The Maine Journal of Conservation and Sustainability

By Kendra Harmon-Bolding1, Abbigail Hreben1, and Jason Kuhn2,‡ 1 College of Science and Humanities, Husson University, Bangor ME 2 Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Husson University, Bangor ME ‡ Corresponding Author. Email: kuhnja@husson.edu. ORCid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0102-4448   Abstract Many species of North Atlantic anadromous fish have experienced severe population declines in the past several decades. One major […]

Cora Saddler  M.A. Candidate, English  University of Maine Welcome to Spire’s eighth issue! We are ecstatic to announce Caitlyn Dauphinee as the winner of this year’s cover design contest. Her brightly colored collage, “The Lakeside Local”, is interspersed with whimsical texture and shape and acts as a gentle reminder of the playfulness of the natural […]

By Caitlyn Dauphinee     Artist Statement As an artist, I have always struggled to find my niche. My brain feels like I have to choose and master one form or style of art, while my heart wants to dabble in creative pursuits of every kind. I primarily use graphite and realism in my art, […]

By Alice M. Hotopp, Bailey P. McLaughlin, Hannah N. Mittelstaedt, Melanie B. Prentice   Scientific writing aims to stand objectively – to distance the ecologist from the ecology. Here we begin with, and then break from, the standard format of a scientific Abstract (the brief summary of a research paper). As students and practitioners of […]

By Emerson Rinehart   From the Riverbed If you did not hear me Crying out against time, Come to this shady stream side. If you never saw me Throw sand against wind, Stand by this mound of stone. And if you never found me Fighting my one barren battle, Reach and pick fruit from my […]

By Claire Loon Baldwin   Plummer Point Landscape  Artist Statement A view of Plummer Point from Feldspar Point, painted with watercolor, gouache, and ink. I created this piece while working for Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust as a Communications and Membership Manager. In 2022, they led a campaign to acquire the Tip of Plummer Point, and […]

By Chris Gardner   Artist Statement Both of these poems were written in co-respondence with the natural environment of Maine. I attempted through them to capture the ways in which time spent in communion with nature, whether that be walking along the Stillwater River as it touches the UMaine campus, or meandering through the close […]

By Sara Delaney   “Water drops on Pemadumcook Lake in the morning, August 2023.”   I Can Be a Drop  The rain came down heavy during the night, a comforting sound on the roof.  We were sleeping at a friend’s “camp” – up in the north of Maine, Millinocket.  It was quiet there, peaceful. The […]

By Nola Prevost    Bio Nola Marley Prevost is a writer and editor from Brewer, Maine. She has a B.A. in English Creative Writing from the University of Maine, and has been published in Beyond Words Literary Magazine and The Open Field Literary Magazine, later becoming its editor. Currently she is co-editor of Wayward Literature. […]

By Sydney Read   Artist Statement  My poetry explores language that turns our attention back into connection with the natural world. In what ways does the natural world “make-with” me, as a co-composer of poetry? Can poetry be a bridge, a point of reconnection and reorientation, toward the presence of what we live among—the more […]