Challenging skiing on Hammond Ridge Trails

TIMES RECORD • March 16, 2025

Hammond Ridge Trails near Baxter State Park is owned and operated by New England Outdoor Center (NEOC) and is located a few miles north of Millinocket near the southern entrance to Baxter State Park. According to the NEOC website and Maine Trail Finder, the trails were designed by Olympian and preeminent trail builder John Morton. They report the network is a mixture of exhilarating downhills, invigorating up hills and everything in between; further stating there are 16 miles of groomed cross-country ski trails on rugged terrain that offer spectacular views. We were disappointed with the condition of the trails — wrongly assuming all trails would be freshly groomed. That said, they were exciting, scenic and challenging. We hope to return to complete Black Cat Peak and Hammond Ridge Trails. However, we’ll call and confirm the grooming status before committing the time and travel. ~ Ron Chase

Maine maple producers preparing for sweetest weekend of the year

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • March 16, 2025

The sweetest weekend in Maine is right around the corner. Maine Maple Weekend, once just the single-day Maple Sunday, returns for its 42nd season on Saturday. The annual showcase comes the weekend of the fourth Sunday in March. More than 110 producers, from every corner of the state, will open their doors to visitors interested in learning how the sugary staple is cooked up — or, rather, down. Each sugarhouse offers a different experience, including taste tests, treats, tours of the tapped trees and more. For a detailed map, including hours and activities, visit MaineMapleProducers.com.

Maine under attack? Trump-Mills clash is followed by chaos and confusion

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • March 16, 2025

The Trump administration has brought chaos and confusion to Maine from every direction. It has left state officials, members of Maine’s congressional delegation and other observers confused and concerned about what might be next. What’s happening in Maine is being watched around the country. “What we’re seeing here is a level of vindictiveness that no president has ever had,” said Jeremy Mayer, associate professor at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government. “I’m sure there is somebody in the White House that’s saying, ‘How can we hurt Maine?” said Mayer. “We’ve seen before that he’s floated the idea of going after states he sees as not sufficiently politically supportive, so this is consistent with that worldview,” said Maya Sen, a political scientist at Harvard University.

How tree bark can lift your spirits

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 15, 2025

A few days ago, I was grumpily walking through the forest. A yellow birch tree saved the day. Its shiny golden bark caught my eye. From that point on, I decided to observe tree bark as I walked. By the end of the walk, I felt more upbeat. The impromptu game had pulled me out of the tangle of my thoughts and into the here and now. The whole experience got me thinking about the benefits of nature observation.

Letter: Save net energy billing for homeowners, not solar farms

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 15, 2025

In a March 11 letter, Karen Marysdaughter raised valid concerns about the efforts in the Maine legislature to do away with net energy billing (NEB) after investing in rooftop solar. She is also correct that some are ignoring the externalized costs of burning fossil fuels, a massive double standard in not taxing fossil fuel pollution. The NEB subsidy was originally intended for small customers like her. That subsidy gives solar free use of the electric system and leaves the costs to non-solar customers. Big solar developers convinced the Legislature that they also needed that subsidy. It created a gold rush of solar farm developers and is projected to cost Maine consumers more than $200 million a year. That money is largely going to out-of-state investors. The large solar farms that we see do not need to be subsidized. ~ Jeffrey Jones, Bangor

Column: Late Winter Ski Trek in Baxter State Park

DAILY BULLDOG • March 15, 2025

I close out a series of winter articles with this account of a Baxter State Park ski trek of nearly 20 miles, hauling a home-rigged pulk (pull) sled into the west-lying ponds region of the Park. In recent years, a good friend and I have made annual winter treks to Baxter, and to the neighboring Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. In winter, in lesser-traveled sections of the park, we usually see more wildlife than people. Doing so, we have seen weather extremes – deep cold, high winds, hard rain, and thickly falling snow, but also cloudless skies and even shirt-sleeve temperatures. We would have a taste of that variety on this trek, except for the shirt-sleeves. ~ Doug Dunlap

