Land Trust Creates DIY Clamming Video

FREE PRESS • September 22, 2020

The Kennebec Estuary Land Trust normally holds programs every summer on the clam flats at Reid State Park in Georgetown to teach people how to gather clams. Due to the pandemic, KELT was not able to offer the programs this summer. Instead, they have created a video to disseminate the information. Maine Shellfish Warden Jon Hentz demonstrates how to dig for clams, and KELT Program Coordinator Ruth Indrick presents a clam dissection, water testing procedures and information about the invasive green crab. To view the video, as well as past videos, lectures and other virtual content, visit kennebecestuary.org/virtual-learning-library.

How beavers became North America's best firefighter

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC • September 22, 2020

The American West is ablaze with fires fueled by climate change and a century of misguided fire suppression. In California, wildfire has blackened more than three million acres; in Oregon, a once-in-a-generation crisis has forced half a million people to flee their homes. All the while, one of our most valuable firefighting allies has remained overlooked: The beaver. A new study concludes that, by building dams, forming ponds, and digging canals, beavers irrigate vast stream corridors and create fireproof refuges in which plants and animals can shelter. In some cases, the rodents’ engineering can even stop fire in its tracks.

Solar wins big in project selection to advance Maine’s clean energy goals

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 22, 2020

Maine’s ambitious clean-energy and climate-fighting goals reached an important milestone Tuesday when the state Public Utilities Commission approved contracts for 17 renewable power projects – largely solar, but also wind, biomass and hydroelectric. Taken together, the projects have a generating capacity of 492 megawatts. That represents the largest procurement of clean-energy initiated by the state at least since the 1980s and 1990s.

Column: Allagash region’s fall fishing can be spectacular

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 22, 2020

The Allagash Wilderness Waterway has ample opportunity to catch one of those 20-plus-inch brightly colored male brook trout with a hooked jaw that are something to behold! ~ Matthew LaRoche, superintendent, Allagash Wilderness Waterway

Many of you are convinced you’ve seen mountain lions in Maine

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 22, 2020

For years, the presence of mountain lions here in Maine has been a passionately debated topic. Some are sure they’ve seen the big cats — also known as cougars, pumas and catamounts. Others point to official accounts that claim the last mountain lion in Maine was killed in 1938, and dismiss reports to the contrary as bunk. One thing’s for certain: There are a lot of Bangor Daily News readers who are convinced that they’ve crossed paths with the elusive beasts.

Opinion: Maine’s farms are producing all we need

TIMES RECORD • September 22, 2020

Increasing our reliance on Maine farms has multiple benefits. We will better support a vital Maine industry that will continue to support our state’s overall economy. In times of crisis, like this one, when importing becomes difficult, we will already have an established in-state option to get the products we need. And then there’s the positive impact sourcing locally has on the fight against climate change. This pandemic has demonstrated how important it is to control our food stream and expand our agricultural independence. When we spend our food budget on fresh, healthy local meat, dairy and produce, that money stays in our community. Maine farmers are producing what we need, and the more we buy from them, the better off we will be. ~ Rep. Allison Hepler

Commentary: Wildfires cause us to reassess climate-change risks

BLOOMBERG • September 22, 2020

The unprecedented wildfires on the West Coast should cause a sea change in the way Americans think about climate-change risks. Instead of assuming we know all the problems a warming planet will cause, we should assume there will be unexpected and calamitous disruptions. This makes the challenge of slowing down climate change even more urgent. There is no more time to waste; terrible things are happening because of climate change, and only decisive action can prevent even more terrible surprises. ~ Noah Smith

Divers recover body of missing canoeist from York

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 21, 2020

A dive team on Tuesday recovered the body of a York woman who had not been seen since her canoe capsized Saturday evening on Flagstaff Lake in Dead River Township. Divers from the state police and the Maine Marine Patrol found the body of 31-year old Caitlin Giunta about 500 feet from shore in about 22 feet of water, the Maine Warden Service said in a news release Tuesday evening. Giunta was canoeing across the lake around 5:20 p.m. Saturday with her boyfriend, Ned Roche, and her brother, Kyle Giunta, when rough conditions on the lake, including strong winds, caused their canoe to capsize. The two men and their dog swam to shore, but Caitlin Giunta did not. None of the people in the canoe was wearing a life jacket, but the Maine Warden Service said they grabbed their jackets after the canoe flipped. 

Brunswick farmers market to move again

TIMES RECORD • September 21, 2020

The Brunswick–Topsham Land Trust Farmers’Market will be making its second move of the season.From Sept. 26– Oct. 31 it will be located on Brunswick Landing. The land trust moved the market from its usual location at Crystal Spring Farm to the Brunswick High School parking lot at the start of the market season in May. This was to ensure adequate space between vendors and space for customers to spread out due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

CMP to switch on radar to remedy Chops Point tower lights

TIMES RECORD • September 21, 2020

Central Maine Power soon will turn on a radar system that will control the lights on two transmission towers on Chops Point that have irritated neighbors since they were installed over a year ago. CMP Spokesperson Catherine Hartnett said the radar will be turned on sometime in the next week, but the company hasn’t set a specific date.

