Mars Hill Wind Tour Participants Learn First-hand about Wind Farm

Many Mainers joined the Natural Resources Council of Maine on Saturday, September 29th, for our second excursion to Maine —and New England’s— only large wind farm, located at Mars Hill.  The group toured the ridge line, met with wind farm developer UPC Wind, enjoyed the incredible fall colors, and went round the mountain to gain perspectives from town officials and residents about the benefits of wind power to our environment and on local communities and to hear the project on a windy day from multiple locations. The weather ended up cooperating and we had at the very least partly sunny skies and steady winds, hot summer sun and beautiful fall colors greeting us in Mars Hill.

Mars Hill

So now with two fun and educational trips to tour the Mars Hill Wind Farm under our belt, we wanted to share our thoughts with you and encourage others to share their experiences. We’d also love for this to be a place where people can ask questions to anyone who has visited the Mars Hill Wind Farm to continue the dialogue about the role of wind energy in Maine. At least seventy people have now joined NRCM in visiting Mars Hill…so there are many perspectives and impressions of the wind project to be shared rather than simply taking my word for it!

I also want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has participated in the first two trips – especially those who traveled from south of Portland! It’s a long trip, but one that I think is absolutely worth it to experience the wind project first hand and to hear from a few of the many voices in Mars Hill. I also want to thank Dave Cowan and Ryan Fonbuena from UPC Wind, Pat DeFilipp from Reed & Reed, Ray Mersereau, Big Rock Ski Area (especially Mike Brown and Travis Kearney), Rick Hawksley, Jim Shaw, Harry Orser, and Lisa & Steve Burtt for sharing their time and the positive story of Mars Hill Wind, Al’s Diner for letting us take over for a few hours, and Scott Riccio from Northeast Charter & Tour Co for getting us safely to, from, and around Mars Hill! The trip wouldn’t be possible without all of these incredible folks! And without those of you who chose to come learn more about the future of wind energy in Maine!

For those of you who were not able to come along you can visit our Mars Hill page to learn more about the project, our trips, and view a photo slide show of the day. We will also have a 45 minute video from the September trip ready for viewing in early-mid November. We’re hoping our next visit will be a ski/snowshoe adventure at the Big Rock Ski Area this winter!  Stay tuned for a virtual tour on our website and coming to a public access TV station near you:

If you’ve been to Mars Hill please share your thoughts below with others and feel free to write in as often as you’d like – this is another way for you to speak to others about your experience! We look forward to reading your comments!