20-year-old killed in Piscataquis County ATV crash

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 17, 2026

A North Berwick man died in a Saturday afternoon ATV crash in T1 R11. Bruce Kennedy, 20, was riding an ATV with a friend near Wadleigh Pond in the Nahmakanta Maine Public Reserved Land about 2 p.m. when he lost control at a curve in the road and crashed. Kennedy, who was not wearing a helmet, died at the scene.

The search for Maine’s missing native bumble bees

MAINE MORNING STAR • August 17, 2026

This summer, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife is once again asking residents to look out for one of Maine’s most elusive native species: the rusty patched bumble bee. It’s one of two native species of bumble bee that hasn’t been seen in the state in years. It’s considered a rare species of special concern by the state, and was the first bumble bee species to be added to the U.S. Endangered Species List. It’s hard to know exactly what caused the decline, said Beth Swartz, a wildlife biologist specializing in invertebrates at the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. But it was likely a combination of factors: diseases, pesticides and habitat loss.

Maine’s biggest dam owner faces reckoning after another Penobscot River fish kill 10

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 17, 2026

The fish die-off that followed a Penobscot River dam shutdown in July rallied calls for stiffer regulations on the dam’s owner, which has been accused of repeatedly disrupting the water levels at a nationally renowned fishing and whitewater rafting destination. Brookfield Renewable, an offshoot of a multibillion-dollar conglomerate, is in the final stages of relicensing the Ripogenus Dam, about 30 miles west of Millinocket. The July 27 turbine shutdown, triggered by a broken transmission line cross-arm at McKay Station, followed a similar incident in 2023, and was catastrophic for juvenile landlocked salmon, the state fish.

Josephine Newman Volunteer Work Day – Sept 12, Georgetown

MAINE AUDUBON • August 16, 2026

Volunteers are welcome to join Maine Audubon’s Land Steward for a morning of light trail maintenance, as well as some invasive plant removal work at Josephine Newman Audubon Sanctuary in Georgetown, ME. Volunteers will help maintain the trail network, and strive to conserve the health of native vegetation at this location by removing non-native plant species. Volunteers may hike up to 1 mile and should feel comfortable using hand tools such as shovels, pick mattocks, rock bars, folding saws, and loppers. September 12, 2026, 9 am - 12 pm.

How Lewiston’s Balloon Festival founders defied the odds and raised the community

SUN JOURNAL • August 16, 2026

Three decades and counting, the festival’s original board of directors gathered recently to recall its challenging beginnings and reflect on the legacy of the Twin Cities’ biggest annual event.

Column: The Often-Overlooked Ovenbird

DAILY BULLDOG • August 15, 2026

Though their song is an iconic feature of northern woodlands, this handsome warbler stays well-hidden. I rarely catch more than a glimpse. Ovenbirds feed and nest on the ground, where they blend in with leaf litter. this bird wound up with a common name that has nothing to do with its looks, but rather the appearance of its nest. The female clears a circular spot on the ground, creates a small cup-shaped nest, and covers it with leaves, grasses, and sticks, building a dome-shaped structure resembling a five-inch-high beehive oven. If it had been up to me, I’d have named this warbler “teacher bird.” Its signature song phrase is repeated up to a dozen times in each call, with increasing volume. ~ Laurie D. Morrissey

First Scarborough Marsh Day fulfills curiosities about the marsh

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 15, 2026

Many people headed on Saturday to celebrate the inaugural Scarbough Marsh Day. Organized by the Scarborough Land Trust along with 20 partners, the event helped satisfy locals’ curiosity about the largest salt marsh in Maine, teaching them about its environmental, cultural and historical importance. Laura Zitske, a wildlife ecologist at Maine Audubon. led a “Marsh Walk and Talk” down the Eastern Trail in the marsh. She said salt marshes sit between open saltwater and land, maintaining biodiversity and protecting shorelines from flooding. The event served to remind people that the marsh is not always as healthy as it looks, and concentrated efforts are needed to sustain the land to help it continue to serve its purposes.

A farm in Maine hung baskets of oysters from a floating conveyor belt

THE PULSE • August 15, 2026

It may seem like oyster farmers only have to place oysters in the water and wait for them to grow. Equipment requires constant attention. Barnacles and other organisms also attach themselves to it (biofouling). These tasks require a tremendous amount of physical effort. They also take an enormous amount of time. One oyster farm in Maine is taking a different approach. The farm created a floating system that keeps oyster baskets in motion rather than leaving them stationary. At certain points, it will even lift the oyster baskets out of the water and into the air to clean them.

Be on the lookout for these 4 insects, plus 1 spider

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 15, 2026

While the August heat can make for ideal conditions for some insects. When you are cold-blooded, these warm days are great for being active, plus having many plants in bloom means there is plenty of food for our pollinators. Here are five common invertebrates — four insects and a spider — that you should keep an eye out for this month:
• Monarch (Danaus plexippus)
• Hickory tussock moth (Lophocampa caryae)
• Tricolored bumble bees (Bombus ternarius)
• Northern dog-day cicada (Neotibicen canicularis)
• Yellow garden spider (Argiope aurantia)

Column: In Jackman, a working forest anchors a community’s vision

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 15, 2026

When the Hilton Family Forest went up for sale in 2024, uncertainty rippled through the valley, including among maple producers. Somerset County produces the overwhelming majority of Maine’s maple syrup, almost all of it on leased land. The Conservation Fund — a national land trust with offices in Maine — purchased the property. The goal was to keep the land forested and productive, while working with local leaders to develop a permanent solution that would allow the timber, recreation and maple industries to continue supporting the community in the future. Now, two years later, the forest continues to function as it has for decades. Timber is managed, sugarbush is tapped and the land remains open for hiking, hunting, fishing, snowmobiling and ATV riding. ~ Tom Duffus, The Conservation Fund; Rick Petrie, town manager, Jackman, Maine

Greenfield ATV crash causes serious injuries and ignites wildland fire

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 15, 2026

An ATV crash Friday left a rider with life-threatening injuries and sparked a small fire in Greenfield, according to the Milford fire and rescue department. After the crash the ATV came to rest against a tree and caught fire, igniting a roughly quarter-acre wildland fire that crews quickly extinguished. The rider was taken to Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor.

