Oh, and of course, I knew once #AmazonCorp announced plans to build a warehouse in #GorhamME, the #GorhamConnector would rear its ugly head again... And even though #JanetMills' brother #PeterMills is no longer in charge of #MDOT doesn't mean the new director won't be pushing this... Instead of a light rail system or rapid bus transit on the existing roads (and / or safer bike lanes. I knew friends who used to bike from Gorham to Portland, but it got too dangerous because of a lack of dedicated bike lanes and speeders).

#MDOT will launch new examination of traffic issues west of Portland

The state study will focus on Gorham, #ScarboroughME, #SouthPortlandME and #WestbrookME.

Robert Lowell, April 22, 2026

Excerpt: "The announcement of the new study comes just days before Amazon goes to the Gorham Planning Board on May 4, seeking approval for a warehouse and distribution center on Main Street (Route 25). Traffic will likely be one issue fueling concerns about the Amazon project.

"The study also comes in the aftermath of plans the Maine Turnpike Authority shelved last year for a four-lane toll road connector to Gorham. The connector was aimed at reducing commuter rush-hour traffic in the routes 22 and 114 commuter corridor [which the #Maine Legislature failed to make go away!]

"A connector would have linked the roundabout at South Street (Route 114) and the southerly end of Gorham’s Bernard Rines Bypass with the turnpike’s Exit 45 in South Portland. The connector proposal was met with a public outcry because it called for cutting a swath through #SmilingHillFarm in #WestbrookME."

Read more:
https://www.pressherald.com/2026/04/22/mdot-will-launch-new-examination-of-traffic-issues-west-of-portland/

Archived version:
https://archive.md/Rh3bH

#MainePol #InducedSprawl #Maine #RuralLife #SaveTheFarms #SaveRedBrook #MainersForSmarterTransportation #Maine #MaineNews #GorhamBypass #GorhamSpur #Maine #RapidTransit #SaveTheFarms #ProtectTheForest #InducedDemand #Sprawl #SaveRedBrook #ProtectTheWetlands #BrookTrout #SaveTheForest #Wildlife #HuskyLine #RapidBusTransit

What's on my mind? Why #SmilingHillFarm! And yeah, I suspect #MTA / #MDOT is going to try and build the #GorhamConnector again, since the bill to kill the connector failed. I heard the new Maine Turnpike Authority director on WMPG earlier today. It sounds like they are going to have MDOT push the connector through -- rather than build #LightRail or a #RapidTransitBusSystem or safer #BikeLanes! smh...

#Maine - Bill to kill Gorham Connector crashes in committee

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 8, 2025

"A bill that would ensure the controversial Gorham Connector proposal is dead was soundly rejected by the Legislature’s transportation committee this week. LD 1020 would repeal 2017 legislation that directed the Maine Turnpike Authority to plan and build a toll highway extension from South Portland, through Scarborough and Westbrook, to Gorham. The bill follows the authority’s announcement in March that it enlisted the Maine Department of Transportation to consider alternative solutions to commuter traffic congestion west of Portland. Neither agency has said the connector proposal has been dropped entirely."

https://www.restore.org/maineenvironews/2025/5/9/bill-to-kill-gorham-connector-crashes-in-committee

#SaveTheFarms #SaveSmilingHillFarm #GorhamConnector #InducedSprawl #SaveRedBrook #Maine #InducedDemand #ProtectTheWetlands #BrookTrout #HuskyLine #RapidBusTransit #MainersForSmarterTransportation

#ScarboroughLandTrust acquires 130 acres to expand #conservation area

The 130-acre addition to #SilverBrookPreserve expands contiguous conserved lands.

Dana Richie, July 30, 2025

"The Scarborough Land Trust is expanding its green footprint in Western Scarborough with the addition of a 130-acre parcel to the Silver Brook Preserve at 65 Hanson Road.

"This is a sizable boost to the preserve that was previously made up of a 19-acre parcel purchased in 2001 and an 18-acre parcel purchased in 2024. And it expands the contiguous block of conserved land in the area to 943 acres, 600 of which are within the SLT’s stewardship.

" 'It really rounds out 25 years of conservation efforts,' said Christine Labaree, president of the land trust’s board of directors.

"The Silver Brook Preserve is home to a variety of wildlife including wild brook trout, spotted turtles, deer, bobcats, bats and maybe even a black bear or two.
And the land directly abuts #BroadturnFarm, a 434-acre parcel under the SLT’s stewardship complete with a working farm and wooded trails — the spot where Andrew Mackie, executive director of the land trust, and Labaree met on a hot and sticky afternoon.

