The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 23, 2020
Leslie Eastman, a dedicated teacher at Lewiston High School and one of Maine’s leading botanists, died July 17. He was 80. Mr. Eastman was past president of the distinguished Josselyn Botanical Society and authored more than 100 journal articles and scientific reports on rare plants. He was remembered by loved ones and colleagues Thursday as a funny, intelligent and inquisitive man who lived life to its fullest.
TIMES RECORD • July 23, 2020
A Richmond-based nonprofit is suing Central Maine Power over the company’s plans to install a radar system on two towers near Chops Point, arguing the radar could cause adverse health effects and harm local wildlife. Friends of Merrymeeting Bay, a nonprofit focused on the ecosystem in the area, filed suit Tuesday. Also suing are Ed Friedman, Bowdoinham resident and chair of the nonprofit, Kathleen McGee of Bowdoinham and Colleen Moore of Topsham. The suit cites concerns that radiation emitted by radar could cause health problems and that the towers’ lights will harm local wildlife.
MAINE PUBLIC • June 23, 2020
Democratic Gov. Janet Mills and Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins are calling on the federal government to provide disaster assistance to the state's herring industry in the wake of what they call the fishery's failure. The herring population off New England's coast has nosedived in recent years, and federal regulators have drastically reduced commercial catch limits by more than 80 percent. That has driven prices for the vital food-chain fish ever higher, and sent lobstermen scrambling for alternatives to what had been their go-to bait.u.s.
MAINE PUBLIC • June 23, 2020
As talks in Congress continue toward another round of pandemic relief, U.S. independent Sen. Angus King of Maine is pushing for help targeted at seasonal businesses. “I think that it’s prudent to try to get some provisions into the new COVID bill that is being discussed to deal with some of the specialized, particularly seasonal, businesses,” such as resorts.
TURNER PUBLISHING • July 22, 2020
The Dr. Shaw Memorial Library was awarded a grant from the Maine Bicentennial Commission to create a storywalk at the Ezra Smith Conservation Area in Mount Vernon. It features Winthrop author Lynn Plourde’s book, “At One In a Place Called Maine.” On the flipside of the pages are facts that correspond to the text and provide information about various aspects of our Maine environment. The storywalk will be up through the end of August and can be enjoyed at any time. There is a notebook is inside the Kennebec Land Trust’s sign-in box at the head of the trails for those who check it out to leave comments.
MAINE COAST HERITAGE TRUST • July 23, 2020
Tag along with Maine Coast Heritage Trust land steward Amanda Devine on a trip to Clark Island, one of our newest island preserves. Through generous donor support, MCHT conserved and opened to the public 120 acres of Clark Island earlier this summer. In the coming weeks, we’ll be continuing to make improvements to the preserve.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 23, 2020
Small, furry and cute, the Eastern chipmunk is a common woodland critter in the state and it may well be coming to a vegetable patch near you. Gardeners in Maine are trying anything they can think of to keep the rodents from eating ripening crops in the wake of an explosion in the chipmunk population. This summer’s chipmunk boom is reminiscent of the boom in the Maine gray squirrel population the previous two summers, Dill said, which was followed by a natural decrease in the population this year.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 23, 2020
Maine can revoke the monopoly franchise it granted Central Maine Power because CMP is failing to uphold its end of the bargain. This franchise is not a permanent entitlement — it’s a privilege contingent upon providing quality service, respecting customers, and behaving in good faith. CMP falls well short in all three areas. Maine should replace CMP, as well as Maine’s other investor-owned utility, the foreign-owned Versant (formerly Emera), with a consumer-owned utility while leaving Maine’s existing consumer-owned utilities intact. ~ Ed Geis, Camden
ASSOCIATED PRESS • July 23, 2020
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a proposal from two Maine lawmakers to give families of fallen military service members free access to national parks. Independent Sen. Angus King and Democratic Rep. Jared Golden introduced the Gold Star Families Park Pass Act, which passed Tuesday as part of the National Defense Authorization Act.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 22, 2020
East Millinocket has purchased the site of the former Great Northern Paper Company mill. The town purchased the site for $1.45 million, using federal grants. The sale closed on Tuesday. The town plans to demolish the steam plant/biomass facility and then lease the site to industrial users.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 22, 2020
