Small MDI town votes to reverse nearly 100-year ban on deer hunting

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 12, 2026

Following months of public hearings, Tremont residents on Monday voted to allow a deer hunting season within town limits, reversing a nearly 100-year ban. Deer hunting has not been allowed on the island since 1931, though special permits have been issued for nuisance deer. 314 residents voted in favor of the plan and 227 voted against the proposal in a secret ballot. The hunt is intended to manage the town’s — and island’s —  deer overpopulation, which has contributed to more vehicle collisions with the animals, concern over Lyme disease and complaints of residential property damage. 

This couple moved to Bangor to flee climate change in Texas

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 12, 2026

Shawn and Sara had lived in Austin since 2006 and 2011, respectively. After more than a decade in Texas, the couple decided it was time to leave and move somewhere entirely new. “We had a lot of reasons to move…but the one that hit us the hardest was the weather,” Shawn said. “We were facing our fourth catastrophic event in five years and nobody was doing anything to address it. The couple are one example in a growing trend of climate migrants, people who forcibly or voluntarily leave their home due to extreme weather events or climate change, such as wildfires, sea level rise or hurricanes. From 2008 to 2024, more than 22 million people in the U.S. were displaced by environmental disasters.

Bar Harbor area resident receives Espy Award

MOUNT DESERT ISLANDER • May 11, 2026

Conservation leader and Bar Harbor area resident Karin Tilberg was awarded on Wednesday with the 2026 Espy Land Heritage Award, the state’s highest honor for lifetime achievement in land conservation. The award is given once a year at the Maine Land Conservation Conference to individuals and organizations whose innovative, forward-thinking leadership has strengthened land conservation across Maine. Part of the award includes a $5,000 honorarium that will be donated to nonprofits of Tilberg’s choice. Half of the money will go to the Allagash Wilderness Waterway Foundation to help fund its Youth on the Allagash and Wabanaki collaborative projects. The other half will go to the Brunswick‑Topsham Land Trust's Cathance River Education Alliance, which hosts a summer camp for children and collaborates with local schools to incorporate place-based learning.

Roadless Rule Repeal Would Harm New England’s Last Wild Places

NATURAL RESOURCES COUNCIL OF MAINE • May 11, 2026

6,000 acres in the White Mountain National Forest are Inventoried Roadless Areas, meaning they have been protected from road-building and harvesting activities since 2001 by the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Unfortunately, those precious acres could soon be subject to road construction and subsequent extractive activity because of the Trump Administration’s latest attempt to hand over our public lands to corporations and billionaires for profit. Once a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) is released this spring, the following comment period will be the last chance for the public to voice their dissent against the termination of the Roadless Rule. The threat is not only to the stunning cloak of forest across the mountains of western Maine, taken in from the peaks of Maine’s parcel of the White Mountain National Forest. The health of tens of millions of acres of forest—and their surrounding ecosystems and watersheds—is at stake.

Maine has dozens of fishing waters where adults can’t fish

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 11, 2026

Maine also makes it easy to get the next generation of anglers started. Youngsters do not require a fishing license until age 16 and this year Saturday, May 30 and Sunday, May 31 are Free Fishing Weekend days, meaning resident and nonresident adults and teens age 16 and older can fish statewide without a fishing license. There is also a list of Special Opportunity Waters. There are 50 scattered throughout the state in each of the seven fishery regions, including 10 in the Sebago region, 11 in the Rangeley region and a dozen in the Penobscot region. These waters are specifically restricted to young anglers under age 16. Most are stocked with trout. ~ Al Raychard

Column: Let’s talk about those myths about turkeys

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 11, 2026

I’m still surprised to find people, even (or perhaps especially) within the hunting community who don’t like wild turkeys. Perhaps is because they tried hunting them and failed. Or maybe it’s because they hold onto long dispelled and out-dated myths. Maybe you tried to take on Old Tom and failed to fell a fowl. That’s no reason to dislike them. Think of it not as a disincentive but a motivation. They beat you once and they may do it again, but it the hunting game, they only get to lose once. ~ Bob Humphrey

Greenwood voters to weigh conservation proposal, zoning

Voters in Greenwood will head to the polls May 16 to vote of an amendment to the town of Greenwood Shoreland Zoning Ordinance. Article 23 asks voters to designate an 18-acre lot on West Paris Road — the “Finnish Picnic Grounds” parcel — as conservation land. If passed, the town will partner with Western Foothills Land Trust to maintain the property.