Column: These territorial birds are all angry with each other right now

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 14, 2025

While we wait for the migrants to arrive, we can amuse ourselves with the resident local birds that are gearing up for spring. I refer to eagles, crows and ravens. I saw my first crow carrying a stick last week. Crows, ravens and eagles all build stick nests, so expect to see lots of stick-carrying too. Use your sighting as a celebration. Spring is here.~ Bob Duchesne

Feds recommend four Kennebec River dams continue operating with minor fish passage modifications

MAINE MONITOR • March 14, 2025

Federal regulators issued guidance last month suggesting that four lower Kennebec River dams can continue operating if their owner makes slight modifications to allow endangered fish to pass through them. The stipulations outlined by Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff in a Feb. 28 report are far more lenient than what was proposed in requests from Maine environmental agencies, Wabanaki nations, and environmental advocates, who were hoping for significant passway expansions or the dams’ outright removal.

EPA freezes $15 million in Maine energy efficiency funds

MAINE PUBLIC • March 14, 2025

Efficiency Maine has lost access to $15 million in federal funding meant to boost clean energy and energy efficient projects in the state. The fund was part of a $20 billion clean bank established by the Biden-era Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced this week the funding would be terminated as part of the Trump administration's ongoing mission to seek out what it is calling fraud and abuse of public funds.

‘Damage can not be overstated’ Chellie Pingree says, raising concerns over national park workforce culling

TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY • March 14, 2025

Staffing cuts at the National Park Service, where more than 1,700 full-time workers were forced out just before the start of the 2025 tourist season, may be one of the first real tests of public support for the Trump administration’s efforts to slash the federal workforce. The impacts are already being seen at the 63 parks and 370 other sites managed and maintained by the Park Service: longer lines at entrances, reduced hours at visitor centers, canceled tours with park rangers and fewer trained staff to help with maintenance issues and emergencies. “The damage this Administration is inflicting on the National Park Service cannot be overstated,” said Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, the ranking member of the Interior-Environment Appropriations panel.

Federal regulators recommend Kennebec River dam relicensing

MORNING SENTINEL • March 14, 2025

Federal regulators are recommending that four Kennebec River dams receive new licenses, with some additional requirements to enhance endangered fish passage that go beyond what the dams’ operator had proposed. In a final environmental impact statement released at the end of February, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff outlined its recommendation for relicensing the Shawmut Hydroelectric Project near Fairfield and amending licenses of the Lockwood Hydroelectric Project in Waterville, the Hydro-Kennebec Hydroelectric Project in Waterville and the Weston Hydroelectric Project in Skowhegan. The Kennebec Coalition, made up of the Atlantic Salmon Federation, Maine Rivers, Natural Resources Council of Maine, Trout Unlimited and Trout Unlimited’s Kennebec Valley Chapter, criticized FERC’s recommendations.

Lunar eclipse stuns Mainers

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 14, 2025

Just after midnight on Thursday, the moon began its descent into the dark realms of the earth’s shadow, or umbra, transforming into a flaming, coppery red orb for all viewers in Maine. The moon was visible on Thursday evening and reached peak illumination by 2:55 a.m. on Friday morning. For the first time in three years, the total lunar eclipse — also known as the blood moon — was visible to all of North America.

Experts talk future of Maine dams in March ‘radio hour’

MAINE MONITOR • March 14, 2025

This month’s edition of “The Maine Monitor Radio Hour” features a panel discussion about the future of Maine’s dams, including the dams on Silver Lake, Alamoosook Lake, and Toddy Pond. Maine Monitor environmental reporter Emmett Gartner led the February 4 discussion with James Woidt (a lead author of the dams chapter of 2024 Report Card on Maine’s Infrastructure by the American Society of Civil Engineers), Susan Lessard (Bucksport town manager and Chair of the Maine Board of Environmental Protection) and Gina Bushong (a member of the Orland board of selectmen). With a number of federal licenses set to expire, and with smaller, state-regulated dams requiring immediate action to stay safe, Maine has a unique opportunity to influence the state’s network of dams.

