Articles
OnIsland.org is a new place to discuss island issues
In hope of increasing communication about the issues related to life on Maine’s islands, two islanders have created an online discussion forum. The forum – which can be found at www.onisland.org – currently has nine topics: logistics, island visitors, stewardship, government, services/vendors, real estate/ rentals, island property owners newsletter, islands in the news, and islandness
Frenchboro’s baby boom necessitates a preschool
Twenty years ago, Frenchboro decided it wanted to grow. With the help of the Rockefeller Foundation and many others, the Frenchboro Future Development Corporation was formed, and undertook a project to provide affordable family housing. The goal was to attract young families, and today it’s clear the plan worked. All 12 lots in the affordable
Teacher Appreciation Week
On May 9 (during Teacher Appreciation Week), Islesboro Central School teachers were treated to an elegant luncheon provided by grateful parents (Bonnie Mowery-Oldham photo).
Wrapping up the budget
Annually, town report covers bring out a degree of creativity across Maine. Island communities are no exception, as these examples from Swan’s Island, Cranberry Isles, North Haven and Isle au Haut suggest. Each year in the fall, the Maine Municipal Association holds a contest to determine what town’s report is the best designed. Results are
Microwire tags for lobsters to continue
Diane Cowan of the Lobster Conservancy and Island Institute Fellow Dan O’Grady have continued to implant microwire tags in lobsters at Deep Cove on Friendship Long Island in Muscongus Bay. This season’s exceptionally low temperatures have limited tagging trips. Juvenile lobsters tend to lose limbs with alarming ease when the air temperature is below 201/4F.
Continuing Commitment
This year’s budget cycle in Portland has demonstrated the vulnerability of the city’s commendable commitment to the island communities that lie within Portland’s boundaries. The position of island and neighborhood coordinator, created several years ago in response to a troubled relationship between City Hall and island neighborhoods, has found itself on the chopping block for
“No historic memory”
David Cousens is correct. Term limits have apparently done their work at the legislature: the membership of today’s Joint Standing Committee on Marine Resources includes no one who was around when Maine’s historic (and successful) lobster-management rules were adopted in 1996. Cousens, president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, pointed out at a recent hearing on
The Maine Land Bank
The Maine Land Bank, a proposed tax reform designed to insulate family properties on islands and elsewhere from skyrocketing property valuations, originated as a result of some hard work by folks on Chebeague Island and coastal Harpswell. Enrolling one’s property in the Land Bank program would exempt it from the state constitution’s “highest and best
Donate to the Tooth Project!
Marci Train’s class on Long Island has completed a unit on Dental Awareness, and is seeking donations of toothbrushes and toothpaste to send to Haiti with Jan Carter, a social worker who visited the class. “Jan told us all about the people that she helps in the country of Haiti. We are concerned because they
Scholarships available to islanders
Spring is traditional scholarship time at the Island Institute. The Island Institute Scholarship Program supports lifelong learning in traditional and non-traditional endeavors. This support is provided through many private donors and foundations including The Fund for Maine Island Education: A Memorial to Carol Evarts McLane. Currently, the Institute offers two different scholarships. The Maine Island