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Preparing for the Emerald Ash Borer: Announcing our spring webinar series – Maine Audubon

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Preparing for the Emerald Ash Borer: Announcing our spring webinar series – Maine Audubon


Background:
Emerald Ash Borer poses a uniquely devastating threat to Maine’s ecology, economy, and cultural history. Three native species of ash, all of which are key ecological and economic keystones, are being destroyed by the invasive pest which has been introduced in North American temperate forests. Climate change has aided the insect’s broadening range, while also adding to other stresses these trees and our forests face. International governments have been observing, studying, and responding to the EAB crisis for over a decade. As the borer advances east from Michigan, we have learned from federal, state, and tribal officials and experts what to expect, how we can prepare, and actions we can take to make our forests and communities more resilient. Through this partnership, this project will help develop a response to the EAB crisis as it unfolds across Maine, and will also contribute to the broader continental response by indigenous and settler governments and communities.

The Franxinus or Ash genus is unique in several ways. It is among the most abundant trees in Maine forests. Two species, F. pennsylvanica and F. americana, are also prolific street and landscape trees in developed areas. The third species, F. nigra, is a species central to the origins and culture of indigenous nations, communities, and people that continue to thrive and use Brown Ash for medicine, ceremony, artwork, and forest products throughout the entire region affected by EAB. These three attributes of Ash convey the magnitude of what is at stake when an entire genus of trees is potentially wiped from diverse landscapes which depend on it.

Announcing our Spring 2025 Webinar Series: Preparing for EAB

Since the earliest documented occurrences of Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) in Maine in 2013, Maine Audubon has been working with federal, state, and municipal forestry staff, as well as with indigenous scholars, cultural knowledge sharers, and basketmakers to better understand and plan our response to the ecological, cultural, and economic threats this invasive insect poses for the three species of Ash (Fraxinus spp.) native to Maine.

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During May and June, Maine Audubon and partners will host a four-part series of evening webinars, each of which will focus on a specific aspect of the looming EAB crisis. Leaders from government, research, and cultural organizations will educate and inspire us about ash trees and what can be done to conserve them. The webinars will take place at 6 pm every other Thursday evening starting on May 8 and run through June 19.

Register for these free webinars:

May 8: Allison Kanoti, MFS – Impacts and response in Maine
Maine Forest Service entomologist Allison Kanoti will introduce us to the importance of Fraxinus (all three species) to forests, developed landscapes, and the economy. Allison will also cover the history of EAB presence and impacts in Maine to date, the state response, and how we all can get involved to help.  Register >

May 22: Tony D’Amato, University of Vermont—Benefits and ecosystem services of Ash
Tony D’Amato is a regionally esteemed forest ecologist who will share the natural history of Fraxinus and present for us the innumerable benefits of having Ash in our forests and in our neighborhoods. Register >

June 5: APCAW panel—Cultural importance of Ash, multicultural response to EAB
Ash Protection Collaboration Across Wabanakik presents a panel of basketmakers, scholars, foresters, and researchers to share and discuss the importance and benefits of a blended, multicultural approach to protecting our ash, as well as how people can get involved to support this work. Register >

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June 19: Theresa Secord—Honoring basketmakers, MIBA, and our shared cultural heritage
Founder of the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance (MIBA) and recent recipient of a $100,000 award from the Ruth Foundation for the Arts, Penobscot basketmaker Theresa Secord will offer a culminating presentation on the cultural and community implications of conserving Brown Ash. Theresa will share her craft and connections related to the tree at the center of Wabanaki origins. Register >

Thanks to a new grant from the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund, Maine Audubon is partnering with our friends at Ash Protection Collaboration Across Wabanakik, a group of Indigenous and non-indigenous researchers, Tribal members, and forest caretakers, to develop new educational programming, community science, school curricula, and publications which will help leaders, land managers, and the general public understand, honor, and conserve our beloved and critically important Ash trees in forests and communities throughout Maine and beyond.

Look for more news on our website and at Maine Audubon centers and sanctuaries starting this summer.