Getting more Maine kids outside is the focus of new legislation

SPECTRUM NEWS • March 14, 2025

Lawmakers are considering a new bill to increase opportunities for kids in grades 4-8 to tap into the beauty and learning opportunities of the Maine outdoors. Advocates of the program say only 25% of Maine students get these types of experiences now. They are backing a bill to set up a statewide program to ensure three-day, two-night learning adventures for all. “Students in Maine are incredibly fortunate to be surrounded by such vast natural landscapes, however many do not get the chance to really take advantage of our environment,” Sen. Rick Bennett (R-Oxford) told members of the Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee on Thursday. His bill, LD 895, is similar to one that passed last session with broad bipartisan support. But it never got funded, so he brought back a new bill that sets up a framework for the program without needing any funding.

On Monhegan Island, artists create a record of ecological change

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 14, 2025

Artists have long visited the rocky shores of Monhegan 10 miles off the coast of Maine. Over time, they have created a sort of ecological record of their subject. The show, titled “Art, Ecology, and the Resilience of a Maine Island,” uses their work to tell a story about the way the landscape has changed and how it has stayed the same. An exhibit that encompasses the ecological record of Monhegan Island is on view now at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art and will travel this summer to the Monhegan Museum of Art and History.

Jay, Livermore, Livermore Falls residents submit ideas for master recreation plan

SUN JOURNAL • March 13, 2025

About 20 people gathered Tuesday at the Town Office to start the process of developing an outdoor master recreation and facilities plan for Jay, Livermore and Livermore Falls. The towns partnered with Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments, a regional planning agency, in Auburn. AVCOG partnered with consulting firm Fourth Economy based in Philadelphia, which helped Maine prepare a 10-year Outdoor Recreation Economy Roadmap. The towns and AVCOG joined together in obtaining a grant from U.S. Department of Environmental Protection Agency’s Recreation Economy for Rural Communities planning assistance program.

Maine loses $15M for energy efficiency, heat pump loans

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 13, 2025

Efficiency Maine Trust, the quasi-state agency that administers energy efficiency programs and disburses heat pump incentives, has lost access to about $15 million in federal funding that would have doubled its capacity to draw private capital for energy efficiency and clean energy programs. It’s one of more than two dozen nonprofit groups and agencies in the U.S. that the Trump administration has targeted by freezing and later canceling their assets.

EPA regulatory rollback risks Maine's air quality

MAINE PUBLIC • March 13, 2025

Maine’s air pollution will likely get worse if the Trump administration enacts a massive rollback of environmental regulations, according to public health and conservation advocates. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin plans more than 30 actions to reconsider rules including those that limit pollution from power plants, automobiles and the oil and gas industry. The agenda further targets protections aimed at lowering greenhouse gas emissions driving up global temperatures.

New coalition launches campaign to better market Maine's farmed seafood

MAINE PUBLIC • March 13, 2025

A group of aquaculture businesses and environmental organizations is launching a new campaign to better inform the public about Maine's farmed seafood industry. The Maine Farmed Seafood Coalition launched Thursday at Bangs Island Mussels in Portland. Paul Dobbins said the international group World Wildlife Fund joined the coalition because Maine has proven to be a leader in raising and regulating the farmed seafood industry. The coalition argues that locally farmed seafood is a more environmentally friendly option than the imported alternative, and that Maine's wide array of aquaculture businesses are primed to take on the challenges facing the state's traditional fisheries.

Diving into Maine’s eelgrass restoration push

TIMES RECORD • March 13, 2025

Scientists are working to restore what has been lost — roughly half of the native eelgrass cover. Bowdoin College senior Lucy Dutton helped scatter 40,000 seeds near Cousins and Little John Islands, just off the coast of Yarmouth. She has been busy working in the lab this winter, reserving some seeds to test germination rates. Her studies seek to reveal how aquatic plants respond to stress, such as temperature and salinity changes, in Petri dishes — knowledge that is vital for guiding future restoration along the East Coast.