Martin Leighton leaves Portland City Hall with his new pine tree license plate on Thursday, the first day that the new plates were available. Leighton said that he could not understand the expense incurred behind the new plates, but he does like the design. Daryn Slover/Portland Press Herald

The time-worn chickadees that have been featured on Maine license plates for more than 25 years will start disappearing Thursday as they’re replaced with dark green pine trees and navy blue stars.

The long-discussed pine tree plates based on the original 1901 state flag will be phased in over the next year as people renew their car registrations.

While the plates will have a distinctly Maine look, they’re being manufactured by a Canadian company. The state had to shift the manufacturing of the new plates away from the Maine State Prison, where plates are usually made, in order to make the number of plates needed on a shortened timeline, according to the Department of the Secretary of State.

Waldale Manufacturing of Nova Scotia won the bid to make 1 million sets (2 million individual plates) for the launch of the pine tree plates. The state will pay the Nova Scotia-based company $4 per set for standard plates and slightly more for vanity plates.

City Clerk Maura Clarke finalizes paperwork for a new pine tree license plate at Portland City Hall on Thursday. Daryn Slover/Portland Press Herald

The switch to the new plates, approved by the Legislature last year, was spurred by safety concerns that Maine’s older plates have deteriorated beyond recognition, making it harder for police officers to identify plates and reducing the effectiveness of automated toll collectors and traffic cameras.

The chickadee plates were issued starting in 1999. Unlike most states, Maine does not cycle out license plates every five to 10 years.

“As anyone driving on Maine roads can see, some of the older chickadee plates are becoming worn, faded and difficult or impossible to read, and that presents a real safety issue. But it also presents an opportunity for something fresh and new, and we’re looking forward to the new plates,” Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said.

After the new plates were approved, the state started a bidding process to find a new manufacturer because the equipment at the state prison is a manual process done on old equipment, said Deputy Secretary of State Emily Cook.

“They’re setting each number and letter,” she said. “It was not feasible in the amount of time that this needs to happen.”

Waldale Manufacturing is the largest private manufacturer of license plates in North America, according to the company’s website. This is the first time Maine has used the company to produce license plates.

PRISON MAKING OTHER PLATES

The Maine State Prison will continue to make all of the other plates Maine offers, including vanity plates in other designs. The plate shop produces about 645,000 individual plates each year.

Cook said state officials are keeping an eye on the impact of the president’s tariffs against Canada, but so far, it does not appear they will impact the cost of the plates.

Starting Thursday, people registering their cars will be able to choose between the pine tree design or a “no tree” version with no image and numbers in blue and green.

“The pine tree with the north star design is classic Maine — we are the Pine Tree State after all — while the plain text version is similar to the clean and simple design without any graphics, some Mainers will remember from decades ago. I’m excited to see the new plates start hitting the roads tomorrow,” Cathie Curtis, deputy secretary of state for the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, said in a statement on Wednesday.

The plates will include a new plate number at no charge, but people have the option of reserving their current plate number for $25. Forms to retain plate numbers are available at town offices or on the BMV website.