The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
U.S. SENATOR ANGUS KING • November 17, 2023
U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME), co-chair of the Senate Working Forest Caucus, is calling for the utilization of mass timber in federal building projects. In a letter to the Government Services Agency, King and a number of his colleagues questioned the agency about its process on integrating mass timber into the federal procurement process and using low-carbon building materials in the construction and renovation of federal buildings.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 17, 2023
A series of coyote traps set up near the popular Greenbelt trails in Cape Elizabeth has alarmed some residents who question whether the practice is necessary and humane. A local farmer says something had to be done to control a large group of coyotes, saying the pack is becoming increasingly brazen and poses a safety threat to animals and young children on her farm. The Eastern coyote expanded its range into Maine in the 1930s and now occupies almost every habitat type. Biologists estimate there are around 15,000 coyotes living in Maine. Each year, 1,200 to 1,500 are killed by trappers. The state does not track the number of coyotes that are hunted because there is an open season and no permit is required.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 17, 2023
Sam Allen, 26, of Sedgwick, who ended up killing a bear during his deer hunt. Here is the tale in his own words.
MAINE PUBLIC • November 16, 2023
USM Professor emeritus – and author of the book Reading Rural Landscapes discusses the historic return of alewives to the Presumpscot River Watershed.
MORNING SENTINEL • November 16, 2023
Efforts to increase tourism in central Maine, and specifically in Skowhegan and Waterville, received a boost Thursday with an announcement that the Maine Office of Tourism is awarding a $484,500 grant. The grant was awarded to the nonprofit organization Main Street Skowhegan, which is to work with other business groups on tourism development strategies. Main Street Skowhegan, along with the Central Maine Growth Council and the Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce, is expected to develop a unified vision and brand for the Skowhegan and Waterville areas. The groups intend to launch a regional marketing effort.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 16, 2023
The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife will open the online portal at 9:30 a.m. today for licensed hunters to purchase another antlerless deer permit. This will be the third opportunity for hunters to get extra any-deer permits in Wildlife Management Districts 22, 23, 24, 25 and 29, which is essentially central and midcoast Maine. Hunters who bought a lottery permit will be able to have four permits total — three extra and one lottery permit — plus a regular license that allows a buck or a doe.
AMERICAN JOURNAL • November 15, 2023
Under Rachelle Curran Apse’s decade of leadership, the Presumpscot Regional Land Trust has grown exponentially. It has “tripled the acres we’ve conserved, tripled the number of trails that are open to the public across the five towns that we serve, and tripled the number of people who are engaged with the land trust,” Apse said. The trust has conserved nearly 3,000 acres and over 30 miles of trails. After 10 years as the land trust’s executive director, Apse is stepping down next month. Moving into that role will be William Sedlack, most recently with Maine Conservation Voters.
COASTAL JOURNAL • November 15, 2023
Preserving land and fueling the local food economy are vital missions to ensure the future well-being of Midcoast communities and the entire state, according to the incoming executive director of the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust. “What we do now will shape the towns for the next generations. It’s going to require all hands on deck,” Steve Walker said. “Never has ‘think globally, act locally’ carried more weight than in these times of uncertainty and change.”
TIMES RECORD • November 15, 2023
Phippsburg officials have scheduled for next month their first look of the site of a proposed solar array to power a local resort that recently changed hands. The project has met resistance from some locals because it involves clearing about 10 acres of woods along West Point Road. Many questioned whether a solar project in this location would be a net positive for the environment. Ralph Keyes, a former high school science teacher, said he worried that Giri Hotels, a Massachusetts-based hospitality management firm that bought the Harbor Resort in May 2022, was underestimating the value of old-growth forest soils to store carbon.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 15, 2023
The defeat of Question 3 — which would have replaced investor-owned Central Maine Power and Versant Power with Pine Tree Power, owned by the people it would serve — proves that, if you spend enough money and shout loud enough and often enough, you can fool enough of the people enough of the time. Maine voters, who presently enjoy among the highest electric rates in the country, were persuaded that the investor-owned companies that provide our power today are a better deal for us than a company owned by us. ~ Mark L. Humphrey, Milbridge
KENNEBEC JOURNAL • November 15, 2023
Cobbossee Lake recently experienced its worst algae bloom since 2013, and experts are attributing it to this summer’s heavy rainfall. Usually, algae are healthy for marine life. The microscopic organisms are an important part of a marine food chain, acting as a source of sustenance for smaller fish and other aquatic animals. Through photosynthesis, algae also release oxygen in the water. They are, in many ways, essential. That is, until an abundance of them forms a green layer on the water’s surface, blocking oxygen and sunlight.
