Maine’s Katahdin Region Shines as One of America's Best Snowmobiling

WBLM • January 9, 2025

As anyone in Maine can attest, the state is an outdoor lover's dream. No matter the season or location, Maine offers year-round adventure. So, it's no surprise that one of the state's favorite outdoor pastimes has earned a national recognition. In a popular article, the renowned travel guide Fodor's highlighted the best snowmobiling trail systems across the United States, and Maine made the cut. The Katahdin Region, known for its expansive beauty, was proudly featured among the top 11 destinations.

Lake Auburn water quality remains stable after dry, hot year

SUN JOURNAL • January 9, 2025

Lake Auburn, which serves as the drinking water for both Lewiston and Auburn, has been under the microscope from politicians and environmentalists over the past several years due to the changing climate and development pressures. Due to historically clean water, the cities hold a waiver from filtration, which allows the water to be delivered to customers without a costly filtration plant. However, water quality must remain pristine in order for the waiver to be maintained. Despite water levels roughly 4 feet below average and some of the warmest temperatures on record, the water quality at Lake Auburn is solid, according to new Watershed Manager Danielle Olsen.

Maine DOT selects new operator of Rockland rail line

MAINE PUBLIC • January 9, 2025

The Maine Department of Transportation has chosen a Unity company to operate the freight railroad line that stretches from Brunswick to Rockland. Maine Switching Services currently repairs rail cars and provides car switching services to paper mills in Rumford and Skowhegan. According to the DOT, the company plans to resume freight service this spring along the Rockland Branch Railroad and plans to offer scenic train excursions by the fall. But Maine Switching Services has not offered to operate passenger rail service along the line, meaning a proposal to extend Amtrak Downeaster service from Brunswick to Rockland remains on hold for now.

Future of Brunswick recreation space in flux

TIMES RECORD • January 9, 2025

After a year of hearing environmental concerns raised by the community, the plan for what happens with 230 acres of town property (Former Maine Gravel Services and Captain William Fitzgerald Recreation and Conservation Area) will be reviewed in a final public forum Saturday before heading to Town Council. Sherry Mason, chairperson of the committee, predicts determining what rules will be in place will draw pushback. For instance, whether to allow hunting and where and how dogs should be present on the property, given the abundance of wildlife there. One resident who lives near the property is calling on the committee to reconsider including a swimming area in the pond, citing a concern for local ecosystems and impact to her family’s well-water quality.

South Portland debates natural vs. artificial grass at planned athletic facility

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 9, 2025

During an almost four-hour meeting at South Portland High School, parents, residents, city employees and industry representatives debated the virtues of artificial turf, a synthetic plastic product designed to replicate grass. Supporters said the artificial turf allows for more play time and lower maintenance costs, while opponents said the product contributes to plastic pollution and increased injuries. Sarah Woodbury, of Defend Our Health, made her pitch that artificial turf can contain toxic chemicals like PFAS, so-called “forever chemicals” that can cause cancer, and slough off microplastics into waterways. In 2029, a Maine ban on all artificial turf that contains PFAS will go into effect, and Woodbury said her organization will introduce a measure in the Legislature this session that would institute a three-year ban on all synthetic turf.

Topsham hopes to adopt updated Climate Action Plan

TIMES RECORD • January 9, 2025

Topsham is ironing out updates to its decade-old Climate Action Plan, with a new draft expected to be ready in the next few weeks. The Topsham Energy Committee started working on the updates with the Topsham Planning Department in 2023. The plan originally focused on greenhouse gas emissions and subsequent actions to limit them, but it is now refocusing on multiple aspects of climate-related impacts on Topsham. Among the expected updates to the town’s 2012 Climate Action Plan is an infrastructure assessment for adaptation and mitigation strategies, along with a look at peoples’ susceptibility to the effects of climate change. Topsham plans to have around half of its land in conservation to prepare for sea-level rise. The Climate Action Plan will be on the warrant at the annual Town Meeting in May.

Researchers enlist public to map out vanishing Casco Bay mussels

MAINE PUBLIC • January 9, 2025

Wild blue mussels were once a common sight at low tide in rocky crevices along Casco Bay. But the population seems to have disappeared in over at least the past decade. Aaron Whitman with the Gulf of Maine Research Institute said predators such as invasive green crabs, a warming ocean and other factors may have pushed mussels to find shelter in the deeper subtidal zone. Blue mussels used to cover more than two-thirds of the intertidal zone in the Gulf of Maine, but are down to less than 15% of their historic habitat, according to a 2016 study. Now scientists are enlisting the public to help them locate clutches of mussels surviving in deeper water. Upcoming extreme low tides are on Jan. 10, 11, 12, 13, 28 and 29. To participate volunteers can visit the institute's ecosystem investigation network.

