'Beautiful' Photos of Maine Wolf Spark Outrage—'Haters Simply Love to Hate'

NEWSWEEK • November 3, 2023

"Beautiful" photos of a wolf in Maine have sparked outrage on the internet. The pictures were captured by the Maine Wolf Coalition and posted to Facebook. "We believe the canid in the photo is a wolf based on its physical appearance, size, and behavior. It is well within the size range of Eastern/Algonquin wolves," said John M. Glowa, president of the Maine Wolf Coalition. "We know that this animal fathered at least five pups in 2023. We readily acknowledge that the only way to determine if an animal is a wolf is through DNA analysis. The northeast U.S. may have either gray wolves or Eastern/Algonquin wolves or hybrids of both." Many people agreed that the animal was "beautiful," but not everyone was pleased. Glowa said, "They may falsely believe that documenting an endangered species in Maine may negatively impact the forest products industry. They may oppose any predators that kill "game" animals such as deer or moose because they want to hunt them. Some may simply fear wolves. The simple facts are that wolves are essential to a healthy ecosystem-there is enough prey for wolves and hunters.”

House Republicans rebuff move by Golden to block offshore wind in Gulf of Maine lobster area

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 2, 2023

Majority Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives rejected an attempt by Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, to use federal spending to block offshore wind development in a lobster fishing area of the Gulf of Maine. Golden, who tried to amend 2024 appropriations legislation for the Department of Interior, said he will try again to bar offshore wind development in what’s known as Lobster Management Area 1. His measure sought to prevent funding to lease, license, permit or provide any authorization to develop offshore wind energy that could jeopardize lobster fishing.

Maine conservationists see positive signs in threatened piping plover population

MAINE PUBLIC • November 2, 2023

A record number of breeding pairs of piping plovers nested on Maine's beaches this summer — though fewer chicks appear to have reached flying age. Maine Audubon is reporting a count of 157 breeding pairs of the birds, which are listed as threatened. That represents a 12% increase from last summer, and more than double the number from five years ago.

Column: How I created a safe relationship with my backyard birds

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 2, 2023

“My birds” is a phrase I hear more often these days. I suspect that it’s another consequence of a certain global pandemic. I really did get to know some of them personally. And they got to know me. My hairy and downy woodpeckers got used to me hanging around more. They don’t even flinch now when I walk out the door. My chickadees were always semi-tame. I want “my” birds to stay wild. It’s a dangerous world. They need to stay vigilant. I don’t want to excessively encroach on their world. On the other hand, some of them encroach on mine. I watch them. They watch me. We share the same space with mutual respect. ~ Bob Duchesne

Commentary: Better not to take a chance on Pine Tree Power

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 2, 2023

For 11 years I served on the board of ISO New England, including 5 years as chair. As New England’s “independent system operator,” it was our responsibility to oversee the grid in our six states to ensure reliability, plan the system and administer markets. The prospect of elected Pine Tree Power board members with no experience in utility policy in charge is, to put it mildly, concerning. The reliability and economics of our grid are complex and changing rapidly and our economy is built on our grid. The ISO-NE board included experienced engineers, system planners, economists and finance experts. None of those independent board members would have served if they had been required to run a political campaign to be a board member. The predictions of bargain basement interest rates by the Pine Tree Power proponents are hopelessly optimistic. They are also promising policies that would likely drive current high interest rates even higher. Let’s not take chances. ~ Philip Shapiro, former board chair of ISO-NE, Biddeford

Letter: Pine Tree Power will let us control our own destiny

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 2, 2023

As Maine reduces its carbon footprint, electricity delivery becomes increasingly important. We shouldn’t trust the future of Maine’s electricity delivery to a foreign company when we can control our own destiny. If we vote down Question 3 and continue to receive some of the worst electricity delivery service in the nation while sending profits overseas, we will be getting what we deserve. ~ Steve Heinz, Cumberland Foreside

