The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 4, 2020
PK Realty Management is taking deliberate steps to address the community's concerns about potential mixed-use development of a key waterfront property. Ransom Consulting Engineers and Scientists of Portland is conducting a survey for the city of so-called brownfields that may have soil contaminated by petroleum and other hazardous substances.
MORNING SENTINEL • August 4, 2020
The college said Monday that the school would be shifting permanently to a hybrid model, which has left many within the community feeling blindsided and looking for answers.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 4, 2020
The U.S. lobster industry has lost the sustainable seafood certification it needs to sell into some of the most prestigious markets around the world because an international auditor has concluded its rope-heavy fishing methods pose a deadly entanglement threat to the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale. The Marine Stewardship Council, an independent, London-based nonprofit that sets sustainable fishing standards, is suspending its certification of the U.S. Gulf of Maine lobster fishery on Aug. 30.
BUSINESS INSIDER • August 4, 2020
President Donald Trump apparently doesn't know how to pronounce the name of one of America's most famous national parks. During a speech at the White House on Tuesday following the signing of the bipartisan Great American Outdoors Act, Trump twice pronounced Yosemite as "yo-Semites."
MAINE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS • August 4, 2020
August 2020 marks the 76th year that Smokey Bear (not Smokey “the” Bear as misnamed in kids' books and a 1952 song) has warned about the dangers of wildfires. In 1944, the national Smokey Bear Wildfire Prevention Campaign was launched. It is the longest running public service campaign in U.S. history.
The iconic make-believe Smokey Bear came to life when a bear cub was found in a tree in a wildfire in New Mexico in 1950. Burned on his paws and legs, the cub, first nicknamed “Hotfoot," was rescued. As his condition improved, a New Mexico state game warden presented the renamed bear cub to the U.S. Forest Service with the understanding that he would get a federal government job promoting fire prevention and conservation. The cub grew into a mature bear, maybe not as buff as some of the illustrations of Smokey, but a handsome fellow. He lived out his days at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., as the living symbol of Smokey Bear. In fact, he got so much mail he had his own zip code.
The real life bruin died in 1976, but Smokey Bear remains a nostalgic symbol, representing an idealized version of the American past in which the protection of nature was conceived as a priority rather than an obstacle to progress. Smokey has been criticized by ecologists who correctly point out that fire is a natural part of many forest ecosystems and suppressing wildfires has led to serious problems in some areas. However, Smokey meant well and unlike others in government these days, he has not pushed to ruin our public wildlands with misplaced logging, mining, drilling, and other wounds.
ASSOCIATED PRESS • August 4, 2020
President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed into law legislation that will devote nearly $3 billion annually to conservation projects, outdoor recreation and maintenance of national parks and other public lands. The measure was overwhelmingly approved by Congress. Supporters say the Great American Outdoors Act is the most significant conservation legislation enacted in nearly half a century. Opponents counter that the money isn’t enough to cover the estimated $20 billion maintenance backlog on federally owned lands. Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and adviser, supported the legislation.
PROGRESSIVE MEDIA PROJECT • August 4, 2020
One of the most momentous but least well-known challenges facing U.S. cities in the age of COVID-19 is that public transit may be on the verge of collapse. Many of the nation’s transit agencies are in an existential crisis. In March, Congress passed the CARES Act, which included $25 billion for transit agencies. Airlines, which move only half as many people nationally as ride the bus and subway in New York City each day, received $50 billion. Congress must act quickly to address this pressing need. ~ Corinne Kisner, National Association of City Transportation Officials
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 4, 2020
Someone reported spotting a fin in the water off Higgins Beach in Scarborough on Tuesday morning, but there has not been a confirmed shark sighting, the Maine marine patrol said.
MAINE PUBLIC • August 4, 2020
A federal judge says that within two weeks he will decide when, exactly, federal regulators must issue new rules to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales. New rules could force costly changes for lobstermen in Maine and the rest of New England, because the rope they use to haul their traps poses a threat of entanglement for the whales. The federal government and the lobster industry say any change should wait until May 2021 to allow for full review and public comment on new rules once they are proposed. But conservationists noted that Boasberg has already found that the government's current rules violate the Endangered Species Act.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 4, 2020
Four employees hired by Wyman’s, one of the state’s largest wild blueberry producers, have tested positive, Maine Center for Disease Control & Prevention director Dr. Nirav Shah said Tuesday. They were all assigned to a Wyman’s location in Milbridge, in Washington County. Last week, the state opened investigations at Hancock Foods in Ellsworth, which now has 10 cases, and Merrill Farms in Hancock, which has nine.
