This family-owned blueberry farm near the Maine coast is for sale

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 28, 2025

A family-owned blueberry farm near the Maine coast is on the market for $755,000. The Northport property includes 80 acres of wild blueberry fields and a large three-story home, too, making it a rare offering only a couple of miles from the ocean. The Morse family listed the property for sale last summer. It has seen lots of interest from prospective buyers since then. Despite that, it hasn’t sold yet because no one yet has wanted to continue the blueberry farm. “Mostly people have been interested in splitting the property. The sellers aren’t interested in splitting it,” listing agent Haley Rakis said. The area is teeming with wildlife. Deer, wild turkeys, eagles and moose have been spotted on the property, and its 1-acre pond is stocked with trout.

Column: Our birding adventure had a couple of surprises

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 28, 2025

My wife Sandi and I led a Penobscot Valley Audubon field trip last Saturday. We experienced hits and misses for birds the 16 participants hoped to find. Identifying birds is merely the fifth most-important skill for trip leaders. Ahead on the list: managing people, managing their expectations, managing logistics, and most importantly, knowing where the bathrooms are. We tallied 28 species on the day. I predicted we would get to 30. My wife predicted we wouldn’t. She won. Again. ~ Bob Duchesne

Maine farmers struggle with federal funding freeze and cuts

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 28, 2025

For months, Angela Harwood has been planning to take over Happytown Farm in Orland from her retiring employers using a loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But that loan has been delayed for weeks because of a funding freeze, staff reductions at federal agencies and additional reporting requirements ordered by the Trump administration. The frozen funds were supposed to pay farmers for projects they’ve already completed, meaning they fear they’ll be out tens of thousands of dollars in an industry that already runs on tight margins. Almost every farmer in Maine works with the USDA, and for more than a month many have faced uncertainty about their access to the hundreds of millions of dollars of federal loans, grants and contracts they’ve built their businesses around. Also, the USDA has cut its staffing and scrubbed online webpages and resources that reference climate change or “climate smart” agriculture, which gives farmers options for responding to the changing growing seasons, new pests, diseases, weather patterns and storms that challenge them.

Most Maine lobstermen have resisted alternative fishing gear. A new initiative hopes to change that

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 27, 2025

Brooke Hachey of the Sunrise County Economic Council is leading a demonstration of a kind of "on demand," sometimes called "ropeless" lobster fishing gear. In a bid to protect North Atlantic right whales from extinction, many scientists are promoting this kind of alternative lobster fishing gear that minimizes the risks of entanglement. While some lobstermen in Massachusetts have agreed to use this new gear in exchange for accessing closed areas of Cape Cod Bay, most Maine lobstermen have been reluctant — if not outright resistant — to the new technology. The state, along with a coalition of other partners, have launched a new gear testing and lending program in effort to — at least — change the conversation.

Lawmakers once again debate repealing the Net Energy Billing program

MAINE PUBLIC • February 27, 2025

Lawmakers are considering a handful of proposals aimed at repealing or eliminating the Net Energy Billing program. Net energy billing, a program designed to promote solar power, has long drawn fire from critics, who say it’s unfair for ratepayers to subsidize solar development in the state, citing the already high energy costs in Maine. But supporters of the program say eliminated it would kneecap solar development, betray existing long-term contracts, and hurt the state's progress towards net zero carbon emissions.

High Peaks Alliance to host social at Sugarloaf

SUN JOURNAL • February 27, 2025

The High Peaks Alliance invites outdoor enthusiasts to join them for an après ski social event at the Bill & Joan Alfond Competition Center at Sugarloaf on March 8, 2025, from 4-6 PM. This is a free event, open to all interested parties. The social celebrates the Alliance’s ongoing efforts to ensure recreational access to the High Peaks landscape.

