3 fishermen rescued off Maine coast

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 11, 2026

The U.S. Coast Guard rescued three fishermen who had abandoned a sinking vessel off the Maine coast Wednesday morning. A mayday call was received around 7 a.m. from the Vesta Renee, the Coast Guard said in a news release. The mariners reported that they were preparing to abandon ship as it took on water. Coast Guard crews launched a motorboat from the Boothbay Harbor station about 10 minutes later, along with a helicopter from the Cape Cod air station, the Coast Guard said. The 40-foot vessel was located about 23 miles south of Boothbay Harbor around 9 a.m, the Coast Guard said. The three fishermen were rescued from the water soon after. The vessel did not have a life raft or personal flotation device.

Maine’s outdoor recreation economy growing faster than anticipated

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 11, 2026

Maine’s outdoor recreation economy generated $3.9 billion in 2024 and is growing faster than industry leaders anticipated. Federal data released this month shows the sector added 4% to the state’s gross domestic product that year, ranking Maine sixth in the nation. Jenny Kordick, executive director of Maine Outdoor Brands, said Tuesday. “We’re facing some headwinds. We have inflation, there’s been tariffs, there’s a lot of consumer uncertainty right now. To see just continued growth in the sector is really encouraging.” The most lucrative activities in Maine in 2024 were boating and fishing, RVing and snow activities, according to the federal data. The largest growth occurred in hunting, shooting and trapping, which generated $64 million that year — a 37% increase from the previous year. Guided tours and outfitted travel were also up 17% and contributed $114 million.

Republicans target public lands protections in a new way

MAINE MORNING STAR • March 11, 2026

GOP leaders and the Trump administration have used the Congressional Review Act to push for coal mining, oil drilling and copper mining, while attempting to reverse protections for a national monument. The rarely used act gives Congress a few months to revoke new federal regulations. Only in the past year has it ever been used to overrule land management plans. Congress is recklessly throwing out detailed plans created after years of research, public meetings and local collaboration. Lawmakers’ intervention could upend the long-standing management system that governs hundreds of millions of acres of public lands — with consequences that could threaten endangered species and coal miners alike. But the fallout could be much more far-reaching. By using their review authority in a way that was never thought to apply, lawmakers are calling into question the validity of over 100 other plans. It could create legal uncertainty for tens of thousands of leases and permits.

Brunswick actor’s Maine-set mockumentary delves into the art of freestyle canoeing

TIMES RECORD • March 11, 2026

A viral YouTube video shared by a friend during COVID lockdown, a fascination with the art of freestyle canoeing and a fondness for Mainer-isms inspired a film written and directed by Samuel Dunning, a filmmaker and actor with roots in Brunswick. Dunning’s mockumentary, “Canoe Dig it?,” about the trials and tribulations of a freestyle canoeing competition in northern Maine, will paddle to local movie screens this spring. “It’s about a fictional competition in northern Maine, but the sport itself of freestyle canoeing is quite real,” Dunning said. “It’s sort of like watching figure [skating], but in a canoe.”

Western Maine sugarhouses open for Maine Maple Sunday weekend

RANGELEY HIGHLANDER • March 11, 2026

Sugarhouses across western Maine will open their doors March 21-22 for the 43rd annual Maine Maple Sunday Weekend, inviting visitors to experience one of the state’s most popular spring traditions. Organized by the Maine Maple Producers Association, Maine Maple Sunday is always the fourth Sunday in March, although many producers open for both Saturday and Sunday with tours, demonstrations and special events. During the weekend, sugarhouses across the state welcome visitors for a behind-the-scenes look at how maple sap is collected and boiled into pure maple syrup. Most locations offer free maple syrup samples, boiling demonstrations and tours of the sugarbush where sap is gathered.

Tilton Pond infestation shifts focus to preventing invasive plant spread

LIVERMORE FALLS ADVERTISER • March 11, 2026

A dense infestation of the invasive aquatic plant swollen bladderwort has spread throughout much of Tilton Pond in Fayette, making eradication unrealistic. Management efforts are shifting toward preventing the plant from spreading to nearby waters, according to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

A Presque Isle agricultural site is on the market for $1.2M

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 11, 2026

A prominent grain storage and processing facility in Presque Isle is for sale. Maine Potato Growers Inc., a Presque Isle-based agricultural cooperative, listed its grain terminal at 153 North St. for $1.2 million in late February with RE/MAX County. The company’s grain division once advertised itself as the “largest cooperative marketer of grain in Maine,” but moved away from grain several years ago. It handled feed barley, malting barley, oats, wheat and rye.

