Lumbermen’s Trail on Katahdin Woods and Waters Scenic Byway becomes a reality

THE COUNTY • January 23, 2024

In early 2023, Katahdin Area Trails, a partner in Patten Area Outdoors,  was awarded a Recreational Trails Program grant to construct a high quality, easy to navigate non-motorized accessible trail. The vision was to complete a short evenly graded trail that would include a children’s Storybook Lane on land behind the Lumbermen’s Museum. The hope was that this trail would be a place for people of all ages and abilities to spend time outdoors together. Patten Area Outdoors, a volunteer group in the region focused on creating non-motorized, accessible outdoor options for the region, says that under the supervision of the Outdoor Sport Institute and Katahdin Area Trails the trail has been completed.

Scientists want to crack the mystery of Maine’s oddly colored lobsters

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 23, 2024

Markus Frederich, a professor of marine sciences, and his students plan on using non-invasive DNA-testing methods to finally solve the mystery behind the odd-colored crustaceans. They’ll do that with the help of their test subjects, including a purple lobster named Fig and an orange one-clawed lobster dubbed Peaches that became an internet sensation in June 2023.

Opinion: We can solve the widespread problem of lead in school water

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 23, 2024

Last September, Maine released the results of statewide tests of school drinking water for contamination with lead. The findings were concerning. Over a quarter of the samples showed elevated lead levels, some extremely so. For many parents, including me, the problem hits home. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, “even low levels of lead in blood have been shown to affect IQ, ability to pay attention, and academic achievement.” To solve the problem, we need to stop lead exposure at its source. No child should risk lead exposure from a school water fountain. We understand the problem, we know how to solve it, and the time to act is now. ~ Michael Haedicke, Maine chapter of the national Scholars Strategy Network

Biggest recorded snowfalls in Maine history

Q97.9 • January 22, 2024

Nowadays, it seems like snowstorms don't dump as much snow on us as they used to. Is it climate change? A list of the 10 biggest snowfall totals recorded in a single day in Maine shows that:
• Four of the nine largest snowfall totals in Maine occurred in the 21st century (2000-present day).
• The largest snowfall in one day in Maine on record occurred in 2008.
• The oldest date in the list of nine for the most snowfall in one day was in 1898.

Maine solar company accused of defaulting on $260K of auto loans

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 22, 2024

A Maine solar company already embroiled in controversy allegedly defaulted on nearly $260,000 of auto loans. Pine Tree Solar defaulted on 18 different auto loans through Camden National Bank, according to a lawsuit filed by the bank on Friday in Bangor District Court. The Hermon-based solar company owes about $259,700 of the original $535,670.

Newly conserved 47 acres of marshland along upper York River viewed as 'climate win'

MAINE PUBLIC • January 22, 2024

Nearly 50 acres of marshland along the upper York River is newly protected under a conservation deal. Amelia Nadilo of the York Land Trust, who worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Maine Coast Heritage Trust to secure the parcel from a landowner, calls the deal a climate win. The parcel has been added to the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge. Refuge manager Karl Stromayer says the marshland is also home to the endangered saltmarsh sparrow, which only nests in saltmarshes along the East Coast.

Maine’s LUPC Confirmation Hearing Once Again Becomes an Unusually Contentious Issue

MAINE WIRE • January 22, 2024

Maine’s Committee on Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry (ACF) failed to confirm the nomination of another member of the state’s Land Use Planning Committee[sic] (LUPC). The ACF met on Monday for a hearing intended to re-confirm Oxford County’s representative on the LUPC, Lee Smith. This followed a controversial meeting of the ACF on Jan. 8th, meant to be a confirmation hearing for Tom Dubois, Franklin County’s nominee for the LUPC, but which turned into an environmental debate about the proposed Pickett Mountain Mine in Maine’s unincorporated territories. All Republicans, except one who was absent, voted against the confirmation of Smith. All the Democrats supported the confirmation, except one who was also absent. The independent member voted with Republicans against Smith’s confirmation. The final vote was five “yes” votes, six “no” votes, and two absent with the ACF failing to re-confirm Smith. Franklin and Oxford counties are left without LUPC representatives before the vote on the Pickett Mountain mine on February 24.

