This week, the public will have another opportunity to learn about and comment on Central Maine Power’s New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) project, a proposed 145-mile transmission line that would carry hydropower from Quebec to Massachusetts. On December 5, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers�the federal agency responsible for wetland and waterway regulation and […]
Forests
National Audubon Reports on Climate Risks to Maine Birds
A new report gives projections for how climate change will impact the ranges of hundreds of bird species. Maine Audubon is working to minimize these impacts.
Bird numbers declining by the billions
A shocking new report published this week in the journal Science has outlined what many avid birders in Maine have been telling us for years: the number of birds we are seeing in our fields, forests, coastlines, and even our feeders is shrinking. Dramatically shrinking — on average by 29%, or one in every four […]
NECEC AND FOREST FRAGMENTATION PART 4: THE WOOD TURTLE
This is the fourth post in our series on the wildlife impacts of Central Maine Power’s proposed New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) transmission line project. As we wrote in our introductory post, Maine Audubon feels strongly that NECEC and its mitigation plan offer unsatisfactory protections for Maine wildlife and is especially deficient in its […]
Maine Audubon Comments on the Proposed NECEC Transmission Line
This week we’ve been posting a blog series on the potential impacts of the proposed New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) transmission line. If approved, the project would carve a 150-foot corridor through the Maine North Woods between the Maine / Canada border and The Forks. Maine Audubon and others have been critical of NECEC […]
Statement on LUPC Adoption of New Development Rules in the North Woods
Maine Audubon is deeply disappointed by the Land Use Planning Commission’s (LUPC) vote on April 2 to adopt rules to open tens of thousands of acres of Maine’s North Woods to subdivisons and commercial development. There was very little discussion by the Commissioners before the vote, which is the most significant policy change in the […]
NECEC AND FOREST FRAGMENTATION PART 2: THE OVENBIRD
We’re continuing our series on Central Maine Power’s proposed New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) transmission line project focusing on the potential impacts to Maine wildlife. Maine Audubon feels strongly that NECEC and its mitigation plan offer unsatisfactory protections for Maine wildlife and is especially deficient in its consideration of habitat fragmentation. (Read Part I […]
New England Clean Energy Connect and the Impacts of Forest Fragmentation
New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) is a transmission line proposed to bring electricity from hydro facilities in Quebec to consumers in Massachusetts. In the proposed path of construction for the transmission line lies a 53-mile stretch of undeveloped Maine woods between the Canadian border and The Forks. Construction of NECEC would carve a 150-foot-wide […]
We Spoke Up Today to Protect the Maine Woods
Today, Maine Audubon stood with over 25 individuals and organizations before the Land Use Planning Commission (LUPC, Commission) in Brewer to express our deep concern about their proposed rules that would dramatically change how new development is located in Maine’s unorganized territories — better known as Maine’s North Woods. We heard from residents of Forest […]