Solar and agriculture are at a crossroads in Maine

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 5, 2024

State leaders will discuss how to balance solar growth with agricultural uses when they update Maine’s climate change plan this year. The discussions will include undeveloped land as well, said Anthony Ronzio, deputy director of strategic communications and public affairs in the governor’s office of policy innovation and the future. Although five years have passed since solar array projects began their rapid growth across Maine, the future of their relationship to agriculture in the state remains uncertain. Just one man has made a business out of grazing sheep under Maine’s solar arrays since 2020.

18 jaw-dropping views from Katahdin to help you plan for warmer weather

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 5, 2024

When it comes to Maine hiking, summiting Katahdin is the ultimate achievement. Maine’s tallest mountain stands at 5,269 feet, and there are a number of different trails hikers can take to get up and down Katahdin. And while some are harder than others, none are easy. But the views are incredible. Whether it’s the rugged terrain of the Knife Edge or the vast landscape of the 200,000 acres that compose Baxter State Park below, here’s a look at what it’s like to climb Katahdin.

Volunteers are keeping an Aroostook wildlife refuge going amid budget cuts

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 5, 2024

Lack of federal funding has reduced the resources needed to maintain Aroostook County’s only designated wildlife refuge to the point where local volunteers are working to keep its trails and gift shop open. After Loring Air Force Base closed in 1994, the U.S. Air Force transferred 4,700 acres to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, creating the Aroostook National Wildlife Refuge in 1998. Today, the refuge consists of 5,252 acres in four divisions located within the former Loring base, Caswell, Caribou and Connor Township. The refuge has nearly 13 miles of walking trails but it is primarily an oasis for over 500 native and migratory species of mammals, birds, plants and fish. Aroostook’s refuge, part of the Northern Maine Complex, has no full-time local staff, and has not had an on-site manager since 2017.

Winter storms will change summer experience for some state park visitors

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 5, 2024

isits to some of Maine’s popular state parks and historic sites may not be what you remember, thanks to damage from the major storms in December and January that devastated the state’s landscape. Severe beach erosion and destruction of structures were common on the coast. But even while the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands oversees repairs and restoration projects, attendance in the state’s parks is up 30 percent from last year at this time, thanks to the mild spring. One of the most significant environmental changes at Popham is that the Morse River has shifted its course, and people can no longer safely walk out to Fox Island.

Pesky bugs? Nope, important pollinators. And they could use your help.

SUN JOURNAL • May 5, 2024

Looking to start a pollinator-friendly garden? Start small and keep it simple, says certified master gardener Rhyanna Larose of Auburn. Oh, and make it fun. Pollinators are insects and animals such as bees, wasps, moths, butterflies, birds, flies and even small mammals, including bats. It’s important to feed them because “one out of every three bites of food you eat exists because of pollinators,” according to the park service.

Column: Out in the turkey woods

SUN JOURNAL • May 4, 2024

If you enjoy the outdoors and wild things, you must get yourself in the turkey woods early in the morning during spring mating season. The Maine turkey season opened on April 27 with Youth Day and followed with the general opener on Monday, April 29. You have until June 1 to harvest your birds. If you hunt in the southern wildlife management districts, you can take two bearded turkeys during the season. ~ V. Paul Reynolds

Road to Cadillac Mountain closed for repaving

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 3, 2024

The Cadillac Mountain Summit Road will be closed while Acadia National Park repaves the roadway. The closure will start on Monday, May 6, at 6 a.m. Access will be restored on Thursday, May 9, at 8 a.m., provided the weather conditions allow construction work. Access will be restricted to all vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians during the paving and striping process. Acadia National Park also warns visitors that other sections of the Park Loop Road will experience single-lane closures throughout the summer tourist season. Delays should be expected.

How to protect your dog from tick-borne diseases

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 3, 2024

As disease-ridden ticks become more numerous and widespread in Maine, many veterinarians are suggesting that dog owners invest in both a canine Lyme vaccine and some form of tick preventative treatment year round. In recent years, these anti-tick treatments have been refined and improved, offering dogs better protection against tick-borne infections that can cause serious complications and even death.

Maine public water systems get federal funding to identify and replace lead service lines

MAINE PUBLIC • May 3, 2024

Maine's municipal public water utilities are required by the Safe Drinking Water Act to provide inventories of their lead service water lines to the state this year, and replace them with the help of federal funding. The Environmental Protection Agency is awarding up to $28 million a year to Maine for five years to help public water systems identify and replace lead service lines. The federal government said 40% of the funding must go to disadvantaged communities.

Portland man sues city over Baxter Woods leash law

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 3, 2024

A Portland man has filed a second lawsuit against the city challenging rules that require dogs to be leashed in Baxter Woods at times. Marc Lesperance says in a lawsuit that the city’s restrictions on unleashed dogs in the popular 32.5-acre park in Deering Center go against what former Maine Gov. Percival Baxter intended. He is asking a judge to strike down the city’s leash rules and stop the parks department from issuing violations for dogs running at large. When Percival Baxter gave 29 acres to the city in honor of his father in 1946, he stipulated that the park “shall forever be kept in its natural wild state and as a sanctuary for wild birds.” In 2021, to protect migratory birds during nesting season and control dogs running loose, the City Council adopted a policy that requires owners to keep their dogs on an 8-foot leash from April 1 to July 31. In other months, dogs are allowed to be unleashed between 5 and 9 a.m. and 3 and 10 p.m.