The Dirt on Acadia

NATIONAL PARKS CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION • January 9, 2025

It was a gorgeous morning in late June, and we were in what might be the most idyllic section of Acadia National Park. We stood at the edge of Hemlock Bridge, one of the park’s famous stone archways, listening to the waters of Maple Spring Brook trickle below. It was a perfect day, but I wasn’t there to enjoy the views. We had work to do. Just behind us, a trail cut 2 miles steeply uphill through forest and boulders and ultimately to the granite summit of Sargent Mountain. The National Park Service wanted to bring thousands of pounds of soil up to the peak to help save the park’s most imperiled ecosystem, and managers had determined that the best way to do it was for us, a group of regular people, to lug the dirt there on our backs. The goal of the Save Our Summits project is to restore native vegetation atop Acadia’s famous granite peaks.

Schools embrace nature as a classroom

TIMES RECORD • January 9, 2025

Entering 2025, the Maine Environmental Education Association (MEEA) announced its next Outdoor Learning Program mini-grant recipients, continuing to bring local students closer to nature through climate education and Wabanaki studies. This year, 149 educators across 16 counties received $156,057 for experiential, nature-based projects. Since the grant program’s launch in 2020, MEEA has allocated $787,271 for outdoor learning in public schools statewide, reaching over 108,000 students. The latest mini-grant cycle will support projects that invite Wabanaki guest speakers to engage with students and teach about the cultural significance of basket making, ash tree protection and traditional hunting, fishing and gathering practices. A list of all the mini-grant recipients by county is available on the MEAA website.

Acadia Artist-in-Residence Participants for 2025

ACADIA NATIONAL PARK • January 9, 2025

Art and artists played a key role in the history of Maine’s Downeast Region, and the founding of Acadia National Park. The Artist-in-Residence program is dedicated to creating new ways for visitors to experience Acadia through the arts. The Acadia Artist-in-Residence participants for 2025 include: painter Nathan Allard, of Somerville, ME; poet Samantha DeFlitch, of Plymouth, NH; glass and light artist Abigail Donovan, of Eugene, OR; writer Shokoofeh Rajabzadeh, of Chappaqua, NY; and musician Caitlin Smith, of Farmington, MN.

What caretakers of one Midcoast landmark learned a year after devastating coastal storms

TIMES RECORD • January 9, 2025

A year ago, two back-to-back storm slammed Maine’s coasts with extreme winds and high tides, wiping out swaths of working waterfront. Historic buildings, including the old fog bell house at Pemaquid Point Lighthouse, suffered heavy damage as ocean-facing walls were ripped open and washed out to sea. A crew of helpers worked quickly to stabilize what remained of the structure before the next storm hit on Jan. 13. As the first anniversary of the storms approaches, Shelley Gallagher, director of Bristol Parks and Recreation, reflected on the lessons learned and measures taken to enhance climate resilience. Fiber rebar and stainless steel turnbuckles were added between brick layers to support the roof, allowing the structure to endure harsh weather conditions for decades while maintaining its historic look. 

Conservation training program ends, but its legacy lives on

UMAINE • January 9, 2025

Conservationists not only need ecological expertise, but also have to understand the impact of conservation on the economics and culture of an area, be able to interact with the public about issues of conservation and so much more. UMaine’s NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Program in Conservation Science and Practice has reached the end of its five-year term, but it has sent UMaine graduates off with a more holistic approach to conservation and started a legacy of similar programs at UMaine.

Editorial: Rebutting ranchers’ beef about national monuments

MAINE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS • January 9, 2025

On Tuesday, to honor the long-standing urging of local tribes, President Biden used his authority under the Antiquities Act to create the Chuckwalla and the Sáttítla Highlands National Monuments. Within seconds, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and the Public Lands Council (PLC), a rightwing advocacy group that has led the war on public lands for nearly six decades, condemned the action as an irresponsible use of the Antiquities Act. Their beef? That the ranchers might not be able to run their cows on the lands. These are public lands that belong to all Americans, whether they live in Maine or California. For generations, ranchers have wrongly treated millions of acres of public lands as their personal territory to be used for private profit. They have also received massive public subsidies while ruining the land. Bernard DeVoto exposed this national scandal in a 1934 essay called “The Plundered Province.” Christopher Ketcham updated it in his 2019 book “This Land: How Cowboys, Capitalism, and Corruption are Ruining the American West.” NCBA and PLC are threatening to work with the Trump administration to “bring common sense back to this process.” They may prevail in getting Trump to remove or restrict the new land protections, but that does not make it right.

