A LePage-backed bid to reduce buffer zones for development is overwhelmingly rejected. by Tom Bell, MaineToday Media State House Writer Portland Press Herald news story AUGUSTA – By a wide margin, the Maine Senate on Wednesday rejected an attempt by Gov. Paul LePage to roll back regulations aimed at protecting the state’s largest vernal pools. Read More
Clean & Free-flowing Waters
Thanks largely to the Clean Water Act, Maine’s great rivers are much cleaner than they were 40 years ago, but we still have a long way to go to restore many of them. NRCM continues to make clean water a high priority. NRCM was founded by a group of Mainers working to protect the Allagash River, which was designated as the nation's first Wild & Scenic River. Today, it is known as the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. In partnership with others, we also opened up part of the Kennebec River with the removal of the Edwards Dam, and we reopened 2,000 miles of habitat in the Penobscot River Watershed for Atlantic salmon and other sea-run fish.
Seeking to Cut Vernal Pool Buffer, LePage Spurns Warning of Federal Scrutiny, Lawmaker Compromise
By Steve Mistler, Staff Writer Sun Journal news story AUGUSTA — The LePage administration is continuing its push to reduce the state’s buffer zone for vernal pools, despite warnings that the temporary wetlands could suffer irreparable harm. The Maine House of Representatives on Friday unanimously killed a bill that would slice the current 250-foot buffer Read More
Sportsmen, Scientists, Clammers, and Others Speak Out Against Attacks on Water Quality Safeguards
NRCM * Maine Audubon * SAM * Maine Rivers * Maine Clammers’ Association * COLA * BRCA * Lakes Environmental Association AUGUSTA – At a statehouse news conference today, sportsmen, lake advocates, and experts on wildlife, water quality, and fisheries decried legislative attacks on Maine’s natural heritage. “There is an all-out assault on Maine’s water Read More
Vernal Pools at Center of Maine Environmental Regulation Debate
MPBN radio news story Conservationists, sportsmen and wetlands scientists gathered today in Augusta to speak out — again — against proposals before the Legislature. They complain the measures will undermine decades of progress by dirtying Maine’s waterways and polluting the wetlands that wading shorebirds and other waterfowl depend on to thrive. But Republicans say the Read More
A Feast—or Perhaps a Plague—of Frogs
A brief warning to readers before proceeding: this story could make you a bit queasy. Queasy doesn’t even begin to describe how I felt. I’ve never been a picky eater. My parents demanded that I eat everything on my plate, whatever it was. I remember as a kid dreading Easter dinner at my grandparents’ house Read More
Down East Woman Awarded for Anti-LNG Activism
Bangor Daily News news story PERRY, Maine — The Natural Resources Council of Maine has selected Vera Francis of Perry as the winner of its 2010 People’s Choice Award “for her work protecting Passamaquoddy Bay.” NRCM indicated in a press release announcing the award that the People’s Choice is one of the organization’s environmental awards, Read More
Freeing a River
In Maine, buying dams — and tearing them down — may save Atlantic salmon by Madeline Bodin Nature Conservancy Magazine story Summer 2010 In the chill of a late summer morning, Jan Paul leans over the gunwale of a small boat and submerges a plastic jar into Maine’s Penobscot River. In the stern, Dan Kusnierz Read More
Ten Years After Dam Removal Kennebec River Fish are Jumping Back
by Susan Sharon Maine Public Radio news story For centuries, dams that harnessed water power fueled factories around the Northeast. But the walled barriers prevented migrating fish from reaching their native spawning grounds. Water quality and entire ecosystems changed. Think about a dam on a river you know. Imagine what would happen if that structure Read More
Endangered Species Protections Extended to Atlantic Salmon on Three Major Maine Rivers
by Anne Ravana Maine Public Radio news story The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Service today extended endangered species protections to Atlantic salmon in the Penobscot, Kennebec, and Androscoggin rivers and their watersheds. The news has not been well received by some Maine officials. The state’s Department of Read More
