In response to recommendations made by the Governor’s Ocean Energy Task Force, Maine’s Public Utilities Commission will release a solicitation by September 1 for an offshore commercial wind farm. In April, the legislature passed a law implementing the recommendations of the task force (public law 2010, chapter 615), which directs the utilities commission to solicit
Well Out to Sea: Year-Round on Matinicus Island
The world stands still where we are. And that small piece of planet is ours alone. However cluttered in crowds of colleagues, comrades, friends, or family, we each receive the messages of earth and respond to them, from our separate stance. Eva Murray’s stance on the small island of Matinicus, twenty-two miles out to sea,
Students say goodbye to CREST
After five years, thousands of students, and over 40 community-based projects, the Community for Rural Education Stewardship and Technology project, CREST, is winding down. The $2 million National Science Foundation-funded Island Institute program, part of the Information Technology Experiences for Students & Teachers (ITEST) initiative, has spent the past five years linking classroom technology with
Volunteers, students work to restore an island with a long history
What happened nearly 70 years ago on Little Chebeague Island is hard for us to imagine today: a quiet summer colony on an 86-acre island in Casco Bay that included the site of a summer hotel and farmed fields, suddenly taken over by the federal government for the use of the U.S. Navy. But around
Field Notes: Island and remote coastal schools: a national model for rural technology education
I recall visiting a middle-school classroom on Swan’s Island in 2003. The teacher sat behind her desk looking at a new Apple laptop, thanks to legislation passed in 2001 that would ensure one-to-one computing for Maine’s 5th and 6th grade students. Sitting there, she wondered aloud about the best way to put the computer to
Maine adopts limited-entry program for island fishermen
In January 2011, residents of Maine’s year-round island communities will have increased access to Maine’s lobster fishery. Last year, LD 1231: An Act To Protect the Long-term Viability of Island Lobster Fishing Communities, sponsored by Speaker Hannah Pingree, was passed into law. This summer, the Maine Department of Marine Resources held three Public Hearings to
Tradition and innovation define Brooklin Boat Yard
In the 1970s Steve White left his studies at Cornell University and made his way to Aspen, Colorado, where he was offered a position as a ski instructor. After writing home to tell of his intent to take the new-found position, White received some words of advice from his grandfather, renowned author and essayist E.B.
One lobsterman’s 15 minutes of fame
In early June, I received an e-mail from my friend, Shira, the art teacher at the Islesford School on Little Cranberry Island. “I’m writing you on behalf of my husband David, who works for the park. The Today Show is coming to film in Acadia National Park and they want some footage with a lobster
Lights, camera, action on Swan’s Island
“The Tully Girls is a story about my great, great, great grandmother, Azubah Tully Warner, and her eight sisters”, says film director John MacKay. MacKay is a summer resident on Swan’s Island where filming for his full-length docudrama is underway. The idea for the film came when MacKay’s father died and he received a collection
Community center revitalization project underway on Long Island
Like every remodeling project, the renovation of the Long Island Community Center began small and then just grew. Soon, there was a huge list of things that needed to be done, including bringing the entire building up to code. “It started out when we were talking about how we needed another electrical outlet in the