What’s happening to Maine’s deer wintering areas — and why it matters

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 11, 2026

Many people want to help deer survive Maine’s harsh winters and assume putting out food is the best way to do that. But feeding deer can sometimes do more harm than good. What deer truly rely on to survive winter in Maine is high-quality winter habitat — dense conifer forests known as deer yards. They depend on thick stands of cedar, hemlock, fir and spruce for shelter and winter food. These forests also create shallower snow conditions that allow deer to move more easily, reach food and evade predators such as coyotes. For landowners who believe they may have deer wintering habitat on their property, intensive harvesting should generally be avoided when possible. Instead, lighter harvests removing 30 percent or less of the stand can help maintain canopy cover while improving forest health. ~ David Irving, licensed forester

Former sporting camp on northern Maine island is for sale for $2.4M

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 11, 2026

A former sporting camp on a nearly 10-acre private island in the North Maine Woods is for sale for $2.4 million. The 9.6-acre Zella Island sits in the northern part of Fish River Lake in the North Maine Woods and is dotted with modernized cabins. The property is in Aroostook County’s Unorganized Territory, west of Portage Lake. Accessible only by boat or seaplane, the site was established in 1895 and served as a hunting camp for more than 100 years until the sellers bought it nearly two decades ago.

Opinion: Why Maine must finally honor tribal sovereignty

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 11, 2026

The state of Maine and the tribes came out of the 1980 Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act (MICSA) with opposite understandings of what the state’s Maine Implementing Act said. Multiple actions by the state have since interfered with tribes’ attempts to independently run their affairs — and, in the tribes’ minds, denied them the core aspects of sovereignty they had negotiated in the Implementing Act. Things have gone downhill since. The best way forward is to adopt LD 785 now before the Legislature to implement the recommendations of the Task Force on Changes to the Maine Implementing Act. That will finally give internal matters the meaning long encoded in the canons of federal Indian law. ~ Evan Richert, former member of the Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission; Roger Milliken, board chair, Baskahegan Company

Record-breaking warmth in northern Maine to be followed by another dose of snow

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 10, 2026

Three northern Maine communities broke temperature records Tuesday even as winter was preparing to mount a comeback, the National Weather Service said. Bangor’s high of 70 degrees Tuesday marked the earliest in the year the area has seen such a high temperature since data there began being recorded in 1925. Millinocket, which recorded a high of 70 degrees, and Houlton, with a high of 64, also broke similar records for their communities. Angela LaFlash, a meteorologist at the weather service’s Caribou office, said, “It’s a big upper-level trough that has been piping warm air from down towards Mexico all the way up to the Northeast.” However, that’s also going to be responsible for some wintry precipitation in northern and interior Maine.

'It just entirely changes your outlook' — These Mainers bear wintertime by cross-country skiing

MAINE PUBLIC • March 10, 2026

On an unusually warm late February day in Oxford, the Oxbow Beer Garden’s groomed trails are filled with skiers of all ages. The trails are open to skiers and snowshoers. About half a mile down the trail hidden in the woods sits the Hut, a little building that serves drinks to trekkers as they sit around campfires. Dozens of skis are leaned against trees as people gather together in ski boots. Nordic skiing’s accessibility is a large draw for many skiers, especially newcomers. “It's just so important to get out in the air and the sun and the outdoors in the winter. When you have a sport that you enjoy, or…even just walking, it entirely changes your outlook,” Cindy Talbot says.

Lubec Shellfish Committee plans to rotate clam flat closures on either side of Woodward Point

MAINE MONITOR • March 10, 2026

The Lubec Shellfish Committee met Monday to discuss the proposed Woodward Point rotational closure, ongoing efforts to address septic contamination in town and several permitting issues, including whether to “grandfather in” out‑of‑town permitholders. There was also an update on the town’s clam seeding program, which is scheduled to launch in spring of next year. With more harvesters attending than at any meeting so far this year, the committee announced plans to begin the Woodward Point rotating clam flat closure later this year.

