Maine Voices: Watch the conversation with author, wildlife biologist Ron Joseph

MORNING SENTINEL • October 10, 2023

Ronald A. Joseph will sit down with Morning Sentinel reporter Amy Calder to discuss his new book “Bald Eagles, Bear Cubs and Hermit Bill: Memories of a Maine Wildlife Biologist,” released by Islandport Press. Joseph, of Sidney, was born in Waterville in 1952 and grew up in neighboring Oakland. He developed a love for the outdoors and wildlife on his grandparents’ dairy farm in Mercer, where he spent many weekends, summers and vacations working and exploring. He went on to study ornithology at the University of New Hampshire, where he earned a degree in wildlife conservation. He later earned a master’s degree in zoology from Brigham Young University. In 1978, he began a career as a state and federal wildlife biologist, mostly in Maine. One particular focus during his career was the restoration of endangered species.

UMaine developing interactive tool to track PFAS nationwide

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 10, 2023

A University of Maine computer scientist is leading an effort to develop an interactive online tool to help government regulators and the general public monitor forever chemical hotspots across the country and help identify what places should be tested next. Torsten Hahmann, an associate professor of spatial computing, wanted to find a way to combine and analyze the growing body of evidence from scientists and government agencies investigating PFAS, otherwise known as per and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, in hopes of providing a comprehensive view of a national problem.

Watch rescued baby seals get released back into the Gulf of Maine

MAINE PUBLIC • October 10, 2023

Every Spring, the facilities at Marine Mammals of Maine (MMoME) welcome dozens of rescued baby seals. The staff and volunteers know that not every baby seal will make it back into the wild, but that doesn't stop the team from giving each pup careful and compassionate care. Founded by Lynda Doughty in 2011, MoMME feeds, cleans and attends to the seals all day and sometimes throughout the night. To do this work takes a lot of dedication, but for those involved, the effort is well worth it when they get to see the baby seals return to the wild. In this Borealis video, take a closer look at MMoME's work and learn about the efforts that have been taken to conserve the seal population in Maine.

Rescuers find hiker on Wright Trail in Newry

BETHEL CITIZEN • October 10, 2023

A hiker was rescued Monday on Wright Trail about 3 miles into the woods above Frenchman’s Hole. Newry firefighters, 8 Mahoosuc Mountain Rescue workers and two wardens started searching at 6:30 p.m. Sunday and ended at 2:30 a.m. Monday. The hiker had fallen in the rain and injured his back when he slid into a tree. He refused treatment and went to a New Hampshire hotel. The hiker was rescued Monday on Wright Trail about 3 miles into the woods above Frenchman’s Hole. The search started at 6:30 p.m. Sunday and ended at 2:30 a.m. Monday. If a hiker knows where they are on a trail, it makes a huge difference. A rescue a few weeks ago on that trail should have been fast but took five hours.

Acadia National Park Science Symposium

ACADIA NATIONAL PARK • October 10, 2023

The 2023 day-long symposium will take place online and at Schoodic Institute’s Moore Auditorium on Wednesday, October 18, 2023. There will also be two additional days of symposium events. The theme of this year’s symposium is “Restoration in Acadia National Park and Beyond,” featuring the work of scientists who are working on restoration projects in Acadia National Park and beyond. The symposium will take place in-person at Moore Auditorium on the Schoodic Institute campus and online via Zoom.

Meet Himalayan balsam: an invasive plant that's relatively easy to remove from your yard

MAINE PUBLIC • October 10, 2023

The name Himalayan balsam sounds at once exotic and fragrant. But it's actually an aggressive invasive plant that has established itself in Midcoast Maine. Unlike some other invasive species in the state, in can be managed with just a little elbow grease — and some healthy persistence. Rebecca Jacobs, program manager with the Knox-Lincoln Soil and Water Conservation District, says one way to eradicate Himalayan balsam is to simply pull it out of the ground. She recommends doing that before the seeds emerge in July. Left unchecked, Jacobs says Himalayan balsam will outcompete other plants for the attention of pollinators. And it will also grow 6-9 feet in a single season.