MAINE PUBLIC • August 4, 2020
For Mainers looking to get away - safely - for part of this pandemic summer, camping has been the answer. Popular state campgrounds, like Sebago Lake in southern Maine and Lamoine near Acadia National Park, are pretty full. But there's plenty of weekday availability at several other state campgrounds in locations you might not expect.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 4, 2020
On the final day of July, some of my closest family members had joined me for an evening wildlife tour. Our guide, Ken Gross, met us at the center’s Twin Pines campus on the southwest shore of Millinocket Lake. There we piled into a pontoon boat and headed across the boulder-filled lake to the mouth of Big Mud Brook. As we motored over the smooth surface of the lake, Katahdin lorded over the horizon, hemmed in by neighboring mountains in Baxter State Park. The Katahdin-area wilderness put on quite the show that evening.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 4, 2020
Wabanaki Public Health is buying the former Pelletier Loggers Family Restaurant Bar and Grill in Millinocket to use as a substance use disorder treatment center for members of the four federally recognized tribes in Maine. The organization also has bought a house in town, not far from the former restaurant at 57 Penobscot Ave., and will convert that into a sober residence that is expected to house between 10 and 15 people in recovery. Lisa Sockabasin, director of programs and external affairs at Wabanaki Public Health, said, “Mount Katahdin is a sacred, spiritual place for us. We believe that being near the mountain and incorporating outdoor activities into our treatment programs will help people connect with their tribal culture.”
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 4, 2020
A court-appointed receiver will now oversee the recently shuttered Hampden waste plant that owes tens of millions of dollars to a mix of contractors and creditors, including the bondholders that originally provided $52 million for the construction of the facility, according to recent court filings. The Coastal Resources of Maine plant has failed to make any payments on those bonds and incurred many other additional debts. The $90 million enterprise has run into a number of development and operating challenges.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 4, 2020
Gov. Janet Mills has eased some of the restrictions for out-of-state visitors, and has waived the quarantine mandate for visitors from certain states. As a result, the summer has turned out to be much busier for weekly rental owners than they thought it would be three months ago. “I think that’s an understatement,” said Paige Teel, general manager of On The Water in Maine Vacation Rentals and president of the trade group Northeast Vacation Rental Professionals. “We are insanely busy.”
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 3, 2020
Deer are an inevitable pest for Maine gardeners. To deer, gardens are basically a bottomless salad bar. Keeping deer out of the garden is a balance of preventative measures along with, potentially, physical and chemical deterrents.
• Remove things that attract deer
• Choose plants that deer don’t like
• Fence deer out
• Use other repellents
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 3, 2020
Unity College abruptly laid off 33 members of its faculty and staff and furloughed another 20 on Monday, ahead of a plan to retool its academic offerings and largely abandon its main campus. The cuts represent nearly 30 percent of Unity College’s workforce. The board of trustees also has authorized school officials to explore selling its 240-acre main campus in Unity, which has been a central hub of the community for more than 50 years. The possibility that the college might abandon Unity was shattering for local business owners, alumni and others the college employs.
ASSOCIATED PRESS • August 3, 2020
Authorities in Maine are distributing oral rabies vaccines in bait form in the northeastern part of the state early this month. The Maine Department of Health and Human Services said the vaccines will be distributed starting around Monday and the effort will last for several days. The baits will be distributed by the air and ground and target raccoons over a 2,650-square-mile area. Forty animals have tested positive for rabies in 14 of Maine’s 16 counties this year.
SUN JOURNAL • August 3, 2020
A bridge over a wet section of Carrie On trail, a new 1.3-mile mountain biking trail at Mt. Apatite in Auburn on Monday, was built by volunteers with the Tuesday Night Trails program. Such projects are undertaken Tuesdays at various trail systems across Central Maine by members of the Central Maine Chapter of the New England Mountain Bike Association. Trail builders are hoping Carrie On will be ready to ride by this fall.
SUN JOURNAL • August 3, 2020
Step Falls, the popular waterfall and tourist destination on Route 26, will close for a month starting Saturday due to overcrowding and unruly visitors during the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision was made Friday by the Mahoosuc Land Trust, which owns the property. The area is expected to reopen to the public after Labor Day weekend. The Nature Conservancy transferred title of Step Falls to the Mahoosuc Land Trust in 2013. The trust rebuilt the trail to the falls and parking lot that summer. In the summer of 2014, more than 10,000 people visited Step Falls, according to the land trust.
