Kittery enacts water usage restrictions amid persistent dry conditions

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 17, 2026

Kittery residents are now under a strict and mandatory water conservation order. Town officials notified residents last week of the “Level 3,” or severe, order from the Kittery Water District, noting that the order is an effort to combat issues caused by persistent dry conditions.

Midcoast Maine is experiencing a severe drought

MIDCOAST VILLAGER • August 17, 2026

The Midcoast has returned to severe drought conditions, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The dry weather has turned lawns brown. Rainfall has been scarce this summer. In July, 0.16 inches of rainfall was recorded at Mirror Lake in West Rockport. This was the fourth least rainfall for any month since the Maine Water company began keeping records in 1913.

Group restoring Casco Bay’s eelgrass meadows one seed at a time

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 17, 2026

A combination of factors — including climate change and destructive invasive species like the green crab — have wiped out more than half of the Casco Bay eelgrass population in recent years. A team led by the Collaborative for Bioregional Action Learning and Transformation, or COBALT, along with students and staff at Bowdoin College’s Schiller Coastal Studies Center and other local partners, are working to understand and potentially combat the decline — by transplanting eelgrass seeds from healthy meadows to unhealthy meadows.

Unprepared hikers will be billed after getting rescued in the White Mountains

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 17, 2026

Four unprepared hikers from New Jersey will be billed after they needed to get rescued in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. The four, all 18, set out about 3:30 p.m. Friday to hike Franconia Ridge in Franconia. They didn’t pack headlamps nor enough food and water for an up to 9-hour hike. By 8:48 p.m., they called for help, saying one member of the party was struggling to breathe and had sore legs and they were low on food and water. “Due to the hiker’s lack of preparation, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department intends to bill the hikers for the cost of the rescue,” the department said.

8 best bike routes in Greater Portland

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 17, 2026

I talked to cyclists in Greater Portland who have biked here much longer than I have, and here are some of our favorite routes in the area. Be careful; you might end up obsessed.
• Portland to Mackworth Island
• Portland to Cousins Island
• Portland to Brunswick
• Back Cove and Eastern Promenade
• Eastern Trail
• Short Lighthouse Tour
• Long Lighthouse Tour
• Cape Tour

11 safety tips for cycling in Greater Portland

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 17, 2026

An escalating number of crashes involving pedestrians in Portland has raised concerns about the safety of the city’s streets. While Portland and neighboring communities are implementing new traffic safety measures, individual pedestrians and cyclists can also take steps to keep themselves safe on the road. On the Bicycle Coalition of Maine’s bikeability map, most of the roads on the Portland peninsula are red, meaning they’re high stress roads. But there are plenty of low and moderate stress roads stretching from Saco all the way to Brunswick to keep cyclists occupied. Regardless of the road you’re biking on, there are essential tips and rules to follow to ensure you stay safe and feel comfortable on your bike.

10 places to rent a bike in Greater Portland

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 17, 2026

Do you want to ride a bike but you don’t want to purchase one yet? Are you looking for a fun day trip while you visit Portland? Here are 10 places in Greater Portland where you can rent a bike. 

12 group bicycle rides in Greater Portland

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 17, 2026

It’s safer and more fun to ride your bike with others. Here are 12 group rides, with different speeds and route length, to try out in Greater Portland. 

8 great deals you can get with Bicycle Benefits

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 17, 2026

With the purchase of a $5 Bicycle Benefits sticker, you can unlock a host of discounts and deals in Greater Portland. Just ride your bike to one of the listed establishments, present your sticker-decorated helmet to the cashier and enjoy your bounty. You can purchase these stickers at most participating businesses around the city. There are a dozen great benefits, from bicycle repairs to snacks to physical therapy.

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.