Local farmers anxious amid growing concerns over federal funding freeze

SUN JOURNAL • February 27, 2025

The trees are felled in an area set aside for a small solar array scheduled to be installed in June. The grant contract is signed, the loan for the balance is approved and the down payment has been paid. Seren and Steve Sinisi own and operate Old Crow Ranch and a farm store in Durham, a pasture-based livestock farm. President Donald Trump has issued a memo directing federal agencies to freeze federal financial assistance programs. The Sinisis are more than concerned. They are anxious, even angry. In a letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, Maine Agriculture Commissioner Amanda Beal said, “The continued delay of these funds could have significant economic consequences for Maine’s agricultural sector, which operates on tight margins and depends on timely financial support to sustain operations.”

Warming slows in Gulf of Maine but temperatures remain high

ASSOCIATED PRESS • February 27, 2025

The waters off New England had another warm year but didn’t heat up as fast as earlier this decade, bucking a trend of higher warming worldwide, said scientists who study the Atlantic Ocean near Maine. The Gulf of Maine, which touches three New England states and Canada, emerged as a test case for climate change about a decade ago because it is warming much faster than most of the world’s oceans. The gulf is home to some of the country’s most valuable seafood species and is critical to the American lobster industry.

Freeport timber harvest that rankled locals serves as forestry lesson

TIMES RECORD • February x, 2025

In 1999, Peter Troast led citizens in a fight against a proposed 38-lot subdivision in Bliss Woods. The developer agreed to sell the land for conservation at $635,000. New England Forestry Foundation bought the land. Freeport Conservation Trust holds an easement. On Jan. 29, Troast posted on Facebook about how “jarring” it was to see logging underway with no heads-up. David Ayers, NEFF communications specialist, cited staff shortages as the reason for the delay in sharing project details. Bliss Woods is an example of the organization’s commitment to climate-smart forestry. Ayers urged locals not to view the harvest as clear-cutting but as “thoughtful thinning. These harvests are carefully planned, and our foresters understand the ecology of each forest.” 

20 geese found on Ogunquit Beach likely died of bird flu, town officials say

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 27, 2025

Preliminary assessments suggest that the death of twenty geese found on Ogunquit Beachmay be attributed to Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, commonly known as avian or bird flu, town officials said Wednesday. Earlier this month, Maine moved its risk factor for animals from “moderate” to “high” as a result of positive tests. To help limit the spread, reduce contact between domestic and wild birds, wash hands before and after handling birds, wear clean clothing and sanitize boots and equipment before and after entering coops, provide clean drinking water to domesticated animals, secure food to prevent rodents and monitor flocks for illness.

Opinion: Don’t throw solar energy out with net energy billing bathwater

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 27, 2025

By 2017, the price of solar panels had fallen so we dusted off our dream of generating clean electricity. With the federal tax credit and the net energy billing promise of getting credit on our electric bill for every surplus kilowatt-hour we produced, it became a smart investment. Since then we’ve seen the cost of electricity skyrocket. Getting rid of net energy billing would do nothing to address the soaring supply costs that bind us to a volatile fossil fuel market. A big factor in recent bill increases is the storm damage recovery costs that CMP and Versant are passing on to ratepayers. Another big driver of Maine’s unaffordable electricity bills is the relentless extraction of heavy profits by CMP and Versant. Everyone benefits if homeowners and locally owned small-scale cooperatives invest in renewable energy. Getting rid of net energy billing entirely would be a big mistake and cost us more in the long term. ~ Ed Geis, Camden

Opinion: Free the Androscoggin and restore sea-run fish

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 27, 2025

Centuries ago, the Androscoggin River boasted an extraordinary abundance of fish. Atlantic salmon, river herring, shad, sturgeon and several other species migrated each year from the ocean to what was then Brunswick Falls, continuing upriver as far as Lewiston to spawn. By the early 1800s, dams built to power industries like grist, lumber, textiles and paper disrupted the river’s natural flow and blocked fish passage. While the construction of the new dam in 1983 included a fish ladder for migratory fish, it is limiting or blocking the passage of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of fish each year. It’s not too late to restore healthy populations of migratory fish. The dam’s federal license is up for renewal in 2029, and we’re proposing a number of solutions to improve fish passage, from major fishway upgrades to redesigning or removing the dam. ~ Chip Spies, Free the Andro, a coalition advocating for changes to the Brunswick-Topsham Dam

