BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 10, 2021
Members of the Friends of Sears Island are distressed that a corporation gave no warning before spraying herbicide earlier this month along a portion of a road where hikers, dog-walkers, trail runners and others like to recreate. The nonprofit serves as the land management entity for the island, which is owned by the state of Maine. It’s one of the largest undeveloped islands on the Eastern Seaboard, and much of it has been put into conservation, including the area along Cell Tower Road where the herbicide was applied. Eventually the Friends learned the herbicide had been applied by a contractor for the American Tower Corp., a Massachusetts-based company. “We don’t know what substance was applied, so we have no idea if it is safe for the many people who walk that road virtually every day, with children and pets in tow,” Rolf Olsen, vice president of the friends group, said. “It seems pretty clear to us that the site depicted…is not within the boundaries of [American Tower Corp.’s] 4.98-acre site on Sears Island.”