Letter: It’s ‘no’ on Question 3 until we have more answers

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 2, 2023

Statements supporting Pine Tree Power have lacked some important detail regarding costs and profits of the proposed publicly owned utility. The contention that the utility would not pay profits to anybody overlooks the fact that the company hired to manage the operations likely will be part of an out-of-state utility, which will expect to receive profits on its work, and those profits will not remain in Maine. I will vote “No” on Question 3 because I believe that a vote should be postponed until the plans and details of its organization and operation have been developed and publicized. ~ James Harvie, Topsham

31,000 acres of ancestral land could be returned to Penobscot Nation

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 1, 2023

A national land trust wants to raise $32 million to return 31,000 acres of ancestral land to the Penobscot Nation in a deal that would increase tribal trust holdings by a third and secure public access to Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument from the south. The California-based Trust for Public Land bought the land last December from Conservation Resources, LLC, a timber management organization, for $29.5 million. Once the trust raises the money to pay off the loans it took to make the acquisition, it will turn the land over to the tribe for placement into its trust holdings.

Auburn delays start of new recycling program

SUN JOURNAL • November 1, 2023

The city’s new-look curbside recycling program, which was originally slated to begin Wednesday, won’t begin until later this month.Tthe program has been delayed due to staffing and finalizing the mobile app that will be offered to customers through Casella.

Officials say Freeport brook dam removals will improve local trout run

TIMES RECORD • November 1, 2023

After three unused dams were removed from Frost Gully Brook in Freeport this summer, stream restoration consultant Alex Abbott saw brook trout start moving upstream to spawn “literally instantly.” Frost Gully Brook stretches a little over 3 miles through Freeport, flowing into the Harraseeket River just below Upper Mast Landing Road before it empties into the sea. The dam had been around since the turn of the 19th century. Millions of dollars have been granted to Maine towns for stream restoration and other climate initiatives.

30,000 acres near Katahdin Woods and Waters being restored to Penobscot Nation

MAINE PUBLIC • November 1, 2023

The Penobscot Nation and Trust for Public Land today announced a plan to return nearly 30,000 forested acres in Maine back to the governance of the tribe. The land represents a portion of what was taken from them in the 1800s, and it's part of a larger effort to restore ancestral homelands to Indigenous stewardship. The land near the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument is well forested and previously managed for industrial timber. It contains more than 4,000 acres of wetlands and 53 miles of streams and rivers in the Penobscot River watershed. Once the project is completed, the land will be transferred without a conservation easement in a way that supports Indigenous self determination. The plan also calls for creation of a "much needed" southern point of access to the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument.

Column: Crystal Spring foot song (plus a little trail wonkery)

TIMES RECORD • November 1, 2023

Shod with trail shoes and dosed with imagination, I set out into a partly-lit October day, intent on tutoring my feet and salving my mind. Today’s tutor is the Main Loop Trail. Laid out and maintained by the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust, this beautifully realized, 1.5-mile-long path is mostly single-track. Along its northwestern edge lies a sub-loop of two-thirds of a mile. These are the uplands, or up-and-down lands, threading handsome woods. I read the trail before me; I absorb myself in it. Views? Expansive visions? They arrive when I pause or complete a run. When the ledge from which I look out and the climb just made arrive as reward for the foot-music just played. ~ Sandy Stott

These American birds and dozens more will be renamed, to remove human monikers

NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO • November 1, 2023

The American Ornithological Society has vowed to change the English names of all bird species currently named after people, along with any other bird names deemed offensive or exclusionary. The move comes as part of a broader effort to diversify birding and make it more welcoming to people of all races and backgrounds.

Atlantic hurricane season is over. Here are 5 things that stood out

WASHINGTON POST • November 30, 2023

Atlantic hurricane season ends Thursday – and, like so many in recent years, was unusually active. A total of 20 tropical or subtropical storms spun up, including seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes. Total activity, measured by a figure called ACE or Accumulated Cyclone Energy, was 20 percent above average. Seven of the last eight hurricane seasons have featured above-average activity.

