The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
THE OKLAHOMAN • October 17, 2020
Te sky gray, the wind sharp. The air wet, the waves high. The boulevard deserted, the businesses shuttered. The seabirds held court. The town, at least the portion sitting literally across the street from the sea, seemed like a vacant movie set. A Stephen King movie. Sometimes, places turn out exactly as you picture them, and that’s what happened Friday in York, Maine. ~ Berry Tramel
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 17, 2020
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death has left many of us reeling. Her commitment to our communal well-being is perhaps most apparent in her environmental legacy. In decision after decision, she affirmed the federal government’s responsibility to protect clean air, clean water and a livable climate for us all. The Trump administration’s environmental rollbacks have been so unrelenting that RGB’s vision and adherence to the rule of law might seem impossibly optimistic. It is not. We deserve jurists on every federal bench who believe in the science of climate change and who are committed to upholding the environmental protections enshrined in law and essential to a healthy future, in Maine and throughout the nation. This is not a partisan wish-list. It is the definition of a qualified federal judge, and those who do not meet the bar should not be nominated or confirmed. ~ Jennifer Burns Gray, board chair, Maine Conservation Voters, Brunswick
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 17, 2020
The Smokey Bear program began more than 75 years ago as a national campaign to promote wildland fire safety. While we cannot prevent all wildfires, an ounce of prevention goes a long way toward the pound of cure. 2020 is a record-breaking year, and our season is not over yet. We cannot prevent every source of ignition, all the time. However, the data illustrates that people cause many wildfires, and sensible wildfire prevention practices can reduce wildfire costs and physical loss. Wildfires are an inevitable part of our lives across the U.S. The MFS has and will take necessary steps to protect landowners and Maine people. ~ Bill Hamilton, chief forest ranger, Maine Forest Service
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 16, 2020
A Maine aquaculture company plans to buy the Gouldsboro property that was home to the nation’s last sardine cannery, and use it as part of a salmon- and cod-farming operation. American Aquafarms said Friday it has reached an agreement to buy the Maine Fair Trade Lobster processing plant in the Gouldsboro village of Prospect Harbor. The property was a sardine cannery for a century until that business shut down in 2010. The company plans to build a hatchery and processing facility on the 11-acre site. It would use the facility as part of an operation to grow finfish species such as salmon and cod at ocean sites in Frenchman Bay.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 16, 2020
When it comes to production, there are dairy farmers who will tell you contented cows produce more milk. There is good science behind their claim. Stress inhibits the release of the hormone oxytocin which is crucial to the milk-releasing process. Now, thanks to the work of researchers in Europe, farmers have another way to relax their cows: by talking to them.
MAINE PUBLIC • October 16, 2020
Newly released documents by Maine’s Department of Resources are providing a glimpse of what federal action to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales could look like — including the closure of extensive areas of offshore ocean to lobstering in federal waters known as Lobster Conservation Management Areas. MDMR calculated that had such closures been in place last year, they would have blocked more than 3,000 boat trips and reduced the value of offshore landings by $14 million. That’s more than half the offshore fleet’s annual take and about 3% of last year’s total Maine lobster landings of $485 million.
WCSH-TV6 • October 16, 2020
A new research project is about to kick off at the University of Maine to better understand the effects of parasites on Maine's moose, and how to protect the declining population. The team is led by Pauline Kamath, University of Maine assistant professor of animal health. "One of the focuses of our work particularly is trying to understand not just how the winter tick affects survival, but how particular infections that basically attack the blood cells of those who are already being depleted of their blood through winter ticks feeding on them and sucking them dry of blood, basically," says Kamath. "So then trying to imagine the compounding effects of some other parasites, and we have found in previous work that there are other parasites that are affecting the blood cells of some of these moose that could be exacerbating the issue.”
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 16, 2020
Recently, this paper and activist groups have alarmed readers about an alleged loophole in Maine rules that allows what they consider out-of-state waste to be “dumped” in Maine. They claim that simply closing this loophole would improve Maine’s solid waste system. Casella Waste Systems have operated the state-owned landfill in Old Town. It cannot and does not accept out-of-state waste. Some incinerators process out-of-state trash. They generate ash as a “residual” to their process. It is not “dumped” at the landfill. It’s put to use to cover the active surface of the landfill. If these residuals can’t be used, the future financial viability of the facilities would be thrown into disarray, putting hundreds of people out of work and costing Maine millions of dollars. ~ Brian Oliver, Casella Waste Systems, Saco
MORNING SENTINEL • October 15, 2020
Maine Grains, housed at the former Somerset County Jail at 42 Court St., announced earlier this week that Amber Lambke, CEO and co-owner, is leading a new real estate company, Land & Furrow LLC, and has purchased the former Kennebec Valley Inn property in downtown Skowhegan from the Somerset Economic Development Corp. The plan is to develop a property that will house a slew of enterprises — housing, entrepreneurs looking to grow their business and a home for the farmers market during the winter months, with the potential for much more.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 15, 2020
After a year under a tarp the size of a football field to kill grass and weeds, the planned urban meadow in the Franklin Street median has begun to take shape. The Portland Parks and Recreation Department and Maine Audubon, with help from Portland Pollinators, are creating the meadow, which will be filled with colorful wildflowers and other native plantings. Three hundred native wildflowers and other plants, grown from seed or collected by Maine Audubon over the last two years, will be planted between Congress Street and Cumberland Avenue – one of the most heavily traveled thoroughfares in the city. The native plants should begin to display some color next year, but the wildflowers could take a few years to mature.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 15, 2020
Rising 1,103 feet above sea level, Hatchet Mountain features a wide, zigzagging trail that leads to open views of the Camden Hills and the ocean beyond. A major landmark in the town of Hope, the mountain was named after a local legend about two Native American groups in the region. According to the Hope Historical Society, the story is that two warring groups — Tarrantines and the Wawenocks — called a truce after two years of war and gathered in Hope to talk peace in 1617. As a symbol of goodwill, they buried a hatchet on the side of the mountain that overlooks the village, beside a great boulder. They then turned the boulder over onto the burial spot, and since then, the mountain has been called Hatchet Mountain.