326-acre land donation to forest conservation program

A recent record-setting land donation to the Maine Woodland Owners has increased the land trust's portfolio to almost 12,000 acres of forest around the state. The donation came from Friendship, Maine, resident Donna Roggenthien. Though she resides in Knox County, she owned 326 acres in Aroostook County's Moro Plantation. The organization will honor Roggenthien's wishes for the land by administering it as it does the 8,000 acres it owns and the 3,300 acres it holds in conservation easement. The Maine Woodland Owners provides active forest management for these properties.

State Sand Dune Restoration Fund Now Taking Applications!

MAINE AUDUBON • January 9, 2025

The importance of coastal dunes is increasing as climate change causes stronger storms and higher sea levels. Sand dunes are also important wildlife habitats: dunes and dune grass provide essential habitat for Endangered Least Terns and Piping Plovers to nest and rear their young. Though Maine is perhaps more famous for its rocky coastline than its sandy beaches, dunes can be found up and down the Maine coast. Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection is now accepting applications to its new Coastal Sand Dune Restoration and Protection Fund. The Fund exists “to assist communities, municipalities, and other applicants implement projects designed to ‘restore, protect, conserve, nourish or revegetate a coastal sand dune system.’” Grants may also be awarded for public education and technical assistance projects related to coastal sand dunes. FMI https://www.maine.gov/dep/rfp/rfp.html?id=13138864

Portland receives $2M to revamp Franklin Street

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 9, 2025

An ambitious project to overhaul one of Portland’s busiest streets is getting closer to construction thanks, in part, to a $2 million grant from the federal government. “The construction of the Franklin Street arterial in the late 1960s had a challenging impact on many Portlanders, resulting in the demolition of whole neighborhoods, the displacement of longtime residents, and a permanent physical divide through the heart of the city,” Rep. Chellie Pingree said. “With this project, the City is taking an important step towards creating a safer, more equitable, and more unified Portland.”

Maine Dairy Task Force looks to taxes on cannabis, gambling or tobacco for help keeping farms afloat

SPECTRUM NEWS • January 9, 2025

The state’s dairy task force is asking lawmakers to consider a variety of potential funding streams to help keep more local farms in business, including increased taxes on cannabis, gambling and tobacco. In a report released Wednesday, the Maine Dairy Task Force emphasizes that a state-run stabilization program is working, but that it needs reliable funding to stem the tide of farm closures. Over the last 30 years, Maine has gone from 602 dairy farms to 140.

Letter: There’s plenty we can do to battle climate change

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 9, 2025

The first action to mitigate climate change and become carbon-neutral by 2040 is that Maine should focus on solar energy. Hydropower is also a good energy source for Maine to use because hydropower can provide benefits such as electricity generation, flood control, irrigation support and clean drinking water. Wind power is a clean and renewable energy source. Its cost competitiveness continues to improve with advances in the science and technology of wind energy. We can also help mitigate the effects of climate change by throwing away less food, saving energy at our homes, switching to an electric vehicle and more. There are so many ways that we can help mitigate the effects of climate change. ~ David Yemba, Portland

An endangered rabbit species is on the rise in parts of Maine

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 9, 2025

An endangered rabbit can be found in seven towns in Maine, two more than just six years ago, and the number of colonies has more than doubled to 46 known sites in that time, according to the state’s small mammal biologist. The native New England cottontail rabbit, which is on the Endangered Species list, is found in southern Maine, but its non-native invasive species cousin the Eastern cottontail is rapidly gaining ground, said Cory Stearns, small mammal biologist. The concern is that the Easterns will dominate, making it harder for the New Englands to rebound.

Federal appeals court hears arguments on Bar Harbor cruise lawsuit

MAINE PUBLIC • January 8, 2025

The Bar Harbor cruise debate was back in federal court today. Attorneys for local businesses, the town and ordinance author Charles Sidman made their arguments to the First Circuit Court of Appeals on the controversial 1,000-person disembarkation limit for cruise ship visitors. Jonathan Hunter, attorney for the town of Bar Harbor, said the town has the right to regulate cruise ship traffic. But the panel of three judges pushed back, noting the possible impacts on the cruise industry if other parts of the country impose similar restrictions.