Lanette Sigel inspects one of the intact gravestones. PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

Saving a cemetery

It’s not hard to imagine the scene 250 years ago—a treeless headland where the Meduncook River meets Penobscot Bay, families gathered for the somber ritual of burying a deceased relative, the stone being carefully set. Today, that plot of land—known as Wadsworth Point—is shaded by a tangle of fir trees,… SEE MORE

Island Institute Fellows, including those returning for a second year and those beginning their fellowship this fall, pose for a photo during an orientation in St. George. Back row, from left: Katie Liberman, Lavinia Clarke, Olivia Jolley, Kaylin Wu, and Morgan Karns. Front row, from left: Alice Cockerham, Brianna Cunliffe, Grace Carrier, and Claire Oxford. PHOTO: JACK SULLIVAN

Working Waterfront

Island Institute announces new Fellows

Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront, has announced its new cohort of Island Institute Fellows who join a group returning for their second year. The Fellows program places recent college graduates in island and remote coastal communities to do service work. New Fellows include: [caption id="attachment_38241" align="alignnone" width="300"] Alice… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Why am I painting the living room?

As summer wanes, the urgency to squeeze out the last of projects and fun grows to a fever pitch, especially so in Maine, where the season is so fleeting. That urgency comes with a conundrum—how to balance projects with fun? Lyrics from an old folk song by the husband and… SEE MORE

This image of the changing ocean colors was made by NASA and Joshua Stevens, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey and MODIS data from LANCE/EOSDIS Rapid Response.

Working Waterfront

Ocean color changes illuminate climate change

Our blue planet is becoming greener, which may indicate that climate change is reshaping surface ocean ecosystems, says a global study co-authored by a University of Maine oceanographer that was published in Nature recently. The research team, led by scientists from the United Kingdom-based National Oceanography Centre and including UMaine… SEE MORE

Otter Cliffs in winter. PHOTO: COURTESY FRIENDS OF ACADIA

Working Waterfront

Mapping MDI’s climate future

Reflections is written by Island Institute Fellows, recent college grads who do community service work on Maine islands and in coastal communities through the Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront. In the library, Tremont residents gather around flood maps. Disoriented at first, we find key landmarks—the school, Hansen’s Outpost,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

In praise of pruning

In the summer, with my days suddenly unstructured, I become an inveterate putterer. No shelf is left unorganized, no drawer unpurged. The yard gets the most attention. At some point every day, I find myself wandering from plant to plant, flowers and vegetables alike, touching leaves, saying hello (out loud!),… SEE MORE

A stage CV Calanus finmarchicus from the Gulf of Maine, showing its lipid oil sac.

Working Waterfront

Tiny copepod plays outsized role

The world’s oceans are teeming with plankton, microscopic life that move where the currents take them. Among the plankton are algal cells called phytoplankton and single-celled and multicellular animals called zooplankton. A vertical tow with a fine-mesh net deployed just about anywhere in the ocean will yield animal plankton. While… SEE MORE

A summer scene off Stonington. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

Stonington launches resilience strategy

The Hancock County town of Stonington is launching an economic resiliency strategy to complement its 2018 comprehensive plan and to proactively respond to current and future challenges and changes impacting the town’s ability to thrive as a year-round community. The analysis and action plan was commissioned in the spring of… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Weeded needed in gardening book

A Maine Garden Almanac: Seasonal Wisdom for Making the Most of Your Garden Space By Martha Fenn King, Down East Books (2023) There are a lot of books I end up reading because they have “Maine” in the title. Even if not for review purposes, I’d probably grab them anyway,… SEE MORE

Participants at a Build Maine conference work at creating a hypothetical housing development following a zoning ordinance. PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

On the record with… GrowSmart Maine’s Nancy Smith

When Nancy Smith first came to Maine in 1981, she was thinking, professionally, about the growth of trees and forests. Today, her work focuses on ensuring that Maine communities retain their character and function. Or, in other words, that they grow smart. Smith grew up in Connecticut and went to… SEE MORE