By Nick Sambides Jr., BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story AUGUSTA, Maine — The first legislative review of Gov. Paul LePage’s attempt to prevent the creation of a national monument within Maine began badly for him when one of the state’s top environmental attorneys advised that no state law could accomplish the governor’s goal. Read More
Forests and Wildlife
NRCM works to protect Maine’s natural areas and wild, undeveloped character, particularly in the North Woods. We support responsible land development and sustainable forest practices that protect sensitive ecosystems and wildlife. We work for increased public ownership of Maine lands, so future generations will know the Maine we love today.
Protection of Maine’s natural, remote areas was one of the issues for which NRCM was founded in 1959. More than 60 years later, much progress has been made but major threats to Maine’s land and water resources continue.
Read news & blogs about our work to protect Maine's forests and wildlife.
LePage’s Bill Aims to Prevent National Monument Status for North Woods
By A.J. Higgins MPBN news story Plans to preserve large sections of Maine’s North Woods for a future national park could be undermined by a bill advanced by Gov. Paul LePage. The bill targets efforts by Roxanne Quimby and her son Lucas St. Clair, who have held discussions with federal officials that could lead to Read More
Chasing the Dream: A Vacation on the Proposed National Park Lands
Despite a nearly snowless winter, I took advantage of a small window of opportunity to ski the Katahdin Woods and Water Recreation Areas (KWW) with family and friends last week. In fact, our window was so tight, we skied well-groomed trails one day and waded through a massive rain puddle the next. Under any conditions, Read More
Nahmakanta Dreams
I first explored the Nahmakanta Public Reserved Land Unit, located southwest of Baxter State Park, while guiding a 10-day wilderness canoe and work experience for disadvantaged youth about 20 years ago. Together, four guides and eight kids spent a little less than a week constructing trails throughout the Nahmakanta Unit and then paddled the St. Read More
Why Continuing Dialogue is Crucial to the National Park Debate
By The BDN Editorial Board Bangor Daily News editorial The debate over the potential of a national park in the Maine woods has taken on urgency as the National Park Service and White House have shown an interest in creating a national monument near Baxter State Park. Elliotsville Plantation Inc., a nonprofit foundation started by Read More
LePage has Nothing to Show for His Monthslong Tirade Against Land for Maine’s Future
By The BDN Editorial Board Bangor Daily News editorial The Land for Maine’s Future ship that Gov. Paul LePage tried to topple last year seems well on its way to being righted — at least in the interim. LePage late last year said he would finally back down from his refusal to release $5 million Read More
Report on Land for Maine’s Future Doesn’t Back Up Governor’s Claims
An extensive inquiry by the LePage administration recommends minor fixes to the popular program but finds nothing to suggest that it is ‘corrupt.’ Portland Press Herald editorial Of all the insults Gov. LePage has leveled at the Land for Maine’s Future program, the most damaging and accusatory is that it is “corrupt” – not a Read More
Trailblazing Maine Environmental Reporter Bob Cummings Dies at 86
A 1972 story by the longtime writer for the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram resulted in 400,000 acres of Maine forestland being returned to the people of the state. By Edward D. Murphy and Beth Quimby, Staff Writers Portland Press Herald news story Bob Cummings, whose trailblazing journalism for the Portland Press Herald and Maine Read More
Study Finds Gulf of Maine Warming Faster Than Thought
By Sean Horgan, The Daily News of Newburyport Portland Press Herald news story The news just keeps getting worse for cold-temperature fish such as cod in the ever-warming waters of the Gulf of Maine. A new study, conducted by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researchers and appearing in the Journal of Geophysical Research — Oceans, Read More