As Unity College retools, some fear the school has lost its way

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 9, 2020

A tiny liberal arts school in western Waldo County that’s known for its environmental focus and small hands-on classes is at a crossroads. Unity College administrators are betting that a move toward online and distance learning is what it takes to keep the school alive — but alumni and former faculty fear the school has already lost its way. The stakes are as high as the emotions right now in the town of Unity, whose leaders founded the college in 1965 to keep the community vibrant.

Here’s how to set yourself up for fishing success in August

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 9, 2020

Many of our favorite fish species have retreated to the cooler depths at this time of year, and coaxing a few to attack your lure gets tricky. That doesn’t mean you can’t catch ’em. It just means you’ve got to try some new places and tactics. If you’re more of an angler than a beachgoer, you’re in luck: Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife fisheries biologists have compiled their monthly report with all kinds of useful information for dog-day fishing.

Whom does the view of Katahdin belong to?

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • August 9, 2020

The new tower put up by The Nature Conservancy, which replaces one that had been there from 1931 to 1977, is the latest chapter of an ongoing narrative about development on the edge of Baxter State Park “and other sacred places,” said Jym St. Pierre. “How do we protect the places that are just outside the borders of the places we have preserved,” he asked. That question takes on a different dimension when longstanding views of iconic places are threatened by development, including development intended to help people appreciate nature in different ways.

For birders, the rush in seeing a rarity is better shared

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • August 9, 2020

Every year vagrants or rarities – those birds that have wandered from their natural range – thrill birders in Maine, and this year is no different. Yet birders say what makes seeing a rare bird so thrilling, chiefly, is the help in finding it, and the excitement shared in the larger community who have seen it.

Letter: CMP line wouldn’t help climate change

MORNING SENTINEL • August 9, 2020

Central Maine Power’s plan to place a power line through one of the last wild places in Maine is a shell game. That line will benefit only Hydro-Quebec, rewarding them for destroying thousands of acres of land in Quebec and harming the indigenous people who lived on them and Iberdrola, the Spanish company that owns Central Maine Power. Equipment used to build a new line will emit a very large amount of CO2 , and remove many thousands of CO2-sucking trees. This line should not be built. Let’s leave something to future generations. ~ Edward Riggs, Albion

Someone in Maine gunned down the last wild passenger pigeon

SUN JOURNAL • August 9, 2020

Call it a sad footnote that history somehow forgot, but in 1904, somebody in Bar Harbor gunned down a female passenger pigeon. Less than a century earlier, John James Audubon reported watching in awe as a flock of more than a billion passenger pigeons winged overhead. It is said there were more passenger pigeons in those days than all the other birds in North America combined. Passenger pigeons, to their great misfortune, made for a tasty meal. And by the turn of the century, no more than a smattering were left anywhere. One of them, though, flew above the rocky Maine coast until 1904, when somebody gunned it down, too. That the last known wild passenger pigeon’s last moment came in Bar Harbor should be worth remembering.

EPA to help with university’s Casco Bay preservation effort

ASSOCIATED PRESS • August 8, 2020

The EPA is giving the money to the University of Southern Maine in support of the university’s Casco Bay Estuary Partnership and its Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan. The partnership’s goal is to reduce nutrient pollution in the bay, which is a major driver of tourism, recreation and fisheries in southern Maine. Maine Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King say the investment will help USM “preserve the waters around these beautiful islands for generations to come.”

Smokey bumps Bambi

MAINE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS • August 8, 2020

On August 8, 1942, the animated Disney film Bambi was premiered in London. It was released in the U.S. later that month. The movie was based on "Bambi, A Life in the Woods," a novel about a roe deer by Viennese author Felix Salten published in 1923. 

The look of the movie was based on reconnaissance trips to the Katahdin region by Maine artist Maurice “Jake” Day. Bambi was changed to a Maine white-tailed deer (some online reports wrongly say mule deer). The film has a worldwide gross of $267 million. In January 2020, it was announced that a live-action styled adaptation was in development by Disney.

Soon after the film’s original release, Walt Disney allowed his characters to appear in fire prevention public service campaigns. However, Bambi was only loaned to the government for a year, so a new symbol was needed, leading to the creation of Smokey Bear.

Opinion: Mainers helped make transmission line project bette

KENNEBEC JOURNAL • August 8, 2020

Working on the New England Clean Energy Connect has provided me with so many wonderful opportunities to travel around our great state and talk with Mainers about the significant benefits the project will bring us— lower energy costs for Maine families and businesses, reductions in greenhouse gases threatening our way of life, and a more reliable electric transmission system to keep us safe. Thanks to the valuable advice we received from Mainers in every corner of our state, coupled with the leadership of Gov. Mills, we have been able to take a good project — one that will bring clean, renewable and more affordable energy to Maine — and make it even better. ~ Thorn Dickinson, president and CEO of NECEC Transmission LLC

Opinion: I’m changing my exercise habits after fatal shark attack

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 8, 2020

My life is at its most harmonious floating in Middle Bay, settling my heart rate after the swim from the mainland. I am a biologist so, in the aftermath of the recent fatal attack, I turned to the scientific literature to understand white sharks. The white shark recovery can probably be attributed to legal protections for the sharks themselves combined with gains in the populations of seals and other prey. Thus, any recent increases in our white shark numbers are the result of the success of conservation measures and humankind’s inability to limit global change that warms our waters, creating more favorable habitat. Human communities live among apex predators the world over. We can look to communities elsewhere for guidance on how we can come to terms with the associated risk and respect white sharks for the extraordinary creatures they are. ~ Barry Logan of Brunswick is a professor of biology at Bowdoin College