Researchers launching tick study after record year for Lyme disease

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 3, 2024

The University of Maine will launch a pilot program this month to better understand tick populations on the heels of a record-setting year for Lyme disease. Tick activity is increasing and about to peak in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, researchers plan to study how local weather conditions and the presence of different wildlife species influence tick populations and health risks to humans. Maine logged a record 2,943 Lyme disease cases in 2023, breaking the record of 2,617 cases set the year before.

Maine’s Sears Island Causeway Permit Probed

MAINE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS • May 2, 2024

A 40-year-old permit is under scrutiny and may be yet another fly in the ointment for plans to develop Sears Island into a logistical hub for future floating offshore wind facilities, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and Islesboro Islands Trust. The permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers authorizing the Maine Department of Transportation to build a “bridge” connecting Sears Island to the mainland was premised upon it including a two-foot diameter culvert, but that culvert may never have been constructed.

Column: Maine moose sightings becoming rarer as climate change boosts tick populations

CENTRAL MAINE • May 2, 2024

From 1999 until 2019, Registered Maine Guide Greg Drummond and I led dozens of moose-watching trips. Between 2015 and 2019, our moose-calling success rate — very high in the early 2000s — plummeted in Maine’s Western mountains. Many weekends produced zero moose. Here’s what I told our disappointed clients: Winter tick populations — the scourge of moose — are soaring. Maine’s winters are shorter and milder. Our longer, warmer falls provide additional weeks for ticks to attach themselves to moose and in greater numbers. Ticks are merely symptoms of a much greater threat: climate change. By the end of this century, if our climate warms further, Maine will likely become inhospitable for its most iconic mammal. ~ Ron Joseph

Alert: Protect Wildlife from Lead Poisoning

MAINE AUDUBON • May 2, 2024

Lead is harmful to wildlife. But a bill working its way through Congress, H.R. 615, would prohibit federal land management agencies from moving away from the use of traditional lead tackle and ammunition on public lands and waters in most cases. The bill has already passed the House. Rep. Golden’s vote in favor of this bill helped tip the scales to allow its passage. Tell Senators Susan Collins and Angus King to oppose this bill.

Feds announce grants for Maine lead pipe replacement to advance safe drinking water

EPA • May 2, 2024

Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced funding from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to help Maine identify and replace lead service lines, preventing exposure to lead in drinking water. The Greater Augusta Utilities District has received $1,000,000 through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for Lead Service Line Inventories including the purchase of a vacuum truck and trailer. The Stonington Water Company has received $65,000 through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for service line inspection and replacement associated with a transmission line replacement. The Presque Isle Utilities District has received $479,596 through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for Vacuum truck purchasing for Lead Service Line inventory and replacement.

Native plant sale at Midcoast Conservancy May 25

BOOTHBAY REGISTER • May 2, 2024

Organic perennials from Rebel Hill Farm can help create inviting habitat for the natural community on homeowners’ land. Gardeners can come by Midcoast Conservancy, 290 Route 1 in Edgecomb, Saturday, May 25 between 9 a.m. and noon, when Rebel Hill Farm growers will be on hand to help with picking the right plants. Native plant expert Doug Tallamy advises that replacing unnecessary lawn with densely planted woodlots that can serve as habitat for local biodiversity.

State backs lobstermen in urging regulators to reevaluate changes to minimum size

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 2, 2024

The Maine Department of Marine Resources is calling on federal regulators to reevaluate new rules that would increase by one-sixteenth of an inch the minimum size of lobsters fishermen are legally allowed to harvest. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission says it is making the changes to preserve the long-term future of the lobster population in the Gulf of Maine, which federal data show has sharply dropped. Maine lobstermen, however, say that while the increases appear miniscule, they will impact their livelihoods by taking their most popular catch – 1- to 1.25-pound lobsters – out of the running.

Opinion: Voters can’t tell between the arsonist and the fireman

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 2, 2024

U.S. voters face a choice this November when it comes to which presidential candidate will set the climate on fire. But they don’t seem to realize how much of a no-brainer that choice truly is. President Joe Biden may not have a spotless climate record, but he has done much more to ensure a livable environment for future generations than any of his predecessors. Donald Trump, on the other hand, not only has history’s worst climate record, but he has announced, loudly and often, that his second term would be far, far worse. Voters haven’t received the message, according to poll after poll. Most Americans think neither Biden’s second-term policies nor Trump’s would make any difference to the climate. That is dangerous nonsense. We don’t have another four years to waste. ~ Mark Gongloff

Opinion: Maine needs to get serious about addressing food waste

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 2, 2024

Mainers generate more than 230,000 tons of food waste each year. Most of this is sent to landfills where it breaks down to produce methane, a powerful climate-damaging greenhouse gas. Wasting all this food doesn’t make sense, especially when hunger is prevalent across the state and thousands of tons of food scraps could easily be composted to create fertilizer. L.D. 1009 would require large food waste generators — those that produce more than two tons of food waste per week — to divert their food waste from landfills to food banks and food pantries. The rest of their food waste would be sent to be recycled. Unfortunately, the bill has sat on the appropriations desk without any indication of whether it will move. ~ Peter Blair, Just Zero, a fighting the environmental harms created by our existing waste systems