WASHINGTON POST • November 15, 2023
A little over a year after the passage of President Biden’s landmark climate bill, a new analysis shows the White House has delivered on a key front: A disproportionate amount of wind, solar, battery, and manufacturing investment is going to areas that used to host fossil fuel plants. And while that investment might not reshape the 2024 election, it could start to shift how rural communities view clean energy in the years to come.
WMTW-TV8 • November 15, 2023
One of Maine's newest manufacturing companies is looking to the past to help create a plastic-free future. Tanbark, based in Saco, makes sustainable packaging out of molder fiber, a product and process that has been around in Maine for more than a century and was actually invented here. "For the last 30 years, people have said 'We have plastic and styrofoam, what do we need this for?' That's changed," said Melissa Lacasse, founder and CEO of Tanbark. The company's packaging products are made from wood and plant fibers and Lacasse calls them an environmental solution to all the single-use products.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 15, 2023
Sears Island is a potential site for a proposed off-shore wind farm. While renewable energy resources are important for Maine, significant industrial development will be necessary to establish the port. Why not place the port across the bay at Mack Point? It is already developed. Will we really pave paradise to put up a parking lot, among other things? Isn’t it ironic that our plans for “green” energy could involve industrializing and contaminating one of Maine’s greenest pristine islands? Isn’t the point of renewable energy to take care of our natural resources? ~ Trish Hutchins, Swanville
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 15, 2023
Despite what CMP’s president told the Portland Press Herald this week, last Tuesday’s vote is not a validation of their current state of affairs. The Pine Tree Power proposal focused on three main frustrations: rising electricity bills, poor reliability as measured by frequent power outages in some areas and the private utilities’ slow accommodation of the renewable energy sources needed to make the state’s electricity grid greener and more resilient. In all of these areas, Maine’s Public Utilities Commission can and should play a stronger role. Versant and CMP say that they are up to the ongoing challenges and that they will redouble their efforts to improve their services. It is now also up to the utilities commission and Legislature to ensure that the companies follow through on those pledges.
SUN JOURNAL • November 15, 2023
Another milestone project comes to fruition at Saddleback Mountain ski resort with Friday’s official opening on the Saddleback House project. The $10 million housing project is intended to help solve the lack of housing for the greater Rangeley’s workforce, and the resort says it is part of the more comprehensive community development efforts that includes building a childcare center and increasing access to health and wellness care in the region. Saddleback expects to accommodate most employees in need of winter housing for the 2023-2024 season.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 14, 2023
Mike Cummings of Bucksport found an antler shed in late 2019 or early 2020 that stopped him. It was the start of a hunt that lasted almost four years. Cummings learned the huge deer’s travel patterns, what it ate, its distinctive tracks, its length of stride, the distance between its front legs, its social habits, and eventually, where it lived — its bedding area. This deer became his obsession. On Halloween morning, the huge buck stepped from the woods into a powerline clearing where Cummings was patiently waiting. Cummings aimed his .270 rifle while looking through his new Vortex scope and shot the animal from 233 yards. The buck ran another 30 yards down the powerline before dropping into a ditch. The shot had split its heart in half.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 14, 2023
Joseph Purington, Central Maine Power’s CEO and president, brushed aside the beating his company and Versant Power took during the campaign at the hands of advocates for Pine Tree Power, the name of the proposed public power company. Critics had blasted the utilities, which together provide electricity to 97% of Maine, as out-of-touch and profit-driven, responsible for frequent outages and excessively high electricity rates. Purington said, “It really just validated what we’ve been focused on the last couple of years.”
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 14, 2023
The warmer, wetter future that climate scientists have been predicting for New England is already here. The fifth National Climate Assessment – issued by the White House on Tuesday – includes data showing the region is seeing extreme heat on land and at sea, especially in the Gulf of Maine, and more frequent heavy rainstorms than any other region of the country. Data shows the number of days when at least 5 inches of rain fell more than doubled. These storms can have a big impact on local communities and ecosystems, but they can also spur action.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 14, 2023
A state senate-formed commission to study Maine veterans who were exposed to toxic chemicals when they served at a military support base in Canada will hold its first meeting in Augusta on Wednesday. The Gagetown Harmful Chemical Study Commission was established under a new law sponsored by Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash. Jackson said that he introduced the measure after hearing from constituents regarding health concerns following military service at the base in Gagetown, New Brunswick.