Maine’s 2021 State Park Passes to go on sale Aug. 15

KENNEBEC JOURNAL • August 8, 2020

The Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands has announced that its 2021 State Park Passes go on sale Aug. 15. The 2021 Park Pass is good for the remainder of 2020 and all of 2021; that’s 16 months for the price of 12 months. Passes can be purchased at a Maine State Park. View the list of participating parks and their day-use fees at maine.gov. Maine State Park Passes are not accepted at Acadia National Park, Allagash Wilderness Waterway, Baxter State Park, Maine Wildlife Park, Peacock Beach, Penobscot Narrows Observatory, Penobscot River Corridor, Scarborough Beach, the Songo Lock, or Swan Island, and for day-use only and does not include camping.

Waldoboro could open 320 acres of blueberry fields for public picking

LINCOLN COUNTY NEWS • August 7, 2020

Waldoboro is considering whether to stop leasing its blueberry fields at Quarry Hill Farm to commercial harvesters and instead make the fields available to residents for blueberry picking.

Sara Gideon ‘climate agenda’ endorses making US carbon neutral by 2050

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 7, 2020

House Speaker Sara Gideon unveiled a “climate agenda” on Friday largely hewing to state efforts from fellow Democrats as she looks to carve out differences on the issue with Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins in their massive race. The eight-point document would endorse a national goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, similar to a pledge made by Gov. Janet Mills in a September address to the UN. Two independents, former Green candidate and educator Lisa Savage of Solon and former third-party Florida gubernatorial candidate Max Linn, are also on the ballot. Savage supports an aggressive version of Green New Deal. Linn has highlighted his opposition to the proposed Central Maine Power corridor, which Gideon and Savage also oppose.

Maine environmental orgs call on Congress to fight for a green recovery

MAINE BEACON (Maine People's Alliance) • August 7, 2020

The Natural Resources Council of Maine and Maine Climate Voters together delivered a letter calling for climate-friendly solutions to the economic and health crises brought on by the coronavirus pandemic to Maine’s congressional delegation Tuesday. So far, Sen. Susan Collins, Rep. Chellie Pingree and Rep. Jared Golden have acknowledged the letter and its contents, though none have committed to its demands. The letter calls upon the politicians to pursue four goals to promote a green recovery, including accelerating the state’s transition to renewable energy sources and investing in electric public transportation. 

More than 75 percent of Maine is in moderate drought, and it’s severe in The County

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 7, 2020

With the latest drought monitor released on Thursday, nearly 90 percent of Maine is experiencing abnormally dry conditions. Over 75 percent is in a moderate drought. Parts of Aroostook County have entered a severe drought.

Changes, work set for Hallowell’s temporary downtown pocket park

KENNEBEC JOURNAL • August 7, 2020

In July, the Hallowell City Council approved a test-run of a park on city land which is now used as a parking lot. The project is being pushed by Vision Hallowell, a nonprofit group that promotes downtown. Initial plans for the park called for it to be about 30 feet by 40 feet. In a new plan, that has been reduced to about 10 feet by 40 feet. 

Gideon unveils climate policies in her bid for U.S. Senate

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 7, 2020

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Sara Gideon pledged to push for the U.S. to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement, and to support legislation to create a national “Conservation Corps” and aim for net-zero greenhouse gas emission by 2050. Gideon unveiled her eight-point climate agenda Friday as part of her campaign against Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who is seeking a fifth term. But the Collins campaign dismissed Gideon’s agenda, saying the plan “looks remarkably similar to Senator Collins’ record of accomplishment” on energy and climate issues.

Two foxes attack Woolwich man

TIMES RECORD • August 7, 2020

Two foxes attacked and bit a Woolwich man doing working in his backyard on Nequasset Pines Road Thursday. James Collins, 79, said he was weed wacking when he was knocked to the ground by two young foxes. Collins estimated they were about five or six months old. Collins said he struck one fox several times until it ran away. He was able to get to his back steps, where the second fox charged at him. Collins said he struck the fox multiple times with a cane until both animals ran away toward a brook beyond his backyard, where he believes their den is located. He was bitten several times on his arms and legs and received medical treatment for rabies.

Opinion: The conservation movement is under attack

THE HILL • August 7, 2020

Scientists around the world agree that we are in the midst of the sixth great extinction and face losing 1 million species in the near future. The good news, however, is that their loss is preventable thanks to the incredible, life-saving works being done by the world’s leading zoological institutions. The best zoological ilnsstitutions are committed to building a better world for animals. For example, Mystic Aquarium is a partner of numerous cooperate organizations, including the Marine Mammals of Maine (MMoME). During an Unusual Mortality Event that impacted harbor seals along the coasts of Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, Mystic Aquarium worked hand-in-hand with MMoME to rescue, rehabilitate and release at-risk seals. ~ Robin R. Ganzert,, American Humane

State asks for public’s help checking trees for invasive species during August

SUN JOURNAL • August 7, 2020

During August, the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry and the US Department of Agriculture are asking the public to take a couple of minutes to check trees in their communities and forests for invasive insects. August is the peak time of year to see adult wood-boring insects, and the activity of other invasive pests is also visible. State officials urge the public to be especially aware of four invasive species during their tree checks: Asian longhorn beetle, Emerald ash borer, Oak wilt disease and Spotted lanternfly.