Crazy worms found in Topsham transfer station woodchip pile

TIMES RECORD • September 21, 2020

Topsham’s solid waste director is working to destroy an invasive species of earthworm called crazy worms that were discovered in a woodchip pile at the town’s transfer station early this summer. The worms have the potential to damage local forests. “Basically, they consume all of the (debris) on the forest floor so that it makes it basically a desert underneath there where things won’t grow and roots start to be exposed,” Maine Horticulturist Gary Fish said of the worms.

Recycling ‘police’ will be watching in Scarborough and Portland

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 21, 2020

A team of interns will be inspecting curbside recycling bins in Portland and Scarborough this fall for materials that could contaminate the recycling stream. The initiative, announced Monday by ecomaine, expands a recycling outreach and education program that began in South Portland and Westbrook earlier this year. Interns in those communities are only authorized to lift the lid of bins, but not to rummage through them. The program is designed to educate consumers about what items should or should not be recycled.

Feds again deny request for money to pay for Portland Harbor dredging

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 21, 2020

The U.S. Department of Transportation has again turned down a request for money to help pay for dredging around piers and wharves in Portland Harbor. Dan Haley Jr., chair of the Board of (Portland) Harbor Commissioners, said the cost of dredging the harbor and disposing of the waste will run about $30 million. The state, cities of Portland and South Portland, and wharf owners would all contribute, but most of the money would come from the federal government. As much as 25 percent of the space around piers has been lost because of the silt buildup.

Maine shellfish farmers gaining confidence with scallops

GLOBAL AQUACULTURE ALLIANCE • September 21, 2020

In Maine, Atlantic sea scallops (Placopecten magellanicus) are one of the most valuable fisheries in U.S. waters, the target of deep-sea draggers and divers on dayboats. But compared to a seasonal fishery, an aquaculture crop has the key advantage of a year-round supply and steady pricing. In an attempt to build a fledgling scallop farming industry, Maine shellfish farmers started trialling a Japanese technique called ear hanging in 2017. Taking advantage of a sister state agreement with Aomori Prefecture in northern Japan, growers in Maine are working to establish semi-automated commercial aquaculture operations 

Hurricane Teddy to increase fire danger Tuesday as it passes Maine

SUN JOURNAL • September 21, 2020

Hurricane Teddy is getting closer and will impact Maine on Tuesday. With high winds in our ongoing drought, there is an elevated fire danger for Tuesday and Wednesday. If a fire should spark up, winds will make it spread quickly. The exact track will keep the storm well east of us, but we can expect many impacts in Maine.

Maine Voices: Portland shouldn’t lose sight of climate goals

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 21, 2020

Portland has committed to 100 percent carbon reduction targets and embraced renewable energy. However, current staffing reductions have put our sustainability team four months behind. Cutting these positions further would slow progress towards our goals even more. Our City Council must rise to the challenge and use the COVID-19 experience as guidance for how to prepare Portland for future calamities. In order to be prepared, we must maintain these critical staff positions. ~ Elissa Armstrong and Luke Truman, Portland Climate Action Team

Commentary: With global heating, expect inferno seasons in the American West

KENNEBEC JOURNAL • September 21, 2020

More than 3.1 million acres have burned in California this year far exceeding the previous record set in 2018, when 1.7 million acres burned. These raging fires are the direct result of climate change. Heat waves and fires will continue to worsen as long as humanity continues to burn fossil fuels. Throughout the world, hurricanes, floods, lightning storms and snowstorms will continue getting worse. Ice sheets and glaciers are melting, and sea-level rise will inundate many coastal cities. As climate scientists we are terrified but we take hope in two facts. First, this is a problem entirely of human making, which means we can solve it if we choose. Second, the grassroots climate movement has gotten so strong that climate is rapidly becoming the deciding factor in major elections around the world. ~ Peter Kalmus, author of “Being the Change: Live Well and Spark a Climate Revolution” and Natasha Stavros, fire ecologist

New coastal park system conserves more than 13 miles of Down East coastline

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 21, 2020

Cobscook Shores, a new system of parks scattered along the coast of eastern Maine, will celebrate its grand opening on Memorial Day 2021. A number of the properties, however, are already open to the public. Covering more than 13.5 miles of Down East coastline, the parklands currently consist of 14 separate properties scattered from Whiting to Lubec. These separate preserves feature about 8 miles of trails, as well as boat launches, picnic areas, campsites and other amenities for recreationists. The $11 million project was funded by the Butler Conservation Fund, a private family foundation. The foundation also recently spent $26 million building Penobscot River Trails, a state-of-the-art system of trails for cross-country skiing, biking and walking near Millinocket. Built to the design standards of a national park, Cobscook Shores, like its sister project Penobscot River Trails in Grindstone, is intended to offer an alternative to the state’s heavily trafficked recreational destinations.