The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
TIMES RECORD • July 10, 2020
After three days of brook-walking, extending my inquiry to Mere Brook’s sea-end via kayak seemed a good choice. Here, in this estuary, drifting up on the last impulse of tide, I feel changed. Yes, the immediate world shows in places. But the birds, a large, unidentified fish lolling near the surface, the slow, winding waters, say, No, let it go. And I do. ~ Sandy Stott
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 9, 2020
The U.S. Department of Agriculture would have to act on aid that President Donald Trump said should go to the besieged lobster industry under language inserted in a spending bill by Rep. Chellie Pingree. The Democrat from Maine’s 1st District championed an amendment to a budget bill for the 2021 fiscal year that passed the House Appropriations Committee in a voice vote on Thursday. It awaits approval by the Democratic-controlled House and would have to pass the Republican-led Senate.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July9x, 2020
Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife wardens performed a daring rescue Wednesday in Down East Maine, carrying an injured hiker down a mountain on their backs just before severe thunderstorms rolled into the region. Wardens Camden Akins and John Carter responded to a distress call around 3:30 p.m. that two female hikers were stranded on top of Black Mountain due to medical issues. Black Mountain is located on the Schoodic Peninsula near Gouldsboro and Sullivan in Hancock County. Trails on Black Mountain are moderate to advanced, offering scenic views of Donnell Pond and Tunk Lake. Sturtevant was transported to a hospital in Ellsworth. She was treated and released.
TIMES RECORD • July 9, 2020
In a partnership with The Nature Conservancy, the Maine Timber Research and Environmental Education Foundation (Maine TREE) recently installed a series of interpretive signs at its Holt Research Forest on the coastal island of Arrowsic. The program is the continuation of an effort to integrate the educational programming of Maine TREE into the Holt Research Forest, which it acquired in 2014 through a merger with the Holt Woodland Research Foundation.
THE HORSE • July 9, 2020
On July 7, Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry officials announced that contact tracing for all horses exposed to equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) on June 18 has identified two additional exposed facilities in Kennebec County. All exposed animals have been quarantined, and enhanced biosecurity protocols have been enacted at the index facility. Herpesvirus is highly contagious among horses and can cause a variety of ailments in equids, including rhinopneumonitis (a respiratory disease usually found in young horses), abortion in broodmares, and equine herpesvirus myeloencephalitis.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 9, 2020
State officials have removed an official registry of Maine islands for review after the Press Herald inquired about how at least five privately owned islands and ledges still have names incorporating racial slurs, decades after they were forbidden under state law. Commissioner Amanda Beal ordered the Coastal Island Registry removed from the state website Wednesday night after learning it listed three islands incorporating the N-word and two with “squaw,” a slur against Native American women. Both words are explicitly banned under Maine’s offensive place names statute – the N-word since 1977, “squaw” since 2001.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 9, 2020
Sappi North America said it will lay off 75 people from its workforce and shut down a paper machine in Westbrook, and Pixelle Specialty Solutions said it is stopping its pulp operation and laying off 59 workers at its mill in Jay.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 9, 2020
Less than an hour after Portland approved a request to allow Cheverus High School to use synthetic pesticides to treat its athletic fields near Back Cove, the school abruptly dropped the plan in the face of criticism by neighbors and anti-pesticide advocates. The school planned to treat the field with Bifenthrin, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency labels as a possible human carcinogen. Portland is one of 30 Maine communities with local ordinances to ban or restrict the use of synthetic pesticides. But Portland’s ordinance, adopted in 2018, allows city residents and entities to seek waivers for public health emergencies.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 9, 2020
Three months after an explosion rocked the Androscoggin Mill in Jay, owner Pixelle Specialty Solutions said Thursday that it will lay off 59 employees starting on July 13 and possibly more later. The news comes the same day as Sappi North America said it would cut 75 positions and shut down the No. 9 paper machine at its Westbrook mill as part of a restructuring.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 9, 2020
A Bowdoinham man is suing Central Maine Power over the fee to opt out of the utility’s smart meters. Ed Friedman filed his complaint in federal court this week. He claims the monthly fee discriminates against people who do not want to use the smart meters because of a medical condition or disability. Friedman, who is a longtime opponent of the smart meters, has a form of cancer called lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma. The complaint says his doctor has advised him to avoid exposure to radiation, and he does not want to use the wireless meter because he is concerned that it will exacerbate his health problems.