Alna settles legal saga over boat launch

LINCOLN COUNTY NEWS • November 1, 2023

Litigation between the town of Alna and resident Jeff Spinney has ended after three years and three lawsuits, with a settlement agreement following an impassioned public hearing. The agreement leaves Spinney’s Sheepscot River boat ramp in place with limitations on use and the acknowledgement it is illegal under town ordinances. Both parties will drop pending litigation and pay their own attorney fees. During forty minutes of comment from involved parties, most of them abutters, all spoke against the agreement, saying it did not take into account abutters, sent a bad message, and lacked consequences.

Opinion: In Maine, a return of tribal land shows how conservation can succeed

WASHINGTON POST • November 1, 2023

The Penobscot Nation’s record of caring for nature while still using it inspired an effort to return a 31,000-acre tract of forested land to tribal ownership. The transfer is part of a movement to return lands to Indigenous stewardship and work with tribal communities to protect biodiversity. The hope is both to restore justice for tribes that were long ago stripped of their ancestral homelands and to learn from long-standing Indigenous practices new ways to save a beleaguered planet. Environmental movements might have better protected nature if they had long sought to conserve cultures and communities along with land. Earning the trust now of people who have inherited wisdom for living in balance with nature will give conservation a fighting chance on a warming planet. It might also offer a reprieve from focusing on the dire future to reach for solutions that lie deep in the past.

Orsted scraps 2 offshore wind power projects in New Jersey, citing supply chain issues

ASSOCIATED PRESS • October 31, 2023

Danish energy developer Orsted said Tuesday night it is scrapping two large offshore wind power projects off the East Coast, adding uncertainty to a nascent industry the Biden administration and many state governments are counting on to help transition away from the burning of planet-warming fossil fuels. The company said it is canceling its Ocean Wind I and II projects in southern New Jersey, citing supply chain issues and rising interest rates.

Commentary: The ocean of yesterday is not the ocean of tomorrow

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 31, 2023

What does the ocean of tomorrow look like? It is an ocean where temperatures and sea level are increasing, pH and dissolved oxygen are decreasing, and harmful algal blooms and severe weather could become more frequent. Climate change will push lobster and fish populations into new places, and fishing fleets with them. It also challenges recovery of North Atlantic right whales and other imperiled species. Wind turbines help mitigate climate change, but affect currents, habitats and species in complex and uncertain ways. An opening Arctic could see more and larger cargo ships steaming in and out of Gulf of Maine ports along new shipping lanes. The massive algae bloom in the Gulf of Maine this past summer serves as a stark reminder of the need for new and better data. ~ Dr. Jake Kritzer and Jackie Motyka, Northeastern Regional Association of Coastal Ocean Observing Systems

Who’s right about access and the nuances of hunting etiquette

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 31, 2023

When a landowner allows public access for hunting, just the person who owns the land has final say on who uses it and who doesn’t. Maine law allows public access to private land if the landowner does not post the property. When a hunter who hasn’t done any homework makes inaccurate assumptions about ownership and his own rights, and also is belligerent and confrontational, it can ruin your day. I ran into such a person while hunting on opening day. He obviously did not know the law or have a clue about hunting etiquette. People with his attitude about public access are part of the reason we are losing hunting grounds. Even though I didn’t legally have to move, I relocated anyway because I have a personal rule against arguing with idiots.

Column: A climb of Cadillac

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 30, 2023

Again this year, the Penobscot Paddle & Chowder Society scheduled its annual meeting and several outdoor events on Mount Desert Island over a 3-day period in early October. I announced a climb of Cadillac Mountain via the South Ridge Trail on the first day of activities. After the rain from Tropical storm Philippe subsided, eight of us met at the South Ridge Trailhead on Route 3 near the entrance to Blackwoods Campground. Soon emerging into the open where crowds of tourists were exploring the summit, we joined them to embrace the phenomenal vistas. Our return on the South Ridge Trail was a delight. ~ Ron Chase