Flags are symbols that can mean different things to different people, but there is generally a shared understanding of the values they represent. Wilderness is similar in that it embodies an ideal ecological state. A mental picture of wilderness is easy to call up: You might imagine free-flowing rivers, bountiful wildlife, or dark, starfilled skies. Read More
land conservation
The Timeless Importance of Wilderness in Maine
As the campaign to create the Allagash Wilderness Waterway heated up more than 50 years ago, Lew Dietz wrote: “A river that can serve, not the demands of man’s materials needs, but as a sanctuary of the human spirit, is a large river indeed.” Sentiments like this ring true today as our planet is increasingly Read More
US Senate Passes Great American Outdoors Act to Reinvest in Maine’s Outdoor Economy
Senate Bill Championed by Senators Collins and King NRCM news release June 17, 2020 (Augusta, ME) – The United States Senate today overwhelmingly passed the Great American Outdoors Act to expand access to the outdoors and support Maine’s recreation economy. The bill, which was championed by Senators Susan Collins and Angus King, will fully and Read More
What’s Happening to the Plum Creek Plan for Moosehead Lake?
Fifteen years ago, the Natural Resources Council of Maine and people who love Maine’s North Woods were embroiled in a protracted campaign to prevent the Seattle-based Plum Creek Timber Company from forever ruining the Moosehead Lake region with the largest development proposal in Maine history. Over a five-year period, ending in 2009, we collectively achieved Read More
Maine’s Outdoor Spaces Offer Respite During Trying Times
In E. O. Wilson’s 1984 book Biophilia, the world-renowned biologist and Harvard University professor described an innate “love of life” that humans have, meaning, we are drawn to nature. In an interview with PBS, he said this intrinsic attraction is so basic that he believed most people understand it and that it’s slowly instilling a Read More
Land for Maine’s Future: 3 Reasons LMF is about More than Land Conservation
When Land for Maine’s Future (LMF) was enacted in 1987, the program was remarkably forward-looking and a harbinger of good things to come. Over the past three decades, LMF has become Maine’s most important and popular land conservation program. But the program has not received any new funding since 2012, which is why we’re working Read More
A Second Chance for the Moosehead Lake Region?
From 2004 through 2009, the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM) worked hard to stop Plum Creek’s sprawling development plan for the Moosehead Lake region. During a four-year permitting process that included extensive comments from NRCM, the plan was amended in many ways to reduce impacts on remote ponds and resources; significant conservation was required; Read More
New Canadian National Park is Good for Maine’s Birds
What is the largest protected area you know? Is it Baxter State Park? Yellowstone? Are you sitting down? Thaidene Nene, a new Canadian national park reserve, is more than 25 times larger than Baxter and more than twice the size of Yellowstone. At more than six million acres, Thaidene Nene is one of the largest Read More
Bill Would Guarantee Funding for Land and Water Conservation Fund
NRCM news release June 13, 2019 – Land and water conservation projects nationwide would receive a big boost from a bipartisan bill introduced this week to guarantee full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), one of the nation’s most important conservation programs. The bill, HR 3195, introduced in the U.S. House of Read More