By Julia Bayly, BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story FORT KENT, Maine — State officials and the public got their first look at what Canadian-based J.D. Irving has in store for its 51,000 acres around the Fish River chain of lakes in northern Maine after the company filed its concept plan late last month. 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.
Irving Unveils Plan for 51K Acres of Maine Forest Land
By Ed Morin Maine Public news story Canada-based J.D. Irving has submitted a concept plan to state regulators with ideas about how the company wants to use 51,000 acres of forest land and lakes it owns in northern Aroostook County. Anthony Hourihan, Irving’s director of land development, says the goal of the plan is to Read More
Consultant’s Millinocket Report Seen to Have Little Effect on Katahdin Region National Park Efforts
By Nick Sambides Jr., BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story MILLINOCKET, Maine — Despite endorsing efforts to promote tourism around public lands, the blunt report from a Virginia economic development firm for Millinocket was silent on the largest possible project in line with that strategy: a North Woods national park. The leading advocate for Read More
North American Sightings of Elusive Snowy Owls Take Flight
By Barbara Goldberg, Reuters Bangor Daily News news story NEW YORK — The elusive snowy owl, rarely seen outside the Arctic, is turning up more frequently in the skies of North America than it does in the pages of a Harry Potter book, data from the National Audubon Society suggested on Wednesday. Sightings of the Read More
Land Deal Protects Nearly 5,800 Acres in Franklin County
The deal, which was finalized recently between The Trust for Public Land and Linkletter Timberlands, provides public access for recreation – including on two ITS snowmobile trails – while maintaining the land as a working forest. By Kevin Miller, Staff Writer Portland Press Herald news story A conservation group has finalized a land deal to Read More
Land Conservation Group Protects Forested Property in Franklin County for Jobs, Recreation
Bangor Daily News news story MADRID TOWNSHIP, Maine — A 5,774-acre forested property in Franklin County has been permanently protected through The Trust for Public Land, a national land conservation group with one of its 30 offices located in Portland. “Keeping forests as forests benefits all of us by safeguarding recreation and access important to Read More
A National Park Would Permanently Protect an Area Sacred to the Penobscot Nation
By Kirk Francis, Special to the BDN Bangor Daily News news story The Penobscot River is the heart of the cultural identity of the Penobscot Nation. We have been the caretakers of this great watershed since time immemorial, and we consider that responsibility to be a very serious priority for our tribe. The people of Read More
Irving Files Plan with Land Use Commission to Rezone 51,000 Acres Around Fish River Chain
by Don Eno, Reporter St. John Valley Times news story ST. JOHN VALLEY, Maine – More than 51,000 acres of land around the Fish River Chain of Lakes in the St. John Valley could be rezoned if the Maine Land Use Planning Commission approves a plan submitted Wednesday, Dec. 24, by J.D. Irving subsidiaries – Read More
Dead or Dormant? Proponents, Opponents Weigh In on Status of East-west Highway Proposal
By Nick Sambides Jr., BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story PITTSFIELD, Maine — The proposal to build a $2.1 billion, privately funded east-west highway connecting two Canadian provinces through Maine is not dead, just on the back burner, a spokesman for the plan’s main proponent said Monday. “We have sort of lowered the temperature Read More