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Program doubles enrollment, expands to more Maine schools

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Program doubles enrollment, expands to more Maine schools


Central Maine Power is expanding its Union Trade Internship Program in 2026, increasing opportunities for Maine high school students to gain hands-on experience in the electric utility industry.

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CMP expands union trade internship program for Maine students

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Central Maine Power is expanding its Union Trade Internship Program in 2026, increasing opportunities for Maine high school students to gain hands-on experience in the electric utility industry.

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Updated: 11:47 AM EDT Apr 14, 2026

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Central Maine Power is expanding its Union Trade Internship Program in 2026, increasing opportunities for Maine high school students to gain hands-on experience in the electric utility industry.Now in its second year, the 10-week paid program will double enrollment, expand to additional schools in central and southern Maine, and broaden training to include both line and substation operations. The program will serve 10 students ages 16 and older, selected through a competitive recruitment and interview process in partnership with participating schools.The internship runs from June to August and includes classroom instruction at CMP’s training center in Farmingdale, along with supervised field experience alongside union crews. Students will learn foundational skills such as pole climbing, bucket truck operation, breaker and transformer maintenance, and the safe use of tools and protective equipment. Participants will not work on live electrical wires.The program is aimed at strengthening the workforce pipeline for skilled trades while giving students early exposure to careers in the energy sector and supporting partnerships between CMP and Maine schools.

Central Maine Power is expanding its Union Trade Internship Program in 2026, increasing opportunities for Maine high school students to gain hands-on experience in the electric utility industry.

Now in its second year, the 10-week paid program will double enrollment, expand to additional schools in central and southern Maine, and broaden training to include both line and substation operations. The program will serve 10 students ages 16 and older, selected through a competitive recruitment and interview process in partnership with participating schools.

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The internship runs from June to August and includes classroom instruction at CMP’s training center in Farmingdale, along with supervised field experience alongside union crews. Students will learn foundational skills such as pole climbing, bucket truck operation, breaker and transformer maintenance, and the safe use of tools and protective equipment. Participants will not work on live electrical wires.

The program is aimed at strengthening the workforce pipeline for skilled trades while giving students early exposure to careers in the energy sector and supporting partnerships between CMP and Maine schools.

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Carbon removal project supports Maine’s blue economy, broader marine health

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Carbon removal project supports Maine’s blue economy, broader marine health


Oceans absorb roughly 25 to 30 percent of the carbon dioxide (CO2) that is released into the atmosphere. When this CO2 dissolves in seawater, it forms carbonic acid, making the water more acidic and altering its chemistry. Elevated levels of acidity are harmful to marine life like corals, oysters, and certain plankton that rely on calcium carbonate to build shells and skeletons.

“As the oceans absorb more CO2, the chemistry shifts — increasing bicarbonate while reducing carbonate ion availability — which means shellfish have less carbonate to form shells,” explains Kripa Varanasi, professor of mechanical engineering at MIT. “These changes can propagate through marine ecosystems, affecting organism health and, over time, broader food webs.”

Loss of shellfish can lead to water quality decline, coastal erosion, and other ecosystem disruptions, including significant economic consequences for coastal communities. “The U.S. has such an extensive coastline, and shellfish aquaculture is globally valued at roughly $60 billion,” says Varanasi. “With the right innovations, there is a substantial opportunity to expand domestic production.”

“One might think, ‘this [depletion] could happen in 100 years or something,’ but what we’re finding is that they are already affecting hatcheries and coastal systems today,” he adds. “Without intervention, these trends could significantly alter marine ecosystems and the coastal economies that rely on them over time.”

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Varanasi and T. Alan Hatton, the Ralph Landau Professor of Chemical Engineering, Post-Tenure, at MIT, have been collaborating for years to develop methods for removing carbon dioxide from seawater and turn acidic water back to alkaline. In recent years, they’ve partnered with researchers at the University of Maine Darling Marine Center to deploy the method in hatcheries.

“The way we farm oysters, we spawn them in special tanks and rear them through about a two-week larval period … until they’re big enough so that they can be transferred out into the river as the water warms up,” explains Bill Mook, founder of Mook Sea Farm. Around 2009, he noticed problems with production of early-stage larvae. “It was a catastrophe. We lost several hundred thousand dollars’ worth of production,” he says.