Get toxic firefighting foam out of Maine, lawmakers told

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 26, 2025

Dozens of Brunswick residents who testified at a legislative hearing Wednesday in favor of three bills intended to prevent another accidental release of aqueous film-forming foam, or AFFF. Introduced by Rep. Dan Ankeles, D-Brunswick, the bills call for a statewide foam inventory (LD 400); a state-run voluntary foam collection, storage and disposal program (LD 222); and removal of the 5,700 gallons of foam concentrate that remains at the former Brunswick Naval Air Station (LD 407). Residents of Brunswick Landing, the site of Maine's worst toxic firefighting foam spill, joined environmental groups to urge lawmakers to quantify the amount of foam in Maine and fund a voluntary program to collect, store and dispose of it.

USDA rolls out $1 billion plan to combat bird flu after egg prices rise

MAINE MORNING STAR • February 26, 2025

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday it plans to spend up to $1 billion in Commodity Credit Corporation funds to try to reduce the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza in poultry. The virus, also known as bird flu or H5N1, has disrupted the work of poultry farmers for years and began infecting dairy herds last year. But a recent spike in egg prices has led to renewed public attention to the disease.

String of fires at Acadia National Park were arson, new court docs reveal

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 26, 2025

The National Park Service alleges five arson fires were started by one man on St. Sauveur Mountain in Mount Desert Island in 2023 and 2024. The Trenton man, 31 years old when a search warrant request was filed, called the park service to report fires in April 2023. He used his cellphone and provided his name. He has not been criminally charged. A park ranger interviewed the man a week after the fires, and there were “multiple inconsistencies” in his story. Another fire was set Oct. 1, 2023. The hikers put the fire out then passed a man who “seemed nervous.” Two more arson fires were started in May 2024. A car registered to the Trenton man was at Acadia Mountain Parking at the time of the fire. The man gave the ranger his real name and a fake phone number.

Janet Mills announces pick for Department of Marine Resources commissioner

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 26, 2025

Gov. Janet Mills on Wednesday announced her nomination of fisheries scientist Carl Wilson to be commissioner of the Maine Department of Marine Resources. Wilson has been with the agency for 26 years and has long served as the lead lobster biologist. He will replace Commissioner Patrick Keliher, who recently announced he will retire on March 14.

Brunswick lawmaker introduces bills to address PFAS-laden firefighting foam

MAINE MORNING STAR • February 26, 2025

After a toxic spill last August, Brunswick Town Council member Sande Updegraph said many residents are still riddled with fears. They are afraid to drink their well water, to bathe, to eat vegetables grown in gardens surrounding their homes. But they also fear people will forget about the devastation or that it may happen again in their community or another. Most of all, Updegraph said, they are afraid no one is listening to them or has their backs. There was a legislative hearing Wednesday on three bills from Rep. Dan Ankeles (D-Brunswick) designed to rid Maine of Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF), which was historically used for firefighting and has been linked to harmful effects to humans and the environment. Updegraph was joined by other Brunswick town council members, as well as members of the firefighting, medical and environmental communities, testifying in support of the bills.

Backyard flocks in Maine at risk of Avian Flu

BETHEL CITIZEN • February 26, 2025

The risk status for avian flu in Maine was elevated to “high” on Feb. 11. While the avian influenza was confirmed in several birds in York and Cumberland Counties, the new risk status was issued statewide by the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. Infected birds in four other New England states were detected as well. DACF officials are urging commercial and backyard flock owners to maintain strong biosecurity measures to protect their birds from the highly pathogenic disease.

As bird flu spreads, feds might undercut states by firing scientists, removing data

MAINE MORNING STAR • February 26, 2025

As bird flu cases inundate more poultry and dairy farms, state officials worry that the Trump administration’s firings of federal scientists and other actions will undermine efforts to track the virus and protect Americans. Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture rushed to rehire workers who were involved in responding to the outbreak and were fired amid federal workforce cuts.