MAINE PUBLIC • July 9, 2020
Sappi paper has announced that it is permanently shutting down a paper machine at its mill in Westbrook, as well as most of the facility's biomass energy complex. The company says this will result in the layoff of 75 employees, and the work will be shifted to mills in Skowhegan and Minnesota.
TIMES RECORD • July 9, 2020
Brunswick officials are one step closer to closing the Graham Road Landfill after agreeing to pay $10,000 in fines to the Maine DEP, stemming from years worth of wastewater discharge violations. The system was built in 1984, nearly 20 years before the EPA tightened restrictions for wastewater coming from landfills. Now, the limits are significantly stricter, even though other local facilities that drain into the river allow for higher levels of ammonia. The ammonia’s impact on water quality in the Androscoggin River was negligible. The violations, in part, led to the decision in 2016 to close the landfill, which is now slated for completion in April. Once the Brunswick landfill closes, Casella will take garbage to the Pine Tree Waste transfer station in West Bath.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 9, 2020
Surrounded on all sides by the forested hills and mountains of Acadia National Park, Eagle Lake is one of the largest bodies of freshwater on Mount Desert Island. For decades it has served as the water source for Bar Harbor. It’s also a scenic paddling and fishing location, offering views of Connor’s Nubble, the Bubbles, Pathetic Mountain, The Whitecap, Brewer Mountain and McFarland Mountain.
SUN JOURNAL • July 9, 2020
Pixelle Specialty Paper Solutions will reduce its workforce by 59 this coming week as a result of an April explosion at the Androscoggin Mill that put a halt to pulp manufacturing at the plant. Further reductions are possible in the near future, company officials said.
ASSOCIATED PRESS • July 9, 2020
The International Union for Conservation of Nature said Thursday it is moving the North Atlantic right whale from "endangered'' to "critically endangered'' on its Red List of jeopardized species. The Switzerland-based organization's Red List is one of the most-cited endangered species lists in the world.
SUN JOURNAL • July 9, 2020
The Wales Fire Department on Wednesday posted a video of flames burning within a tree trunk after a lightning strike in the afternoon.
TIME • July 9, 2020
2020 looks like the year when an unknown virus spun out of control, killed hundreds of thousands and altered the way we live day to day. In the future, we may look back at 2020 as the year we decided to keep driving off the climate cliff–or to take the last exit. Taking the threat seriously would mean using the opportunity presented by this crisis to spend on solar panels and wind farms, push companies being bailed out to cut emissions and foster greener forms of transport in cities. If we instead choose to fund new coal-fired power plants and oil wells and thoughtlessly fire up factories to urge growth, we will lock in a pathway toward climate catastrophe. There’s a divide about which way to go.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 9, 2020
Adam Dube, 34, was operating the machine at Hilltop Farms when the baler’s steel pinch rollers clawed onto his right pant leg and sucked the limb in. The round baler chewed away at Dube’s calf, tearing off flesh down to the bone. A friend who was already on his way to help out on the farm transported Dube to Northern Maine Medical Center from which Crown Ambulance Services transported him to Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center.
NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO • July 9, 2020
From airlines to paper mills, the job news is grim, and there are growing signs it won't be getting better anytime soon. On Thursday, the Labor Department reported nearly 2.4 million new applications for state and federal unemployment benefits last week.
MAINE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS • July 9, 2020
In 1848, the Rev. Marcus Keep established what is still called Keep Path, running from the Wassataquoik Tote Road to Katahdin Lake then on to Katahdin. The trail followed old cutting roads to the south shore of Katahdin Lake then to the foot of the mountain where it followed Avalanche Brook up what would become called Keep Ridge. The trail became the favored entryway to the Katahdin region starting from the east. In recognition of the work Rev. Keep had done in establishing the trail to Katahdin on February 19, 1859 the Maine Legislature gave him 200 acres on land at the outlet of Katahdin Lake where he hoped to build the "Katahdin Mountain House," a grand hotel for explorers. ~ Eric Hendrickson