"While walking along the #MapleSugarTrail by the edge of an open field full of tall grasses speckled with trees, Mackie said that the Silver Brook Preserve is across the tree line in the distance. Plunging deeper in the woods, past a still brook surrounded by a canopy of green, he pointed to a tree that bore a sign for the Stonewall Loop, a 1-mile trail in the Western corner of the property.

"Mackie explained that the land trust plans to extend that loop into the Silver Lake Preserve property, adding about 2 miles of trails and parking onto the new parcel within the next two years.

"Right now, the Silver Brook Preserve is open to the public for activities like hiking, skiing, snowshoeing, wildlife observation, hunting and fishing, and Mackie said that the land trust is still figuring out a lot of the policies for the preserve, like whether dogs will be required to be leashed.

"Western Scarborough isn’t the only area in town where the land trust is working to 'seed and grow' its conserved areas. There are 500 acres of contiguous conserved land in Pleasant Hill, made up of the 187-acre #PleasantHillPreserve and 300-acre #RachelCarsonNationalWildlifeRefuge. And #WarrenWoods, which was originally 162 acres in 2012, is now 313 acres, with plans in the works to connect trails to The Downs.

" 'The goal is that every neighborhood in Scarborough has opportunities to have access to open land,' Labaree said. The land trust is working with the town to achieve its goal of '30 by 30' — to preserve 30% of its land by 2030. According to Labaree, the town is currently at 23%.

"And Mackie said that these larger land parcels are more attractive in the long term because they are more ecologically sustainable, provide varying habitats for #wildlife and are easier to maintain."

Source:
https://www.pressherald.com/2025/07/30/scarborough-land-trust-acquires-130-acres-to-expand-conservation-area/

Archived version:
https://archive.md/qaDNC

#SolarPunkSunday #WildlifeCorridor #WaterIsLife #SaveTheMarshes #SaveTheFarms #Maine #SouthernMaine #LandTrust #BlueCarbon #SaveTheWetlands #SaltMarshes #ScarboroughMarsh #WebOfLife #Wetlands #SaveTheForests
#PreserveNature #LandConservation #LandForMainesFuture #SpendTimeInNature #RachelCarson

#Maine - #Agricultural #ConservationEasements

"The primary purpose of an Agricultural Conservation Easement is to protect the agricultural soils, agricultural viability, and agricultural productivity of a property in perpetuity by limiting non-agricultural uses of the property.

What is it?

"It is a voluntary, legally recorded permanent deed restriction place on the property. The easement or 'development right' may be donated or sold (or a combination of the two) usually to a land trust which then holds (and manages) the easement. Land protected from development with an easement remains in private ownership.

Agricultural easements help farmers balance goals of:

- generating revenue for farming or retirement;
- making their land more affordable to future farmers;
- keeping their farmland in farming;
- maintaining a treasured legacy of #SustainableFarm #stewardship.

"Agricultural conservation easements are private transactions, entered into for perpetuity, and thus harder to undo compared to other land protection land use strategies.

"The process can take some time to negotiate and carry out. The cost of buying easements on a significant scale can be prohibitive. It is also important that the 'holder' of the easements has the capacity to ensure that the agricultural land is managed as intended.

"You can contact your local #LandTrust or the statewide #MaineFarmlandTrust when considering easements as a farm viability and farmland protection tool."

Read more (via #GrowSmartMaine):
https://growsmartmaine.org/agricultural-conservation-easements/

Learn more about Maine Farmland Trust:
https://www.mainefarmlandtrust.org/farmland/protect-farmland

#FarmsForMainesFuture #SaveTheFarms #Sprawl #LandPreservation #SolarPunkSunday #Farmland #FoodSecurity #MaineFarms #GrowLocal #EatLocal

Another branch of the Marean family has already put 92 acres of land into a #ConservationEasement in nearby Standish!

https://www.pressherald.com/2024/04/17/centuries-old-standish-farm-protected-from-development/

Archived version:
https://archive.md/8PYVG

#ForeverFarms #MaineFarmlandTrust
#ConservationEasements #SaveTheFarms #PreservingFarms #MaineFarms #SolarPunkSunday

Here's some good news about a neighbor down the road -- he and his wife put an Agricultural Conservation Easement on their 42 acre farm to protect it from future development!

"Special Broadcast Presentation on the Benefits of Agricultural Conservation Easements - Aug. 21st @5:30pm
Posted on: August 14, 2025 - 12:04pm

There will be a special broadcast presentation on #SacoRiver Community TV (Cable channel 5 )Thursday, Aug. 21st @ 5:30pm by #DonMarean regarding the process and benefits of placing an agricultural conservation easement in perpetuity on their farm. This presentation will also be available to view on our Town's YouTube channel! We hope you can tune in!"

Another branch of the Marean family has already put 92 acres of land into a #ConservationEasement in nearby Standish!

