The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 11, 2023
Have you ever been out in the woods and found a tree with a purple stripe painted on it? And if so, what did you do after that? The correct answer, it turns out, is to turn around and exit the area. In recent years, the use of purple paint as a way to designate areas where access to land is limited to those who’ve received advance permission from the landowner has become quite prevalent. The state’s “purple paint law” went into effect in 2011.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 11, 2023
The Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions at the University of Maine will host a talk, “Productive Disagreement’ at the Lake: The Role of Deliberation in Lake Associations” at 3 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 16. Katie Swacha and Elizabeth Payne share theoretical concepts about democratic deliberation, paired with personal experience applying those concepts at a local lake association to offer strategies for productively negotiating differences, reaching agreements, and taking action.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 11, 2023
The reason I love spruce grouse is that each one I’ve met has a distinct personality. No kidding, really. Male spruce grouse typically return to the same breeding spot each spring. If you know where that is, you can often find the same bird on the same territory every year. You can get to know them as quirky individuals. That is how I came to realize that each grouse is distinctive. I’ve made the acquaintance of dozens. When I get to know a bird, I give it a name. Not only can you get to know particular birds, but you can spend time with them. Males on territory don’t flee. In fact, often they will try to make you flee. Spruce grouse in Maine are more annoyed by people than fearful of them. ~ Bob Duchesne
MAINE PUBLIC • October 11, 2023
It's found all around New England, an aggressive climbing vine that grows wildly out of control along roadsides, can topple trees and take over entire woodlots. Asiatic bittersweet (not to be confused with the American variety) snuffs out native trees, shrubs and plants. If there's a vacant building in your neighborhood, chances are the vine has made its mark. And don't be fooled by its eye-catching, yellow-orange berries in the fall: this plant is one of the worst.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 11, 2023
The Office of the Public Advocate recommended to the Legislature in February that the 23-year-old market allowing consumers to choose their electricity supplier should be phased out. The market has failed to reduce rates for home customers and advance Maine’s climate goals. Electricity Maine, a unit of Spark Energy in Houston, was sued in federal court by customers who alleged fraud and deceptive practices in its marketing to Maine customers. The suit alleged that the company promised customers that they would pay no more than the standard rate for electricity, but then increased prices after initially charging lower rates. Spark Energy agreed to a $14 million settlement of the suit in 2020.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 11, 2023
Maine’s consumer advocate is asking the Public Utilities Commission to revoke an electricity supplier’s license to do business in the state, accusing it of overcharging customers. Public Advocate William Harwood said Electricity Maine violated state law and administrative rules by transferring accounts of its customers, without their consent, to a variable rate as high as 40 cents per kilowatt hour. The public advocate called it an “unfair and deceptive” trade practice. That rate compares with 17.6 cents per kilowatt hour that most Mainers pay.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 11, 2023
Our freight railroads need a lot more oversight. The privately owned freight railroads responsible for most of Maine’s train traffic are responsible for policing themselves. This means that, at any given time, the state knows little to nothing about the tracks and what is being transported on them, and is entitled to little to no information. L.D. 1937, which has robust bipartisan support, seeks to reverse the most restrictive elements of the 2015 state public records law that allows the railroads to keep information from the public. This proposal has been met with resistance by the railroads. The more we know, the more we can better regulate the freight tracks and trains running through our communities.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 11, 2023
Gene Lenentine has worked 82 potato harvests, and at age 92, he’s still climbing on tractors at 6 a.m. to help bring in the crop. Born Whitney Eugene Lenentine on Jan. 27, 1931, in Bridgewater, Gene, as everyone calls him, was on one end of a two-man crosscut saw when he was 8 years old and picking barrels of potatoes at 10. The Hodgdon resident has been working mostly seven days a week since; the key to his longevity and active life, he said.
SUN JOURNAL • October 11, 2023
As a retired, lifelong Mainer, I’m voting no on Question 3 because I believe it would increase our costs, not lower them. The ballot question says Pine Tree Power will “acquire” existing utilities. Well, we are the ones who must pay for that acquisition, and every number I’ve seen is at least $10 billion. I have nine children and 38 grandchildren, and I know they would be the ones stuck with decades of debt payments. I am voting no on Question 3 this Nov. 7. ~ Susan Madore, Lewiston
UMAINE • October 10, 2023
University of Maine researchers are helping preserve brown ash trees and the Wabanki traditions they support from emerald ash borer and train others to fend off the invasive insects. One of those traditions includes basket making. “When I interacted more with basket makers and harvesters I gained a deeper understanding of the cultural significance of brown ash, in terms of its ties to one of the creation stories of the Wabanaki people, of all four tribes in Maine,” said John Daigle, UMaine professor of forest recreation management and citizen of the Penobscot Nation.
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.
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.
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.
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 • 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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