As Mainers use more electricity, plans for a new grid ramp up

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 22, 2024

Mainers are increasingly using heat pumps, driving electric vehicles and switching to electric equipment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and the growing demand will test the state’s power grid. Planning to update Maine’s vast electrical infrastructure has begun – the Maine Public Utilities Commission held two work sessions last week after soliciting comments from utilities and other stakeholders – but the upgrades will take years. Environmentalists say Maine utilities’ grid planning must follow a 2019 state law that charged the Maine Climate Council with developing a plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030 and 80% by 2050 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2045. The state Public Advocate told regulators reliability at an affordable cost needs to be a top priority in a grid upgrade.

Opinion: Nanoplastics are dangerous – and in your ‘pure’ bottled water

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 22, 2024

The shocking part of a recent laboratory study published last week is the revelation that bottled water is laden with even tinier nanoplastic bits and associated chemicals. Nanoplastics are potentially more dangerous than microplastic particles because they are so small they can be absorbed into human cells. But we are not doomed to a life of gulping down plastic. State regulators in California recently approved standards for cleaning and reusing sewage, which is expected to produce drinking water that is in most ways purer than what’s in plastic bottles. ~ Los Angeles Times Editorial Board

Letter: Replace South Portland fishing shacks with a monument

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 22, 2024

At first, I was relieved and heartened to learn there were already efforts underway to raise money to rebuild the iconic fishing shacks at Willard Beach. But then I realized this well-meant nostalgic endeavor is pure folly against the power and imminence of the climate crisis. They will just get swept away in the next big storm. We should instead commission an artist to install a sturdy steel sculpture that honors the memory of the history of those shacks while also acknowledging that the climate crisis is here. ~ Jennifer Lunden, Portland

Climate change splits Maine lawmakers trying to aid storm-ravaged coastal towns

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 22, 2024

Maine lawmakers mulling how to help coastal communities devastated by back-to-back storms this month are airing ideas that are shaped by partisan splits on climate change. Democrats want to boost clean energy and climate resiliency investments for coastal communities, while Republicans wary of new programs and taxes are eyeing money from any budget surplus to create a relief fund. Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, said the state first wants to see how much federal funding is available for help. The clock is ticking. Maine’s long-term energy plans — ranging from offshore wind and electric vehicles to natural gas pipelines — are hardly uniting lawmakers.

Proposed Brunswick-Rockland excursion train would include fine-dining car

TIMES RECORD • January 21, 2024

Another company has proposed an excursion train from Brunswick to Rockland that would include a fine-dining car, marking the latest attempt to revive passenger service on the 57-mile Rockland Branch. Delaware-based AmeriStarRail wants to launch its service, MidCoast Maine Central, in May. It would include six daily, roundtrip train runs with stops in Bath, Wiscasset and Newcastle. A locomotive would carry several cars consisting of coach, first-class and fine-dining sections, with a capacity of 200–300 passengers.

Whispers of the Allagash

MAINE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS • January 21, 2024

In the summer of 2022, Friends and Family set off to Maine's North Woods on a three day fly fishing trip in search of plentiful wild native brook trout in their wild places. What they didn't know was that Bob Johnson, registered Maine guide and lodge owner, had a few unique surprises for them that not many anglers have the chance to experience. But what came from catching these fish turned into far more than just another fly fishing story.