Brunswick nonprofit produce provider brings on first paid director

TIMES RECORD • May 11, 2026

In March, Cooper became the first paid executive director at Growing to Give, a nonprofit farm in Brunswick that provides produce to organizations that help people facing food insecurity. As Maine enters its growing season, Cooper said she’s excited to get into the workflow of the farm and help expand its reach even further.

Opinion: America’s dam busting is a sign of economic strength, not decline

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 11, 2026

The last 30 years in the United States has been a story not of dam building but removal, with New England leading the way. The 1999 removal of the Edwards Dam on Maine’s Kennebec River, ordered by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, established a landmark precedent that free-flowing rivers should be prioritized. But we’re not rebuilding our decrepit dams after we tear them down, either. And that is because the law began to change in the 1970s owing not just to environmental concerns, but also to the recognition that an undammed river has substantial economic value whether through increased recreation or development. On rivers where big dams have come down, fish have returned at a scale beyond the most optimistic predictions. American strength lies in our ability to change our minds. Our crumbling dams do not signal decline. Instead, our strength as a nation is a dynamism rooted in the law, and in the rivers that sustain us. ~ Scot McFarlane

This 80-mile relay in northern Maine traces the alewife migration up the St. Croix

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 11, 2026

As thousands of river herring begin their upstream migration this month, runners will do the same. Joggers on May 23 will pace the alewife run from the Passamaquoddy Reservation at Sipayik (Pleasant Point), 80 miles up the St. Croix River to Forest City in Washington County. The St. Croix River, known as the Skutik River to the Indigenous people of northern Maine and southeastern Canada, was once a vital migratory highway for tens of millions of alewives, said Brian Altvater Sr.

Hike Barren Mountain for one of the best views in Maine

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 10, 2026

Barren Mountain is the first major peak of Maine’s famous 100-Mile Wilderness, if you’re trekking from the south. The 100-Mile Wilderness is considered the most remote section of the Appalachian Trail. It doesn’t cross any major roads for approximately 100 miles, but parts of it are accessible by side trails and gravel woods roads, if you’ve got good directions and a DeLorme atlas.

Bountiful kelp harvest gives UNE students a taste of the blue economy

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 10, 2026

The sun broke through the clouds on Thursday as a small crew of students from the University of New England hauled up about a thousand pounds of brown kelp. Over the next week, they will turn that bounty into about 5,000 salty-sweet nutrition bars. “This is what I came here to do,” said Julianne Manlove, a 19-year-old freshman marine science and biochemistry major from Rhode Island. “Learning about sea farming is one thing. Learning to do it, that’s just so much better. This was easily the highlight of my year.” The first kelp harvest of the season proved so bountiful that it was almost unmanageable.

Who visited Maine in 2025, and how much did they spend?

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 8, 2026

The Maine Office of Tourism reported there were 14.15 million visitors in 2025, down 4.4% from the year before. Visitors last year spent $9.37 billion, up 1.4% from 2024, not adjusted for inflation. Most people drove from the East Coast, although more flew in 2025 than in 2024. Nearly 20% of visitors came by plane. Nearly 20% of people, or 2.9 million, counted as visitors last year were residents exploring the state. 15% came from Massachusetts. New York and New Hampshire. Nearly 40% of visitors had been to Maine more than 10 times. Less than 5% of visitors came from other countries in 2025, according to the report. Most — 3.6% — came from Canada. That number is down from 2024, a drop attributable to political tensions and economic pressures. Popular regions to visit last year included Greater Portland, the Midcoast, the beaches and islands. More than a quarter visited Down East Maine, including Acadia National Park.

Trump is lifting restrictions on hunting in national parks, refuges and wilderness areas

ASSOCIATED PRESS • May 9, 2026

President Donald Trump’s administration is quietly pushing national park, refuge and wilderness area managers to dramatically scale back hunting restrictions, raising questions about visitor safety and the impact on wildlife. U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has issued an order directing multiple agencies to remove what he termed “unnecessary regulatory or administrative barriers” to hunting and fishing and justify regulations they want to keep in place. Dan Wenk, a former NPS deputy operations director, said, “I’d love to know the problem we’re trying to solve. Then I could understand the costs that it’s going to take to solve it in terms of resources and visitor safety.”

