will be largely on their own to maintain momentum. Or maybe shift gears. One takeaway from a recent panel discussion with legislators at the Maine State Chamber of Commerce’s Energy Summit in Portland is that energy affordability — under mounting stress chiefly from rising electricity prices — will be a litmus test for most any climate policy or spending decisions. That puts pressure on Democrats. They have set Maine’s energy agenda, embodied in the state’s climate action plan. Building clean energy projects to meet “our climate goals” remains among the most divisive issues.

Federal appeals court upholds state's right to track location of lobstermen in federal waters

MAINE PUBLIC • November 28, 2025

A federal appeals court has upheld the Maine Department of Marine Resource's right to continue monitoring the movements of federally-permitted lobster boats using electronic vessel tracking devices. According to the DMR, the collection of this spatial data helps regulators improve their understanding of fishing effort in federal waters and make better management decisions and enforcement actions. Those decisions are becoming increasingly complex in the face of a changing lobster stock, the need to protect endangered whales, and emerging ocean uses, like offshore wind development.

New initiative lets every St. John Valley 8th grader participate in Allagash canoe expedition

MAINE PUBLIC • November 27, 2025

Beginning next year, a new outdoor education initiative will allow every 8th grade student in the St. John Valley to participate in a three-night canoe expedition on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. Dan Dinsmore, executive director of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway Foundation, said the annual Youth on the Allagash program will cost roughly $75,000 and will be funded by his organization. "The effort here is to not do this once, but to do this in a sustained way and bake the Youth on the Allagash into the school calendar for all three of these schools," he said. The Allagash, which is part of the National Wild and Scenic River system, extends 92 miles between Aroostook and Piscataquis counties. Dinsmore said the idea is to give students a transformational outdoor experience right in their backyard.

How trading wild turkeys for other animals became a conservation success story

ASSOCIATED PRESS • November 27, 2025

Trading turkeys – for wildlife management, not dinner – was a key part of one of North America’s biggest conservation success stories. After dwindling to a few thousand birds in the late 1880s, the wild turkey population has grown to about 7 million birds in 49 states, plus more in Canada and Mexico.

Try these Bangor-area walking trails for a Thanksgiving day stroll

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 27, 2025

I inevitably eat to the point of discomfort on Thanksgiving. If you’re hosting dinner for family or friends, it may make sense just to go for a walk in your neighborhood. But if you have more freedom, you could travel a short distance to a local preserve or park. In Bangor alone, there are excellent walking trails at the Bangor City Forest, Walden-Parke Preserve, Central Penjajawoc Preserve, Essex Woods, Prentiss Woods and several other locations. Public walking trails also trace the banks of the Penobscot River and Kenduskeag Stream. Keep in mind that it’s deer hunting season in Maine.

Maine Calling: Eliot Coleman

MAINE PUBLIC • November 26, 2025

In his new book, The Self-Fed Farm and Garden, renowned organic farming pioneer and best-selling author Eliot Coleman emphasizes how the organic method was always meant to be a self-sustaining system. We talk with Coleman about his gardening philosophy, his perspective on the organic movement today, and his legacy. Panelist: Eliot Coleman, organic farmer with Four Season Farm; educator; author of The New Organic Grower and other books. Rebroadcast.

Greater Portland Metro gets $4.25M federal grant to modernize bus fleet, expand service

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 26, 2025

Greater Portland Metro will receive nearly $4.25 million in federal funding to replace aging buses and support upcoming service expansions. The money will pay for six new 35-foot buses: three to replace vehicles that have logged more than a decade and half a million miles on the road, and three to support planned expansions into Scarborough and potentially South Portland.

Rehabilitated seal returned to the Atlantic in Phippsburg

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 26, 2025

A juvenile harbor seal found wounded by a predator in September on the banks of the Mousam River in Kennebunk was returned to the Atlantic Ocean Wednesday after being nursed back to health by the state’s only marine mammal rescue organization. The 6-month-old known as Number 269 was the 100th seal to be successfully rehabilitated by Marine Mammals of Maine since its founding in 2011. The Brunswick-based nonprofit rescues stranded seals, whales, dolphins and sea turtles all along the Maine coast.

Government shutdown didn't stop visitors from flocking to Acadia

MAINE PUBLIC • November 26, 2025

Despite the 43-day government shutdown, Acadia National Park is reporting a record number of visitors in October. The park had more than 590,000 visitors, just over 5% more visitors than last October. But the shutdown prevented Acadia from collecting entrance fees from those visitors. Eric Stiles, president of Friends of Acadia, estimated that the park lost around $1.7 million in October. "Park entrance fees provide more funding for the park operations than Congress does, so that's a significant hit to the park for future projects, future programs and for staff," he said. Stiles said even with the federal government now open, staff at Acadia can only plan through January, when the temporary funding measure expires.

Some foreign tourists will pay $100 extra to visit Acadia National Park under new federal rules

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 26, 2025

A new “America-first” pricing policy announced this week by the National Park Service will require many foreign tourists to pay an extra $100 to visit Acadia National Park starting next year. The America the Beautiful annual digital park pass will stay $80 for U.S. residents but is set to jump to $250 for non-U.S. residents starting Jan. 1. Nonresidents without the annual pass will pay an extra $100 per person on top of the standard entrance fee to enter certain national parks, including Acadia. Current daily entrance fees for Acadia range from $20 to $35. In July, President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing the Department of the Interior to increase entrance and other fees charged to nonresidents at national parks and other federal lands. That order came on the heels of significant staffing and budget cuts to the park service.

Portland winter farmer’s market starts Dec. 6

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 26, 2025

The Portland Winter Farmer’s Market kicks off Saturday, Dec. 6 on Stevens Avenue. Wednesday was the last day for the outdoor Portland Farmer’s Market this year. The indoor winter market is scheduled every Saturday through April 11 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 631 Stevens Ave. in the Stevens Square Community Center. This year’s market will feature about 19 vendors, according to year-round vendor Jessica Koubek of Good Shepherd’s Farm in Bremen. “The market has really grown exponentially in the last four to five years,” Koubek said.