Decades of dam building had decimated migratory fish populations that had long sustained local wildlife and people on the Penobscot River. After years of contentious battles, local stakeholders struck a deal. Today, for the first time in 200 years, river life is rebounding. And the power company has not lost any hydropower generation. By Laura Read More
Concern for Maine’s Lakes: An Afternoon on Belgrade’s Great Pond
As Susan MacKenzie wrote about in her recent post, on June 10, a group of NRCM Board members and staff joined Professor Whitney King of Colby College to learn about the waters of Great Pond in Belgrade. Whitney gave quite an eye-opening presentation as he shared some of the startling research data currently being collected Read More
Maine’s LakeSmart Program: Good for You, Good for Maine’s Lakes
On June 10 several NRCM Board and staff members spent a delightful couple of hours with Dr. Whitney King, the Dr. Frank and Theodora Miselis Professor of Chemistry at Colby College and a member of the Maine Lake Resource Center Board of Directors. Following a brief introduction to the ecological and social history of the Read More
Comments in Support of the Expanded Polystyrene Foam Ban Ordinance and the Ordinance to Institute Fees on Single-Use Disposable Bags
Good evening Mayor Brennan and members of the Council. My name is Sarah Lakeman, I am the Sustainable Maine Policy Advocate for the Natural Resources Council of Maine. I am speaking as a Portland resident and on behalf of NRCM’s more than 16,000 members and supporters, of which more than 1,100 live in Portland. I Read More
Why the Katahdin Region Needs a National Park
by Georgia Manzo, Special to the BDN Bangor Daily News op-ed Imagine reading this: “As you consider settling in the Katahdin region, establishing a business and starting your family here, did you know that we have a thriving hospital, a newly renovated municipal airport and a strengthened school system, as well as both a state Read More
My Maine This Week: Rick Alexander
This is a photo taken on Deer Isle looking south from the Sunshine Road. Isle Au Haut in the far distance. Taken May 29, 2014. Photo by NRCM member Rick Alexander of Blue Hill, Maine. This is a photo of Blue Hill Harbor, May 26, 2014. Shot from the Mill Stream Bridge waiting for the Read More
New Report Highlights Tar Sands Threat to Migratory Birds
Interior Department Must Declare Canada is Undermining International Wildlife Protections News Release Destructive mining and drilling practices in the heart of Canada’s boreal forest—a huge and important bird nursery—are putting millions of America’s migratory birds at risk and have already resulted in potentially hundreds of thousands of fatalities, according to an issue brief released today Read More
Naked Guy and Other Abuses Cause Landowner to Post Her Land
By George Smith, Maine Woods blog post Bangor Daily News After posting three columns about the sad state of landowner relations in Maine, it’s time to start telling the stories of some long-suffering private landowners. After reading the initial columns in this series on landowner relations, Pam Wells emailed me her story. Pam and her Read More
Getting Down to Business on Climate Change
by Bonnie Frye Hemphill Friday morning, June 6, was a big day for Maine’s growing clean economy. Some 200 Portland-area business and community leaders gathered to celebrate Maine’s climate progress with the decade-old Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), and now, to celebrate brand-new U.S. EPA carbon pollution standards that ask the rest of the country’s Read More
