On this date in Maine history: July 9

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 9, 2020

July 9, 1968: A former mayor of Centerville, New Brunswick, organizes a group of his friends to create an earthen dam on Prestile Stream, causing its fetid, smelly water to rise across the border in Aroostook County, Maine. The highly publicized dam protest is one of the blows that kills a highly controversial, scandal-plagued effort by businessman Fred H. Vahlsing to establish a sugar beet refinery in the County. Vahlsing’s existing potato processing plant was dumping pollutants into the Prestile.

Editorial: Trump’s lobster memo may be a positive step, but clarity and follow-through are needed

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 9, 2020

Maine’s lobster industry, despite coming off a six-year period of historic demand, is beset by traps on all sides: the uncertainty of a global pandemic, the ongoing fight over right whale conservation and regulation, impacts of climate change, a trade war with China. A recent memo from President Donald Trump, which directs the U.S. Department of Agriculture to “consider” allowing the lobster industry to access assistance like what has already been available to farmers who have been impacted by China’s retaliatory tariffs, represents a potentially encouraging, if long overdue, step in helping this critical part of Maine’s economy. But encouragement cannot be a substitute for concrete action, clarity and actual funding.

Someone flushing cloth rags nearly destroyed an Aroostook County town’s sewage treatment plant

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 8, 2020

Multiple cloth rags were found stuck in both transfer station pumps at the wastewater treatment plant on Monday, causing the system to malfunction. St. Agatha town officials said that residents need to be mindful of what they dispose of in toilets after the cloth rags temporarily blocked sewage from moving through the system.

Column: It’s the perfect time to go see Maine’s puffins

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 8, 2020

Ironically, there may never be a better time to go see puffins. On the downside, the pandemic requires unusual precautions. On the plus side, some of those precautions mean fewer people on the boats. If ever there was a year to get great views and awesome photos without crowding the rail, this is it. ~ Bob Duchesne 

Bear hunting petition reignites 20-year-old debate over baiting

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 8, 2020

Six years after an initiative to ban bear-baiting by hunters was defeated at the polls for a second time, proponents of that effort are taking a new approach, through the state’s rule-making process. In a virtual public hearing Wednesday, state biologists heard comments on a petition that seeks to establish a bear-baiting season and a limited baiting permit program that would be phased out gradually and eliminated after 2029. In the hour-long hearing Wednesday held by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, 13 people testified against the petition and four supported it, including John Glowa of China, who submitted the petition. IFW has received over 200 comments on the proposal since the petition was submitted.

Downeaster ridership low but rising as trains start running after two-month shutdown

TIMES RECORD • May 5, 2020

Amtrak’s Downeaster trains are back up and running following a two-month service shut down, and ridership numbers, while far below normal, are trending upward, according to rail authority director Patricia Quinn. Last month, officials announced the Downeaster would resume partial service, offering one round trip from Brunswick to Boston on weekdays, starting June 15. The Downeaster suspended service April 13 and did not restart until two months later. One unintended consequence of the pandemic is the further delay of plans to extend service all the way to Rockland via the Coastal Connection, a proposed seasonal weekend pilot program which has already been delayed multiple times.

Climate Action Plan: Maine's Climate Council Drafts Strategies to Address Climate Change

MAINE PUBLIC • June 8, 2020

Maine state leaders have developed a four-year action plan for addressing climate change, and they're now seeking public input on it. Guests: Hannah Pingree, director, Maine Office of Policy Innovation & Future; co-chair, Maine Climate Council; Jerry Reid, commissioner, Maine Department of Environmental Protection; co-chair, Maine Climate Council; Ivan Fernandez, Distinguished Maine Professor, Climate Change Institute & School of Forest Resources, UMaine; one of two scientists on the Climate Council; Joyce Taylor, chief engineer, Maine Department of Transportation; Kathleen Meil, director of policy & partnerships, Maine Conservation Voters.

Maine amends wording of CMP corridor ballot question

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 8, 2020

Based on feedback received during a 30-day public comment period, Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap has amended the wording of a question on the upcoming Nov. 3 ballot that, if approved by voters, would require the PUC to reverse its prior approval of a planned Central Maine Power Co. transmission corridor through western Maine. The question is now slated to read, “Do you want to require the Maine Public Utilities Commission to reject a previously-approved proposal to construct the New England Clean Energy Connect electrical power transmission line through western Maine?”

This fruit tastes like a cross between a blueberry and raspberry, and a Maine farm is turning it into syrup and beer

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 8, 2020

A St. John Valley farming family who planted thousands of haskap berry plants five years ago were convinced that a wide open market for the fruit was an opportunity for northern Maine farmers. It turns out they were right. Haskap berries, which resemble pendulous blueberries and taste like a cross between a blueberry and a raspberry, are rich in vitamins and antioxidants. They are indigenous to Siberia, Japan and China.

