The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
ASSOCIATED PRESS • May 23, 2020
Energy demand is down by 3% to 5% in New England because of the pandemic, but utility bills unpaid by tens of thousands of people left jobless by the pandemic could drive electricity prices upward in some places in coming months.
NPR • May 23, 2020
The urge to get out and enjoy the summer is real. But what's safe? We asked a panel of infectious disease and public health experts to rate the risk of summer activities:
1. BYOB backyard gathering with one other household: Low to medium risk
2: Eating indoors at a restaurant: Medium to high risk
3. Attending a religious service indoors: High risk
4. Spending the day at a popular beach or pool: Low risk
5. Outdoor celebration with 10+ guests: Medium to high risk
6. Using a public restroom: Low to medium risk
7. Letting a friend use your bathroom: Low risk
8. Going to a vacation house with another family: Low risk
9. Staying at a hotel: Low to medium risk
10. Getting a haircut: Medium to high risk
11. Going shopping at a mall: Risk varies
12. Going to a nightclub: High risk
13. Going camping: Low risk
14. Exercising outdoors: Low risk
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 23, 2020
Every gardener has that one weed that they can never seem to shake, no matter how many times they pull it up. After the umpteenth time it crops up again, there is temptation to reach for a chemical spray that will get rid of it once and for all. Even if you’re at your breaking point, natural remedies have many advantages over synthetic chemical herbicides: mulching, plastic covers, DIY spot treatments, hoeing.
MAINE PUBLIC • May 23, 2020
About 60 percent of the potatoes produced in Maine and around the country are grown to supply the food service industries. But with everything from school cafeterias to sports concessions to in-flight meals canceled, potato farmers are facing uncertain times in what is already an uncertain business. And many say that they are discouraged by what they are being offered by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in a federal aid package.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 23, 2020
Spring is an especially exciting time for Maine foragers, as dandelions, burdock roots, wild strawberries, nettles and fiddleheads all emerge. If you are just getting started, here are some easily-identifiable things you can forage, what you need to know to do it safely and how you can use your foraging finds in tasty and creative ways: fiddleheads, dandelions, Japanese knotweed, ramps, nettles.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 23, 2020
Consider a few things before putting stock in the statements by John M. Glowa Sr. in his May 19 commentary (“Let’s work toward shutting down Maine’s bear feeding program”). An inadequate food supply can lead to bears feeding on residents’ pets and livestock. Bear baits help keep bears in the woods. Discontinuing baiting would have tremendous impact on the population, leaving between 1,500 and 2,500 bears in the population every year. The reason for the increase in the bear population may be that there are fewer hunters. Do we want to limit the number of bears harvested each year with the populations on the rise and the number of hunters declining? ~ Kara Hodgin, Newfield, Maine Sporting Dog Association
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 23, 2020
Be reminded that: (1) the New England Clean Energy Connect is a for-profit initiative; (2) proponents have spent millions of dollars on dubious advertising; (3) Mainers will receive very little benefit from this project, unless one considers 35 cents a month and 37 permanent jobs a windfall; (4) Opponents followed Maine law to have the decision for the NECEC placed in the hands of Maine voters and have been under withering assault from corporate “slick suits”; and (5) if anyone compares the actual benefits with the real costs, this project makes no sense. ~ Richard Aishton, Farmington
GIZMODO • May 22, 2020
A lake on the outskirts of Portland, Maine, became a highly unusually scene last summer when a kayaker happened upon a dead bald eagle floating face down, pierced through the heart. Turns out it wasn’t some Great Gatsby-type story of revenge, but rather an angry loon trying to protect its chick. It’s the first documented case of loon-on-eagle homicide and shows that for all the glory of seeing loons take flight over misty lakes and hearing their calls at dusk, they can be cold-blooded killers.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 22, 2020
Two wildfires in northern Maine were declared under control Friday after burning a combined 280 acres. The largest fire, on May Mountain in Island Falls, burned 236 acres. A second fire, in Baxter State Park, burned 45 acres. As of earlier this month, the Forest Service said there had been 380 forest fires that had burned 180 acres.
MAINE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS • May 22, 2020
More than two dozen conservation and community development organizations have sent a letter to Maine Gov. Janet Mills expressing “our appreciation for your steadfast leadership ilk addressing the treat that climate poses to Maine’s economy, environment, and communities.”