Rep. Pingree built a farm-to-politics career. Now she’s working with MAHA moms.

MAINE MORNING STAR • March 10, 2026

Long before entering politics, Rep. Chellie Pingree was a self-described hippie, a back-to-the-lander and an organic farmer. Representing Maine’s 1st District in Congress since 2009, the 70-year-old Democrat has focused on bolstering organic food production, creating better access to healthy foods for kids and fighting pesticides. Much of her life’s work on these issues aligns neatly with certain facets of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, which is led by current Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. but gained momentum through the support of moms on social media. For environmental groups, the MAHA movement has also helped make some of these issues relevant to Republicans who need to keep their constituents happy ahead of midterms.

Opinion: Northern Maine is a very fine place for a data center

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 10, 2026

Van Buren is a perfect Maine home for an AI data centers. Van Buren is cold in the winter, which is why lots of companies overlook the great resources available in the town. But this handicap is a benefit for data centers, which require massive cooling to function. Van Buren’s cool climate would give a data center a much better power usage coefficient. LiquidCool Solutions is already building a data center at the nearby Loring Commerce Center, immersing its data chips in liquid nitrogen to keep them cool. In 2023, Eternal Mind opened a data center at Loring, hosting quantum computers. Only: Loring is in a cellular dead zone. Van Buren has good cell service. Both Loring and Van Buren are connected to the “Three-Ring Binder” high-speed internet infrastructure. C’est bon! ~ Keith Hall Taft, former resident of Van Buren now living in St. Petersburg, Florida

Why Mainers aren’t getting their blood tested for PFAS

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 10, 2026

In the fall, a state program sent out nearly 700 letters to people whose wells tested high for PFAS, encouraging them to get tested and offering state help in paying for tests. But the effort has been slow to start, with the state collecting only 164 positive tests as of mid-February, likely a fraction of those who have been exposed to high PFAS levels. Reluctance and other barriers to testing, including lack of insurance, have meant that few Mainers are getting tested even after the statewide push that is aimed at tracking health conditions linked to exposure and finding new hotspots for contamination. Maine officials have identified more than 90 farms that have unsafe levels of PFAS. In 2022, lawmakers approved a $60 million PFAS Fund aimed at helping farmers and others whose land was affected by sewage sludge spreading, the now-banned practice that began in the 1980s and unwittingly caused widespread pollution. “Some people are saying, ‘I don’t want to know if something’s going to kill me.’”

New cultural exhibit tells artistic story of the Wabanaki Nations

THE COUNTY • March 9, 2026

Vivid abstract lime green, orange and teal painted figures accented the more traditional birch bark shavings and woven indigenous creations in the new Wabanaki Cultural Exhibit designed to breathe life into the generational artistic story of the state’s Indigenous people. The cultural exhibit, a project of the Wabanaki Nations, the Maine Tourism Association and the Maine Office of Tourism, opened on Thursday with a ceremony at the Maine State Visitor Information Center in Houlton on North Road just off I-95. The exhibit welcomes visitors to the Wabanaki Territory and invites a deeper understanding of the cultures of Wabanaki Nations, and the traditions of the Mi’kmaq, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot that have shaped this land for generations.

Moose found stuck in ice on Aroostook River

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 9, 2026

A moose has drowned after falling through ice on the Aroostook River in Presque Isle, according to the Maine Warden Service. “This was just a young moose that had walked out on the river and fell through the ice, and in the end it succumbed,” Warden Alan Dudley said. “Believe it or not, this is not uncommon. The only uncommon thing about this was that it was in public view.”

UMaine identifies human remains and hundreds of artifacts for repatriation to Wabanaki tribes

MAINE PUBLIC • March 9, 2026

The University of Maine's Anthropology Department has identified hundreds of Wabanaki burial artifacts and the physical remains of at least 26 individuals in its collection. The process of returning them to the tribes in accordance with federal law could begin next month. The human remains and cultural artifacts were removed from multiple burial locations, mostly along the coast or near the Penobscot River, according to a notice filed this month in the Federal Register. Some of the sites are estimated to be thousands of years old. Many were excavated in the second half of the 20th century. A total of 532 objects in the university's collection include bone fragments, pigment samples, gouges, hammerstones, as well as other tools and funerary items.