This is one of midcoast Maine’s most unique treks

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 8, 2026

A hike over Morse Mountain to Seawall Beach in Phippsburg is one of the most unique treks in midcoast Maine. If you extend the outing with a walk on the beach, the journey approximates five miles and travels through multiple ecosystems. Bates College manages the conservation area and maintains a public parking lot. Public access is limited and visitors should familiarize themselves with the rules. Only foot traffic is permitted and pets are prohibited.

Bar Harbor considers downtown parking relief for residents during crowded tourist season

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 8, 2026

When the Bar Harbor Town Council authorized new paid parking kiosks in March, it opened the door to local residents possibly getting free parking downtown even during the height of the tourism season. “It opened up potential options for what I deemed an enhanced residential parking program,” Bar Harbor Town Manager James Smith said during a Town Council workshop Tuesday. Now, Smith said, town staff was trying to find out what those options would look like.

Maine’s community solar boom is going bust

MAINE MORNING STAR • May 8, 2026

For years, community solar in Maine grew at a breakneck pace, elevating the state to the top of the list for most capacity per capita in the U.S. Now, however, development has slowed to a standstill, and the industry faces an uncertain future. “We saw a very swift rise, and it has now come to an end,” said Eliza Donoghue, executive director of the Maine Renewable Energy Association. ​“There is no opportunity for growth.” Community solar — larger arrays that sell power to multiple users — took off in Maine after the state expanded the program supporting it in 2019. By the end of 2025, Maine had 694 watts of community solar capacity per person, far and away the most of any state. Then, last year, lawmakers passed, and the governor signed, a law that brought that momentum to a screeching halt. First, it prohibits any larger new projects — residential solar is still OK — from enrolling in net energy billing, the system that allows solar producers to get paid for the energy they send to the grid. It is the backbone of community solar’s financial model. Second, the law imposes hefty new fees on community solar installations that are already up and running.

Hancock Lumber to open truss factory in Oxford

ADVERTISER DEMOCRAT • May 8, 2026

Oxford will be the home of Hancock Lumber’s new truss manufacturing facility, which is under construction and projected to open early next year. The company is holding a formal groundbreaking ceremony from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, May 21. Oxford was chosen due to its central Maine location and access to Interstate 95, which connects Kittery with Houlton and beyond into Canada. Hancock Lumber was established in 1848 when it purchased a 400-acre timber stand in Casco and opened a sawmill. It operates sawmills in Casco, Bethel and Pittsfield; 12 lumberyards in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts; and nine kitchen-design showrooms in Maine and New Hampshire.

Opinion: Respect and protect the Penobscot River

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 8, 2026

The Penobscot River is our oldest citizen. It is our heart. As the original stewards, our connection to this water is our identity. Our sovereignty is rooted in the health of this river; without the ability to safely practice our sustenance rights, to fish and gather as our ancestors did, our self-determination is unrealized. On May 15, 2023, a massive fire erupted at the Juniper Ridge Landfill, just a few miles from where my three daughters sleep. We saw the smoke. We felt the heavy, acrid weight in the air. But on the Island, we were left in the dark. We are ready for a partnership built on true consultation, not just notification. We envision an administration that understands that protecting the Penobscot River is not a burden to the economy, but a foundational duty to the people. We look forward to working with leaders who recognize that Wabanaki sovereignty and environmental health are two sides of the same coin. ~ Maulian Bryant, Wabanaki Alliance

Road through Acadia hasn’t been fixed since 2024 storm damage

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 8, 2026

Two years after it was severely damaged in back-to-back winter storms, Seawall Road on Mount Desert Island has yet to be fully repaired as varying government entities have yet to reach an agreement on a final fix. The road has been the subject of a yearlong dispute among the Maine Department of Transportation, the town of Southwest Harbor and Acadia National Park — through which part of Seawall Road runs — over who should pay for repairs and future maintenance, and when those repairs would ultimately happen.