PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — This year marks the 30th anniversary of Bill Sheehan’s start at Presque Isle’s Department of Environmental Protection office. And that’s not the only thing he has to celebrate: two months ago, he became the office’s new director.
Sheehan has some big shoes to fill. Nick Archer headed the office for 34 years before retiring to spend more time with his family. But as The County faces issues like severe drought and the effects of climate change, Sheehan is ready to take his decades-tested expertise and passion for environmental issues into leadership.
The DEP performs numerous tasks across the state, from maintaining air and water quality to containing spills and ensuring that companies and individuals are not breaking environmental law. As Sheehan formulates his leadership style, he will take the reins of one of the most critical environmental leadership positions in vast Aroostook County — a region nearly the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined — as the first newcomer to that position since 1986.
Sheehan has a long history in environmental work, though it once involved far more animals or “critters,” as he calls them. Born and raised in northern Penobscot County in the Patten/Mount Chase-area, Sheehan graduated from the University of Maine with a zoology degree. He was mainly interested in wildlife, especially birds.
His interest drove him to work as a “biology migrant worker” after college, investigating environmental toxicology across the country for five years. He primarily conducted surveys and censuses of birdlife in locations where older pesticides were being used.
He began working at the Presque Isle DEP office in 1990, initially focusing on solid waste and sludge utilization. He said the position was one of many new environmental jobs that opened up in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Since then, he has become an essential member of a dedicated team with little turnover — many spend decades in the office. The Presque Isle office is by far the smallest of the DEP’s four bureaus, Sheehan said. While the main office in Augusta has hundreds of employees and regional offices in Bangor and Portland each have 30-40 people, Presque Isle’s office has eight.
“People who live in Northern Maine are here for a reason,” Sheehan said. “They enjoy it and like the place.”
The office’s reduced size has not led to reduced coverage: besides overseeing Aroostook County, employees also make it to sections of Washington and Penobscot counties, often driving long ways to perform fieldwork. As wildlife knows few borders, employees sometimes even get in contact with their equivalents in New Brunswick’s Department of Environment and Local Government.
While many in Maine are still performing their jobs remotely, Sheehan said it was hardly possible for most in his office. A sizable number of their activities involve face-to-face environmental compliance work: inspecting facilities across Aroostook County and ensuring they comply with the litany of permits and licenses required under Maine law.
Sheehan said one of the most significant issues he and his office has had to face since he took over was the drought occurring across Maine. In Aroostook, he said it has led to numerous dried up streams and fish kills. The dry conditions aren’t just affecting wildlife and the environment — even emergency services face new risks.
“We’ve had streams so low that fire departments are out of water,” Sheehan said. “[They] are concerned about water sources in case of fire.”
Sheehan said the office had worked with the agricultural community to stop irrigation from several small and medium-sized streams under immense stress from the dry conditions and hot weather. He said the DEP is putting together a task force with other state and federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to address the issue.
The drought is very clearly a result of climate change, Sheehan said. There was little about it when Maine — one of the “soggiest” states in the contiguous United States — had experienced four dry years in the last five.
“Older people than me are saying they’ve never seen a river this low,” said Sheehan, 56, of Caribou. While much of what it does is compliance work, the office also plays an educational role, regularly answering questions from the general public. Sheehan said the department recently was inundated with queries and inspection requests from people moving into Aroostook County from California to Pennsylvania. Many were attracted to The County because of the low COVID-19 rates, Sheehan said.
Sheehan said his passion for environmental issues, especially wildlife, led him into the environmental policy field. Along with hunting and fishing, he’s an avid birdwatcher who has shown people The County’s “natural environment” as a Registered Maine Guide in past years.
He reveres the uniqueness of The County’s environment. From some of the last natural brook trout in the Northeastern United States to the 100,000 geese and waterfowl that will arrive in a month because of the abundant amount of spilled grain and potatoes left by farmers, he said residents were never at a loss for natural beauty.
County residents are extremely in touch with nature and aware of the dangers of climate change, Sheehan said. For some — including those in the farming and forestry industries — their livelihoods made climate change impossible to ignore.
As he ushered in a new chapter of leadership at the DEP’s office, he looked forward to continuing to work with the community to make The County a safer and cleaner place.
“The people of Aroostook County know how important the environment is to them,” Sheehan said. “We are well supported, and we appreciate that.”