New book: Children of the Northern Forest

MAINE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS • October 10, 2023

This no-holds-barred narrative of the failure of conservation in northern New England’s forests envisions a wilder, more equitable, lower-carbon future for forest-dependent communities. Jamie Sayen approaches the story of northern New England’s undeveloped forests from the viewpoints of the previously unheard: the forest and the nonhuman species it sustains, the First Peoples, and, in more recent times, the disenfranchised human voices of the forest, including those of loggers, mill workers, and citizens who, like Henry David Thoreau, wish to speak a kind word for nature.

Groups are working to protect trees — and traditions — from the emerald ash borer

MAINE PUBLIC • October 10, 2023

Maine was the last state in the Northeast to see the arrival of the destructive emerald ash borer in 2018. The invasive pest lays eggs which hatch into larvae that feed under the bark of ash trees, depriving it of water and nutrients. Hundreds of millions of trees across the U.S. have been killed by the beetle. That's a threat not just to the forests, but for the Wabanaki tribes that have used brown ash for generations to make traditional baskets. But new strategies to protect ash trees in Maine are underway. At the UMaine Forests Office, the Ash Protection Collaboration Across Wabanakik (APCAW) is training three dozen conservationists, educators and landowners on how to collect the seeds of various ash varieties. "The Big Shot," a giant sling shot mounted on a pole shoots a weighted rope across an ash tree, causing seeds from its branches to cascade down onto a tarp on the ground.

Commentary: There’s a benign means of tracking the right whale – let’s use it

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 10, 2023

Endangered North Atlantic right whale populations have suffered serious recent decline (falling by 30% since 2010). About 340 remain. In order to last, whale tags must be shot into the blubber. Damage can be minimized, if not avoided, by aiming for the area behind the blowhole. Satellite tagging funds should be used to develop a long-lasting, biocompatible tag that causes minimal tissue injury. Meanwhile the non-invasive technologies should be ramped up substantially, along with systems to efficiently communicate critical data to stakeholders at sea. ~ Michael J. Moore, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

UMaine's bio-based 3D printed house has passed a crucial first test

MAINE PUBLIC • October 10, 2023

According to housing forecasts, Maine needs more than 84,000 homes of all kinds by the end of the decade. And state officials are hopeful that the University of Maine's bio-based 3D printed home will play a role in easing the housing crunch. The 600 square foot modular home, unveiled last fall at the Orono campus, was printed with wood residuals. And it has successfully survived its first Maine winter. The university will break ground next summer on a new factory that will train engineers and scale up 3D printing production. The materials needed to print the first home cost $40,000, not including the appliances inside.

Maine nonprofit purchases PFAS-contaminated farm for research on chemicals in agriculture

MAINE PUBLIC • October 10, 2023

Adam Nordell and Johanna Davis had spent years building up Songbird Farm into a successful organic vegetable and grain operation. But in late-2021, tests revealed that sludge used to fertilize the fields decades before they bought had leached toxic levels of PFAS into the soil and water. The discovery forced the young couple to halt all salesand to move to another house with their toddler son after blood tests also revealed elevated levels of PFAS in their bodies. After more than a year and a half of work, Maine Farmland Trust announced that it had purchased the farm and planned to open it up to research on PFAS.

If there’s a new Maine utility, who will manage it?

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 10, 2023

If Maine voters approve a publicly owned power company to replace the two dominant utilities, they’ll hand over thousands of miles of transmission and distribution lines to an as-yet-unknown operator. Backers say they can hire a contractor to do the work of the two investor-owned utilities. Opponents are less certain. The question of who will manage the grid in Maine lies at the foundation of the effort to ditch the state’s two investor-owned utilities. Arguments over management capabilities, credentials of overseers and, most especially, politics have made it a volatile discussion since the citizens’ initiative was filed.

Who could be a third-party operator? Here’s the test

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 10, 2023

As part of the legislation connected with Question 3, the PUC would determine that a transmission and distribution utility that serves more than 50,000 customers is considered “unfit” to operate if four or more of the conditions listed below are met. The utility:
• has consistently received low customer satisfaction ratings
• ranks among the lowest in reliability
• has consistently charged residential rates among the highest
• has outsourced work valued at $100,000+ that could have been done by qualified employees
• owns critical infrastructure, and is currently owned by a foreign government
• requires customers to cover the costs of taxes and shareholder profits over 10% on investments
• requires customers to pay for 90+% of damages caused by extreme weather events
• is unable to place needs of customers, workers, or Maine’s climate goals ahead of shareholder profits