MAINE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS • October 15, 2020
In 1993, RESTORE: The North Woods petitioned to put the imperiled Atlantic salmon on the national Endangered Species list. Every relevant public agency, conservation organization, and elected official opposed the effort. But after nearly a decade the species was listed because the truth was unavoidable. Then, for years, RESTORE pushed for Maine to put Atlantic salmon on the state’s endangered species list. The agencies refused and the silence from other conservation groups was deafening. In June 2020, ten groups and half a dozen experts petitioned Maine to list the species as endangered because it is. Now, they too have been rebuffed. The State agencies have said, incorrectly, "state listing of Atlantic salmon…does not offer any conservation benefits beyond the existing protections..." Both the petitioning experts and the State have failed. The experts waited too long. The State bureaucracy just does not want to bother. Two decades ago we had a chance. Today, the species is nearly extinct in the US and climate change is not helping. Extinction does not wait for convenient politics.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 15, 2020
Rural Maine’s tourism businesses and host communities are struggling with massive, unexpected shocks: the COVID-19 pandemic and a deep economic recession in its wake. Northern Outdoors, a leading outdoor adventure business, and the Maine Woods Consortium, a catalyst for tourist destination development, are implementing resilience strategies. ~ David Vail, emeritus professor of economics and former director of environmental studies at Bowdoin College
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 15, 2020
After being rebuffed by the State, a group of conservation groups and individuals is remaining steadfast in its effort to have the state conduct an investigation into whether Atlantic salmon deserve inclusion on the Maine list of endangered species. DIF&W commissioner Judy Camuso and marine resources commissioner Patrick Keliher say, “A recommendation for state listing of Atlantic salmon does not offer any conservation benefits beyond the existing protections…” John Burrows of the Atlantic Salmon Federation says, on the contrary, “While some improvements have occurred, the stocking and management of non-native fish species in Atlantic salmon critical habitat remains a problem. In addition, there are virtually no protections in place for Atlantic salmon critical habitat.”
ASSOCIATED PRESS • October 15, 2020
A golf club in southern Maine said it will conserve about 175 acres along a river as part of its acquisition of a country club. The York Golf and Tennis Club said it has accepted a transfer of the York Country Club’s 186-acre property and all holdings. The tennis club said it has agreed to permanently conserve about 175 acres of the land to make sure it remains undeveloped and accessible to the community for recreation. Maine Coast Heritage Trust will hold the conservation easement on the land.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 15, 2020
The Port of Portland will receive nearly $4.1 million for upgrades as part of a package of $220 million in federal grants for port improvements from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The Portland grant will be used to modernize the port’s gates and scales, improve existing warehouses and pay for rail improvements.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 15, 2020
Gov. Janet Mills has joined four other New England governors to press the operator of the region’s electric grid to do more to accommodate a future in which most people will be encouraged to heat their homes and drive vehicles powered with electricity generated by renewable resources. In a statement issued Wednesday to grid operator ISO-New England, the governors of Maine, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and Rhode Island said operation of the grid and the current wholesale electricity market must be reformed to help the states meet their aggressive climate change-reduction goals. That will mean speeding up a transition largely dependent on solar and wind – especially offshore wind farms – along with giant batteries to store excess energy.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 15, 2020
Rising 1,103 feet above sea level, Hatchet Mountain features a wide, zigzagging trail that leads to open views of the Camden Hills and the ocean beyond. A major landmark in the town of Hope, the mountain was named after a local legend about two Native American groups in the region. According to the Hope Historical Society, the story is that two warring groups — Tarrantines and the Wawenocks — called a truce after two years of war and gathered in Hope to talk peace in 1617. As a symbol of goodwill, they buried a hatchet on the side of the mountain that overlooks the village, beside a great boulder. They then turned the boulder over onto the burial spot, and since then, the mountain has been called Hatchet Mountain.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 15, 2020
Trail cameras are a super-cool way to find out what kind of critters are roaming around on your back 40. In addition, they’re a good way to find out if unwelcome human intruders are sneaking around where they don’t belong. The BDN wants to share your trail cam artwork with our readers.
MAINE TOWN & CITY • October 2020
Initially, some recreational programs closed. But as the health emergency continued, residents used public spaces and programs more, not less.