Bar Harbor tells small cruise ship firm it can’t resume visits this year

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 8, 2020

Bar Harbor shut its doors to all cruise ships for the rest of the year on Tuesday night, after councilors heard a cruise line’s plans to restart small cruises this summer and fall. The town, which normally gets more than 100 cruise ship visits annually between late April and early November, has had no cruise ship visits this year after the vessels became early hot spots for coronavirus transmission. But Paul Taiclet, of American Cruise Lines, told Bar Harbor councilors on Tuesday that its cruises weren’t subject to the CDC’s no-sail order or the trade group’s suspension because the firm operates ships that carry fewer than 250 passengers. The council voted 6-1 to bar all cruise ships from stopping in Bar Harbor for the remainder of 2020.

Rare, threatened dragonflies have annual hatch in Grand Isle

FIDDLEHEAD FOCUS • July 8, 2020

The Grand Isle boat landing has once again become the hotspot breeding ground for a rare species of dragonfly known to only be in three parts of Maine in June. The Ophiogomphus colubrinus or Boreal Snaketail, is an endangered dragonfly in the state of Maine and is known to be in the upper St. John River near the Grand Isle boat landing, the Penobscot River and the upper Saco River. The bright green dragonfly begins its life cycle in the water where they burrow in the bottom of the stream for several years in the larval stage. After shedding their skin up to 15 times, the dragonfly finally undergoes metamorphosis and emerges as a winged adult. The Boreal Snaketail is known to eat anything it can fit into its mouth including mosquitos and black flies. 

Does it pay to protect nature? A new study weighs in

REUTERS • July 8, 2020

With Earth’s wildlife now facing an extinction crisis, a group of economists and scientists is hoping to persuade governments that it pays to protect nature. Specifically, expanding areas under conservation could yield a return of at least $5 for every $1 spent just by giving nature more room to thrive. That in turn would boost agricultural and forestry yields, improve freshwater supplies, preserve wildlife and help fight climate change – all of which would boost global economic output on average by about $250 billion annually, the group of more than 100 researchers argues in a paper published Wednesday.

Credit union launches program to pay farm closing costs

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 7, 2020

A credit union in Maine said a new program will pay closing costs for purchasing or refinancing farmland in the state. Maine Harvest Federal Credit Union made the announcement about the new Conservation Grant Program on Tuesday. The credit union said the program would help borrowers to take advantage of low interest rates by reimbursing them up to $3,500 per loan. Maine Harvest Federal CU co-founder Scott Budde said the program would incentivize farmers who are interested in buying land.

On this date in Maine history: July 8

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 8, 2020

President Woodrow Wilson designates a large tract of land on Mount Desert Island as Sieur de Monts National Monument, whose name honors a French explorer and colonizer. Composed of donated tracts of land, it is the early form of what later will become Acadia National Park. The site becomes Lafayette National Park in 1919, renamed Acadia in 1929.

Column: Many places to visit in Maine

KENNEBEC JOURNAL • July 8, 2020

Maine businesses that depend on tourists are really struggling, so I hope you are getting out to help them. Today I’m going to suggest some great places to visit. Let’s start with the Maine coast: Kennebunkport and Ogunquit, Monhegan Island, Rockland, Rockport and Camden, Lubec, and Boothbay Harbor. Inland: Aroostook County, Baxter Park, the Rangeley area, Bethel, Greenville and Portland. Enjoy Maine! ~ George Smith

Dutch seafood firm to seek state permit for $110M fish farm proposed in Jonesport

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 7, 2020

A Dutch aquaculture firm that announced plans last fall to expand to North America with a $110 million fish farm in Jonesport, where it hopes to produce 13 million or more pounds of yellowtail each year, is moving ahead with plans to apply to the state for a discharge permit in early August. Kingfish Zeeland, which has an agreement to develop a 94-acre site on Dun Garvan Road, east of central Jonesport on Route 187, needs approval from the state Department of Environmental Protection to draw and discharge seawater between the land-based plant and Chandler Bay.

Vandals threaten endangered species of birds in Old Orchard Beach and Saco

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 7, 2020

Two nests of piping plover, an endangered species, were vandalized over the Fourth of July in Old Orchard Beach and Saco, prompting warnings from state wildlife officials who are investigating both incidents. The nest in Old Orchard Beach was disturbed when its enclosure was purposefully dismantled, forcing a nesting pair of adult chicks to flee the nest and temporarily abandon three eggs, while fencing enclosing another nest at Goosefare Brook in Saco was destroyed. That forced an adult pair and chicks to abandon the nest. One chick was found dead.

New Hampshire man dies while diving off Nubble Light in York

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 7, 2020

Walter Fabian, 67, of Nashua, New Hampshire, was found by local lifeguards on the northeast shore of Cape Neddick, near the lighthouse, on Tuesday afternoon. According to a Maine Marine Patrol statement, Fabian, a recreational diver, was diving with a friend when the two became separated after surfacing. The friend swam to shore and called for assistance. Fabian was the second diver to encounter trouble near the cape, but Monday’s diver was rescued.

Belgrade, marina operator reach agreement in case that went to state Supreme Court

KENNEBEC JOURNAL • July 7, 2020

Brightside Marina owner Shawn Grant can no longer charge people to use the docks at his Great Pond Outlet Stream business. That’s part of a consent agreement reached between Grant and the town of Belgrade, after the town prevailed in a lawsuit appealed all the way to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. Grant also agreed to pay $20,000 in fines to the town.