Acadia tourists keep building rock cairns faster than stewards can dismantle them

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 15, 2026

Friends of Acadia (FOA) stewards dismantled up to 150 rock stacks above high-tide mark at Bar Island on August 9. “Friends of Acadia Summit Stewards support Acadia National Park rangers by dismantling misleading rock stacks throughout Acadia to protect trail integrity and for visitor safety,” Perrin Doniger, of FOA, said. On Sunday, as one Friends of Acadia steward was dismantling what the park refers to as rock graffiti, visitors and families — mostly children — were building more. “Last year, Friends of Acadia’s Summit Stewards dismantled 867 misleading rock stacks and repaired 822 cairns that mark safe hiking routes throughout Acadia,” Doniger said. Rock stacks are art to some. But critics say it runs counter to the ‘leave no trace’ principle of preserving natural spaces and minimizing human impacts on them, and that it can cause erosion and confuse hikers who mistake them for trail markers.

Bucksport eyes new developer for long-vacant lot where project failed to materialize

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 15, 2026

Bucksport wants a local developer to build housing on a downtown lot that has sat vacant for about a decade. That comes shortly after the town took the parcel at 27 Main St. back from SFS Development, another area company it sold the land to for $1 in exchange for the construction of mixed-use buildings there within three years, a project that never broke ground. It’s another chapter in efforts to increase economic activity in Bucksport post-paper mill and increase the town’s available housing amid a statewide shortage.

Column: Birds are going to start behaving differently. Here’s why and what to look for.

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 14, 2026

Here is a bird identification tutorial for beginning birders. Yes, I know, that’s something that’s traditionally offered in the spring. There’s still a lot of bird activity going on right now, and yet you seldom find anyone describing how identification skills change with each season. Birds in late summer often look different and act differently. Birds in autumn have different habits and habitats, and often different plumages. Males have gone to an eclipse plumage that defies easy identification. This is all stuff that experienced birders should teach to novice birders in late summer. Somehow, we seldom remember to do it. ~ Bob Duchesne

New faces cause a stir in the New England crustacean community

MAINE MORNING STAR • August 14, 2026

Lobsters have long reigned as king among New England’s shelled sea creatures, but the chances of a coup are growing — and climate change is tipping the scales. What kind of creature could hope to dethrone the lobster? Only, perhaps, a similarly large, jagged, claw-brandishing arthropod: the Atlantic blue crab, of Chesapeake Bay fame. Blue crabs are thriving in the rapidly warming currents of the Eastern Seaboard, expanding northward and becoming more common in places once too cold for them to establish year-round populations. Meanwhile, other newcomers are making their debuts, too, such as the lopsided fiddler crab and aggressive lady crab.

Maine researchers tag their 1st white shark

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 14, 2026

Maine researchers have tagged an 8-foot juvenile white shark, their first, as part of a new effort to better understand how young white sharks use the Gulf of Maine. The female shark was tagged Wednesday night by shark researcher Matt Davis and University of Maine Associate Professor of Marine Science Walt Golet. The shark’s capture comes amid a shark-spotting frenzy in Maine waters this summer. The research is part of two projects being conducted this year to study shark presence, distribution and habitat use in the Gulf of Maine.

Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument celebrates 10th anniversary this weekend

MAINE PUBLIC • August 14, 2026

Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument celebrated its 10th anniversary this weekend. Visitation to the monument has fluctuated in recent years. Its busiest was 2022 with about 43,000 visitors. Nearly 34,000 people visited the monument last year, according to federal data. Brian Hinrichs, executive director of Friends of Katahdin Woods and Waters, said the numbers have been highly weather dependent. This summer has been busier than usual. Federal data show that visitation was up more than 32% this June compared to the previous one. The National Park Service and the non-profit Friends group are hosting several events this weekend to commemorate the monument's 10th year.

White shark spotted feeding on seal off MDI

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 14, 2026

A great white shark was spotted Thursday in Frenchman Bay off Bar Harbor feeding on a seal, according to an Ellsworth man. John DeRaps posted on Facebook, “I’ve been on the water my whole life and I have never seen a great white, this one was feasting on a seal today.” DeRaps posted a photo of the shark.

How a global fluoride shortage is affecting Maine’s water systems

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 14, 2026

Global supply chain disruptions have forced several Maine water districts, including the state’s largest public water supply, to temporarily stop adding cavity-fighting fluoride to local drinking water. In Lewiston and Auburn, storage tanks that usually hold thousands of gallons of their fluoride mixture liquid sit empty. But they aren’t the only ones to fall victim to the shortage — Portland and Waterville-area systemstemporarily halted fluoridation last month. Although both have since resumed normal operations, Portland Water District was forced to stop fluoridation for two weeks and Kennebec Water District for 24 days while waiting for their next shipment of the mineral to arrive.

Column: Hiking in for dinner, bunks and a night in the clouds

SUN JOURNAL • August 14, 2026

Rebecca Richard takes a journey from western Maine to New Hampshire’s Presidential Range for an overnight at an Appalachian Mountain Club hut accessible only by trail in another installment of Maine Field Notes.