Like many Mainers before me, I first felt the stirrings of an environmental consciousness somewhere between the Roaring Brook parking lot and Chimney Pond. It was a gift to grow up in Maine, where it is easy to live in proximity to natural beauty, and where I often felt that my daily life was well Read More
public lands
My Maine This Week: Jeff Toothaker
NRCM member Jeff Toothaker of Winthrop, Maine, shares this stunning image he captured on a recent trip to Western Maine. Jeff writes, “These are the peaks of Bigelow from east of Flagstaff Lake in Carrying Place Township on a warm day in November.” As most of the state has had some snow already this season, Read More
News & Noteworthy — November 2020
Read the latest news stories and opinion pieces related to the environment, including Maine’s air, land, water, and wildlife, in this month’s News & Noteworthy. November 25, 2020 Let’s start off the week with some great news stories about this year’s NRCM Conservation Leadership Award winners from their local papers: The Piscataquis Observer wrote a story Read More
Must-visit State Parks in Maine
How did we come up with this master list? We are the Rubys. We have been to every Maine State Park as a family and have camped at all of the Maine State Park family campgrounds. Lucky for us, we’ve camped at some of them on multiple occasions. What started as a silly idea back Read More
My Maine This Week: Zack Porter
This week, on August 11, we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the creation of Maine’s Ecological Reserve System. Ecological Reserves were created to serve as a benchmark for environmental and biological change over time; to protect habitat for wildlife; and to function as a site for research and education. Learn more about them on our Read More
Protecting Maine’s North Woods: The Legacy of Cathy Johnson
by Douglas Rooks For 30 years, there’s been no fiercer, more consistent, or passionate advocate of protecting the Maine woods and enhancing its wildness. Cathy Johnson came to the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM) in 1990, and two years later began working full-time on the North Woods project – a role she fulfilled for Read More
Hitting the Trails in Brunswick
A couple of weeks ago, my colleague at the Natural Resources Council of Maine shared some information about local trails near her home in Central Maine that she and her family have spent some time exploring recently. With people staying close to home during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is a great time to find local Read More
Finding New Places to Hike & Explore Close to Home
None of us could have imagined that this year, 2020, would be so disrupted. Life, as we knew it, has changed for all of us. We seek the solace that nature can provide—now more than ever—yet it is our civic duty to stay close to home to slow the spread of Covid-19. For our family, 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