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 22, 2020
The Maine Secretary of State’s Office is accepting public comment on its wording of a referendum question to stop Central Maine Power Co.’s New England Clean Energy Connect transmission corridor, which has qualified to appear on the November ballot. CMP contends the project would benefit Maine and the region by lowering carbon emissions, reducing fossil fuel usage and stabilizing electricity costs. But opponents say the project would create environmental damage and hurt homegrown solar, wind and biomass projects in Maine. In related news, the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices ruled Friday that Stop the Corridor, a campaign formed to oppose regulatory approval of the project, qualifies as a political action committee and therefore must disclose its financial backers.
ASSOCIATED PRESS • May 22, 2020
Nordic Aquafarms, which is based in Norway, wants to produce tens of millions of pounds of salmon per year. The project has faced some local opposition from residents who feel it is too large or could have environmental consequences. A spokesman for the Maine Department of Environmental Protection said the next step in the process is for state staff to draft recommendations on the applications for the board to consider in the future.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 22, 2020
A Maine man accidentally started a wildfire Thursday when he fell and lost his marijuana joint while mowing a field. The man was smoking a joint while mowing a field with a battery-powered lawnmower, according to a Maine Forest Service report. At some point, the man fell down, and lost the joint. “He then walked back up to his house and then turned and noticed the field was on fire,” according to the forest service. Two acres burned in the blaze. That fire comes as forest rangers contend with “red flag” conditions Friday.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 22, 2020
Maine’s ethics regulator unanimously ruled Friday that a group opposing the Central Maine Power corridor must disclose financial information to staff so the board can continue a probe into whether the group’s activities violated campaign finance laws. The ethics commission’s Friday decision stems from a January ethics complaint by Clean Energy Matters, a CMP-backed political committee supporting the $1 billion corridor’s construction, against Stop the Corridor, a nonprofit that opposes it.
92 MOOSE • May 22, 2020
Fire crews from several departments were battling multiple blazes in the Maine woods just yesterday. Officials do not have any current information on containment status of this particular fire and have indicated that the fire was expected to be 100 acres in size by nighttime on Thursday.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 22, 2020
May 22, 2019: Initial test results of Maine wastewater treatment plant sludge reveal the presence of chemicals that are raising health concerns nationwide. The testing begins after fields at a sludge-fertilized dairy farm in Arundel are found to be tainted heavily with PFAS, giving rise to worries that many other agricultural sites in Maine might have similar problems.
TIMES RECORD • May 22, 2020
One of the many benefits of Penobscot Paddle and Chowder Society membership is exposure to a large cross section of outdoor enthusiasts from very young to real old. I’m in the latter category. It’s not unusual to have an age spread of forty to fifty years on club trips. That’s how I met the Galway family. When they announced that they were planning a family outing on the Ossipee River in South Hiram and Cornish, I negotiated an invitation to join them. ~ Ron Chase
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 22, 2020
Memorial Day weekend traditionally marks the beginning of Maine’s summer tourist season, which typically draws millions of visitors to Acadia National Park annually from late May through mid-October. Visitors to Mount Desert Island who expect to hike or play on Sand Beach this weekend face unprecedented restrictions because of precautions aimed at reducing the spread of COVID-19. Access to much of the park’s facilities is expected to remain closed for the next couple of weeks — if not longer. But the park’s semi-closure is not stopping visitors from showing up.
SUN JOURNAL • May 22, 2020
It is disappointing that Tom Rumpf and Lloyd Irland (guest column, May 17) are using a zero-sum approach to promote the New England Clean Energy Connect project in which the environment of the western Maine mountains must be sacrificed in order to save us from greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel energy. Instead, they should support Vermont’s New England Power Link. Hydropower, especially from Quebec, is not clean. ~ John Nicholas, Winthrop
MAINE COAST HERITAGE TRUST • May 21, 2020
An alewife is a beautiful fish. Its back is dark blue, its belly silver. It is laterally compressed, deep from dorsal fin to the sharp belly scales that can slice the skin on the palm of your hand, and as narrow from gill to gill as a pack of cards, a perfect shape to move up down-rushing water. Put your hand in a fast stream, your fingers pointed into the current, and feel the water part. You can’t do it with your palm catching the flow, but it is easy when you aim your fingers upstream, the way an alewife aims its snout. ~ Susan Hand Shetterly