Ultimately, the problem was identified as the low pH of the water that was being brought in: The water was too acidic. The farm’s initial strategy, a common practice in oyster farming, was to buffer the water by adding sodium bicarbonate. The new approach avoids the use of chemicals or minerals.

“A lot of researchers are studying direct air capture, but very few are working in the ocean-capture space,” explains Hatton. “Our approach is to use electricity, in an electrochemical manner, rather than add chemicals to manipulate the solution pH.”

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The method uses reactive electrodes to release protons into seawater that is collected and fed into the cells, driving the release of the dissolved carbon dioxide from the water. The cyclic process acidifies the water to convert dissolved inorganic bicarbonates to molecular carbon dioxide, which is collected as a gas under vacuum. The water is then fed to a second set of cells with a reversed voltage to recover the protons and turn the acidic water back to alkaline before releasing it back to the sea.

Maine’s Damariscotta River Estuary, where Mook farms is located, provides about 70 percent of the state’s oyster crop. Damian Brady, a professor of oceanography based at the University of Maine and key collaborator on the project, says the Damariscotta community has “grown into an oyster-producing powerhouse … [that is] not only part of the economy, but part of the culture.” He adds, “there’s actually a huge amount that we could learn if we couple the engineering at MIT with the aquaculture science here at the University of Maine.”

“The scientific underpinning of our hypothesis was that these bivalve shellfish, including oysters, need calcium carbonate in order to form their shells,” says Simon Rufer PhD ’25, a former student in Varanasi’s lab and now CEO and co-founder of CoFlo Medical. “By alkalizing the water, we actually make it easier for the oysters to form and maintain their shells.”

In trials conducted by the team, results first showed that the approach is biocompatible and doesn’t kill the larvae, and later showed that the oysters treated by MIT’s buffer approach did better than mineral or chemical approaches. Importantly, Hatton also notes, the process creates no waste products. Ocean water goes in, CO2 comes out. This captured CO2 can potentially be used for other applications, including to grow algae to be used as food for shellfish.

Varanasi and Hatton first introduced their approach in 2023. Their most recent paper, “Thermodynamics of Electrochemical Marine Inorganic Carbon Removal,” which was published last year in journal Environmental Science & Technology, outlines the overall thermodynamics of the process and presents a design tool to compare different carbon removal processes. The team received a “plus-up award” from ARPA-E to collaborate with University of Maine and further develop and scale the technology for application in aquaculture environments.

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Brady says the project represents another avenue for aquaculture to contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation. “It pushes a new technology for removing carbon dioxide from ocean environments forward simultaneously,” says Brady. “If they can be coupled, aquaculture and carbon dioxide removal improve each other’s bottom line.”

Through the collaboration, the team is improving the robustness of the cells and learning about their function in real ocean environments. The project aims to scale up the technology, and to have significant impact on climate and the environment, but it includes another big focus.

“It’s also about jobs,” says Varanasi. “It’s about supporting the local economy and coastal communities who rely on aquaculture for their livelihood. We could usher in a whole new resilient blue economy. We think that this is only the beginning. What we have developed can really be scaled.”

Mook says the work is very much an applied science, “[and] because it’s applied science, it means that we benefit hugely from being connected and plugged into academic institutions that are doing research very relevant to our livelihoods. Without science, we don’t have a prayer of continuing this industry.”

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New York homicide suspect arrested in Maine

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New York  homicide suspect arrested in Maine


WATERVILLE, Maine (WGME) — A 19-year-old wanted for homicide in connection with multiple gang-related shootings in New York has been arrested in Maine.

Police say they searched a home at 439 West River Road in Waterville on Friday around 11 a.m. and found 19-year-old David McCadney of New York.

According to police, McCadney was wanted in New York for second degree homicide in connection with multiple gang-related shootings.

McCadney was arrested and charged with fugitive from justice and is being held without bail at the Kennebec County Correctional Facility.

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McCadney is expected to be extradited back to New York at a later date.



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