Town of Hollis YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@SRCM-TownofHollis/featured

#ForeverFarms #MaineFarmlandTrust #ConservationEasements #SaveTheFarms #PreservingFarms #MaineFarms #SolarPunkSunday

NOT JUST MAINE! #USDA ending local purchasing programs for #Maine #FoodBanks and #schools

#MainePublic | By Nicole Ogrysko
Published March 12, 2025

"The U.S. Department of Agriculture is ending two national programs that help food banks and schools in Maine — and around the country — purchase produce from local farmers.

"USDA told Maine officials and partners late last week that it has terminated the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program. It helped #GoodShepherd Food Bank buy produce from about 100 Maine farmers, which is then distributed to local food banks around the state.

"'That program is incredibly important to the state of Maine, both in food today — food that we source and distribute today — and in food tomorrow, which is the economic viability for those 100 #farmers and for our partner agencies to experience fresh, nutritious produce," said Good Shepherd President Heather Paquette.

"At the same time, Paquette said the food bank recently learned that USDA will stop delivering about 1 million pounds of food through the Emergency Food Assistance Program to Maine. Those deliveries are on hold for Good Shepherd — and food banks around the country — through at least June.

"Paquette said the USDA delivery represented about 20% of food that Good Shepherd moves around the state.

"The cuts — both to government food deliveries and to funds that Good Shepherd used to buy local produce — are concerning, Paquette said, because more Mainers are experiencing #FoodInsecurity.

"Our need is up every year," she said. 'This year we distributed 10% more food cases than we distributed the year before that, and that year was 10% over the [prior] year. So we're experiencing double-digit need increase in the state of Maine.'

"A spokesperson for the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry said the state received about $1.3 million for the Local Food Purchase Assistance program.

"USDA has also terminated the Local Food for Schools program, which provided more than $720,000 last year to Maine schools. Schools used those funds to buy food directly from local farmers to serve in their cafeterias.

"The program provided a big boost to the state's farmers, because more than 100,000 students eat at Maine schools every day, said Anna Korsen of the food security non-profit Full Plates Full Potential.

"'That has a huge impact on local economies, on #SmallFarms, and it's just better for kids," she said. 'The food's healthier, they're getting fresh, local foods in the school cafeteria.'

"A spokesperson for Maine's Department of Education said the state was expected to receive nearly $2.8 million for the Local #FoodForSchools program over the next three years. The funding was supposed to be disbursed later this spring.

"Maine still has a statewide local food purchasing program for schools. But Korsen said the federal program provided more purchasing power for Maine schools. In 2023 before Maine received federal #LFS funding, schools in the Pine Tree State spent just more than $168,000 on local food, Korsen said.

"These USDA programmatic cuts are separate from those that the department is making at the University of Maine System [which were just reversed]. And unlike those impacting UMaine, the termination of USDA's local purchasing programs affects food banks and schools around the country."

https://www.mainepublic.org/business-and-economy/2025-03-12/usda-ending-local-purchasing-programs-for-maine-food-banks-and-schools
#KillThePoor #USPol #MadKingTrump #RESIST! #FoodIsLife #WorkingPoor #SNAP #SaveTheFarms

YES! VICTORY! Public pushback makes a difference!

#MaineTurnpikeAuthority drops controversial #GorhamConnector project

by WGME Staff Thu, March 6th 2025 at 7:56 PM

GORHAM (WGME) – "The Maine Turnpike Authority is now dropping its controversial Gorham connector project.

"The project would have built a new highway from South Portland to Gorham, with the goal of easing heavy road congestion.

"The MTA paused the project last year after receiving backlash from local residents.

"The project would have required the demolition of nearly a dozen homes and confiscation of #farmland."

"'There was a lot of concern, and people wondered if it's the right-sized tool for the job, a lot of people have concerns that, building another highway, there's concerns that it will just fill up,' MTA Director of Communications Erin Courtney said.

The MTA says it's heading back to the drawing board to re-examine traffic conditions and review past mobility studies to find better ways to ease congestion in the area." [Like #LightRail, #RapidTransitBusLines and more #BikeLanes!]

https://wgme.com/news/local/maine-turnpike-authority-drops-controversial-gorham-connector-project-south-portland
#Maine #SaveSmilingHillFarm #SmilingHillFarm #InducedSprawl #GorhamConnector #MainersForSmarterTransportation #Maine #MaineNews #GorhamBypass #GorhamSpur #Maine #RapidTransit #SaveTheFarms #ProtectTheForest #InducedDemand #Sprawl #SaveRedBrook #ProtectTheWetlands #BrookTrout #SaveTheForest #Wildlife #HuskyLine #RapidBusTransit