Visits to Maine’s state parks by residents are up by 35 percent so far this year compared to 2019, and while much of that increase is attributable to sites in the more popular southern part of the state, the trend toward “staycations” has not escaped inland parks farther north, including two in Piscataquis County. Lily Bay State Park, a 924-acre preserve on the southeast shore of Moosehead Lake near Greenville, has seen its use for camping and day visits by Maine residents increase by 30 percent. Peaks-Kenny State Park, an 839-acre parcel along Sebec Lake, has enjoyed similar increased use from Maine residents, with a 23 percent rise in camping and day use from 2019.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 21, 2020
Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its sobering impact on Maine’s 2020 tourism season — including on generally tourist-rich Mount Desert Island — Kampgrounds of America is planning to open its first-ever “glamping” campground on Aug. 1. Dubbed “Terramor” — combining the latin words for “land” and “love” — the $9.7 million resort is a complete, luxury-oriented rehab of the former KOA-branded Woodlands Campground in the local village of Town Hill.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 22, 2020
For years, there haven’t been enough bear hunters killing enough bears in Maine, so the number of bears in Maine has doubled over the past 35 years, and is now estimated at 35,000. Last week, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife sent out a notice to prospective bear hunters, urging them to take part in this year’s hunt, and to consider hiring a Maine guide to help them have a successful hunt. Bear hunting — even with a camera instead of a gun or bow — can be a perfect outlet for people looking to get outdoors and enjoy nature.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 22, 2020
Ever since we’ve been staying at home more, this column has accidentally veered off onto a recurrent theme: Nature as theater. It’s simply because many of us are spending less time with people, and more time with unmasked backyard creatures. OK, raccoons are masked, but they don’t complain about it. Let’s step into your backyard for a little three-act theater. There’s a lot of interaction happening in your backyard. The curtain is going up. ~ Bob Duchesne
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 22, 2020
The Maine Office of Tourism revealed details Wednesday of a $2 million advertising campaign aimed at attracting tourists by highlighting the state’s low coronavirus case count to help offset heavy losses incurred by hospitality businesses amid pandemic restrictions. The campaign includes television, radio and social media ads that cast Maine as a place where visitors can social distance in scenic locations that are safe. It currently focuses on Mainers traveling within the state and tourists from the five states that are exempt from testing and 14-day quarantines: Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 22, 2020
Colin Chase, who lives in Gray, is a semi-professional photographer. He has eight trail cams set up around Maine to capture images of wildlife, just for fun. He also likes to record lynx, fisher cats and moose. If bears could dance, the results would probably look just like the images Colin Chase captured on his trail camera.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 22, 2020
Maine’s highest court has backed the town of Cape Elizabeth in a yearslong dispute over seaside access in the Shore Acres neighborhood. The Maine Supreme Judicial Court upheld a July 2018 Superior Court ruling that found several residents of Pilot Point Road failed to prove they had established ownership of an undeveloped portion of Surf Side Avenue. The so-called paper street runs along the rocky Atlantic shore, between their multimillion-dollar homes and Broad Cove. In its decision issued Tuesday, the Law Court also agreed that the waterfront residents had no standing to ask the court to block the town from developing a recreational path in the area of the paper street.
ASSOCIATED PRESS • July 22, 2020
A bipartisan bill that would spend nearly $3 billion on conservation projects, outdoor recreation and maintenance of national parks and other public lands is on its way to the president’s desk after winning final legislative approval. Supporters say the measure, known as the Great American Outdoors Act, would be the most significant conservation legislation enacted in nearly half a century. The House approved the bill 310-107 Wednesday, weeks after it won overwhelming approval in the Senate. Maine Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King were among the bill’s sponsors.
MORNING SENTINEL • June 33, 2020
The Municipal Review Committee, which represents the waste disposal interests of 115 Maine municipalities, reported Wednesday that four entities expressed interest in buying the Coastal Maine LLC recycling and waste-to-energy facility. Coastal closed its facility temporarily May 28 because of financial issues. Solid waste was diverted from Coastal to Crossroads-Waste Management in Norridgewock, to Juniper Ridge in Alton, near Old Town, and to Penobscot Energy Recovery Co. in Orrington.
WASHINGTON POST • July 22, 2020
No one is more important to the history of environmental conservation than John Muir – the “wilderness prophet,” “patron saint of the American wilderness” and “father of the national parks” who founded the nation’s oldest conservation organization, the Sierra Club. But on Wednesday, citing the current racial reckoning, the group announced it will end its blind reverence to a figure who was also racist.