Gardiner business owners gut-punched by flood insurance revelations

MAINE MONITOR • January 21, 2024

Roger Bintliff’s Corner Brew in Gardiner was flooded on Dec. 19. When that storm hit last month, Bintliff thought he was OK. He had invested in a hefty insurance policy that would cover up to $400,000 in damages. But with over $100,000 in damages, Bintliff was blindsided when he found out his insurance wouldn’t cover the losses because his policy was not flood-specific. Had Bintliff lost his equipment to a fire, he would have been covered, but not by a flood. As Maine riverfront and coastal communities prepare for wetter and more frequent storms, sea level rise and flooding that experts attribute to human-caused climate change, they also must reckon with the intricacies of a flood insurance market with narrow definitions and, for most flood-prone properties, increased premiums.

There’s no offseason for Maine farmers as they strive to survive the winter months

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • January 21, 2024

Thousands of Maine farmers are diversifying their operations, tracking market trends, and making the most of technology and innovation to stay productive and profitable – even when the ground is frozen and fields are covered with snow. And while the need to make ends meet through the winter months is nothing new in agriculture, the challenges facing farmers have only intensified, including rising costs, labor constraints, global competition and climate change. The strain has taken a toll. Maine has 7,600 farms, down 7% from 8,136 farms in 2007.

Portland’s peninsula and commercial center vulnerable to floods

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • January 21, 2024

At the end of the century, when a rapidly warming Casco Bay is predicted to have risen another 4 feet because of climate change, a big storm that blows in hard from the southeast on a new moon tide – like the one that hit us on Jan. 10 – could spell disaster for Portland. Much of Commercial Street, which was built on filled land, would be overrun by up to 10 feet of water, along with its shops, bars and restaurants beloved by locals and tourists, as would the working waterfront that serves the area’s lobster and fishing fleet.

How the Maine coast will be reshaped by a rising Gulf of Maine

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • January 21, 2024

Between the two storms that hit the coast on Jan. 10 and 13, and the Dec. 18 storm that wreaked at least $20 million in damage to 10 Maine counties, there’s almost no way a Mainer could have missed the impact of this extreme weather, which can be traced back to climate change. By 2030, two-thirds of Maine’s coastal sand dunes are expected to be submerged and 43% of its sandy beach area lost. It will overrun many homes and businesses if they don’t take steps to mitigate the impact of sea level rise through managed retreat to higher ground or adaptation measures.

In Stonington, threats to fishing community and lost access to mainland

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • January 21, 2024

As the state’s top lobster port, Stonington is keen to protect its fishing fleet’s ability to trap, sell and ship its catch from this bridged island in Down East Maine to far-flung destinations for as long as the Gulf of Maine is cold enough to sustain them. Warming waters are nudging lobster populations ever northward, but the Jan. 10 and 13 storms served up a harsh reminder that climate change poses more immediate threats to the island: the powerful one-two punch of sea level rise and storm surge. The causeway linking Stonington to the mainland was under 18 inches of water shortly after Jan. 10’s high tide. People cut off from local emergency services during monthly high tides now.

In Kennebunk, some beaches and oceanfront areas will be inundated by 2050

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • January 21, 2024

With their sandy beaches, sizable seasonal communities and thriving tourism appeal, sea level rise has the potential to sucker punch some of Maine’s most iconic coastal communities, including Bar Harbor, Old Orchard Beach and Kennebunk. It will take Kennebunk months, if not years, to recover from the Jan. 10 and 13 storms that washed away beachfront streets and seawalls, damaged seasonal homes and historic hotels, and gouged the beaches that regularly land the town atop travelers’ lists of best beach towns. Beach erosion can lead to the loss of tourism dollars along Maine’s southern coast.

Column: When it comes to deer hunting, the more you know the better

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • January 21, 2024

Deer communicate more by scent than vocalization. Body language is also very important to both. Deer just seem to recognize it innately, while we have to read books on it. Biologists believe that from a single whiff of urine, a deer can recognize much about the other deer that deposited it, including sex, fitness, and quite possibly individual identity and status within the local population. They can also figure out pretty quickly when there’s a stranger in town, so minimizing your presence through scent control and stealth is important. The more you know, the more successful you’ll be at deer hunting. ~ Bob Humphrey