Letter: Maine clean cars mandate would be a mistake

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 10, 2023

Electric vehicles use more aluminum to offset battery weight, and aluminum production is very energy-intensive. So is moving tons of earth to find the lithium and other toxic materials that EV batteries require. Then there are the large increases in charging stations and the expensive expansion of the electricity grid that will be needed. Developing this infrastructure should take priority over forced EV sales. The $17 billion in savings that would supposedly result from the mandate doesn’t take any of these upstream costs into account. Consumers will buy EVs when it makes economic sense and when infrastructure improvements reduce the inconvenience and frustrations of ownership. ~ Martin Jones, Freeport

Lacking volunteers and money, an Aroostook snowmobile club will disband

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 10, 2023

Nordic Lakers Snowmobile Club, founded in 1972, traditionally relied on volunteers and a limited supply of money to maintain its 16 miles of trails connecting New Sweden, Westmanland and Stockholm to Caribou’s 110-mile system. Soon the club will legally dissolve and several members will join Caribou Parks & Recreation’s slate of volunteer trail groomers. Half of the Nordic Lakers’ volunteers are over age 50, and many are over 60 or 70 years old. Within the decade, the club has gone from having 100 local volunteers to only 25. The problem of aging members and not enough young people stepping up to replace them is all too familiar to Al Swett, president of the Maine Snowmobile Association. “It’s our biggest problem.”

Letter: Take more action now on climate change

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 9, 2023

“The hottest September on record followed the hottest August and the hottest July with the latter being the hottest month ever recorded,” as reported in the Guardian on Oct. 4, 2023. We need more action now. Please urge governments and companies. ~ Pam Person, Orland

Stand up against mining in Maine

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 9, 2023

Canadian mining company Wolfden Resources is petitioning the Maine Land Use Planning Commission (LUPC) to rezone 374 acres of property at Pickett Mountain so that it can mine for zinc and other metals. The outcome petition has the potential to increase the risk of metal mining operations in many other areas of Maine. We cannot allow this to happen. Wolfden’s proposed mining site is near Pickett Mountain, one of the most ecologically rich areas of Maine. It is close to Baxter State Park and Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. A metal mine could destroy or put at significant long-term risk the features that make this a wonderful place — its clean water, scenic beauty, its natural quiet and dark skies. ~ Lori Bailey of Union, Dave Stuart of Warren, and Joe Tassi of Hope, Citizens Against Residential Mining Activity

Face the Music: Maggie Rogers returning to Portland for environmental benefit

FORECASTER • October 9, 2023

Singer-songwriter Maggie Rogers is performing a solo, acoustic set of songs in Portland on Sunday, playing a guitar made from wood that came from a forest in Montana to raise awareness about land protection. The performance is part of an event at Merrill Auditorium called Climate Aid: The Voice of the Forest, a benefit for Maine-based Protect Ancient Forests and Montana’s Yaak Valley Forest Council. The evening will also feature musical acts Alisa Amador from the Boston area and Maine’s Halycon String Quartet, Mississippi poet Beth Ann Fennelly, and environmentalists Bill McKibben, Terry Tempest Williams and Rick Bass. Michael and Alyssa O’Brien, who live in Linconville, launched Protect Ancient Forests last year because they care deeply about the environment and the impact of climate change in Maine and around the country.

Rich nations vowed billions for climate damages. They haven’t delivered.

WASHINGTON POST • October 9, 2023

After years of promises of new climate funding, the developing world is coming to grips with a disappointing reality: Money still isn’t coming through fast enough to address the mounting challenges of climate change. Promises from some of the world’s biggest economies, including the United States and China, haven’t been panning out. Many are years behind schedule or still years away from sending money, delayed by political fights, bureaucratic snags and debates over new rules to expedite aid from development banks and private donors.

Wabanaki place names are everywhere in Maine

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 9, 2023

Before many were replaced by English or French names, most places in what is now Maine had already been named by the original inhabitants of the land: the Wabanaki, or the People of the Dawn, who include today’s Penobscot Nation, Passamaquoddy Tribe, Houlton Band of Maliseets and the Aroostook Band of Micmacs, or Mi’kmaq. There are still many Wabanaki names that dot the landscape of Maine, which is known as the Dawnland, though their meanings can be lost on most people as they climb Katahdin, vacation in Kennebunk, or drive over a bridge across the Kennebec River.