The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • January 28, 2024
Maine is one of 13 states where the April 8 total solar eclipse will be visible. Since 1850, Maine has fallen in the direct path of totality only once, in 1963. The path of totality stretches from Dover-Foxcroft up to Caribou, and from Jackman across to Houlton. The town of Jackman is planning to let the eclipse pass with little fanfare. Houlton, however, is going all out throwing a three-day festival the weekend leading up to the big day.
MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • January 28, 2024
Winter in Maine brings an end to most, but not all, hunting seasons. It’s prime time for hunting predators, and snowshoe hare hunting only gets better over the next two months. ~ Bob Humphrey
MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • January 28, 2024
Hidden Valley Nature Center in Jefferson encompasses 1,000 acres of forests, ponds, wetlands, streams and rocky ridges. It’s one of the most ecologically diverse tracts of undeveloped and roadless land in the Midcoast. A 25-mile multiuse trail system of old woods roads and footpaths crisscrosses the property. Five remote, off-the-grid overnight facilities offer rustic accommodations, including bunks, wood stove and firewood, table and chairs, and a privy. Everything else – sleeping bags, insulating pads, cooking gear, food and clothing, and the like – you tote in by backpack or sled. HVNC was established by Tracy Moscovitz and Bambi Jones, who assembled the preserve through a series of land purchases over two decades. It was opened to the public in 2007. In 2016, HVNC joined thre e other area conservation organizations to form the Midcoast Conservancy, now one of Maine’s largest, with 14,000 acres and 56 public lands under their care.~ Carey Kish
MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • January 28, 2024
The 124th Christmas Bird Count, sponsored by the National Audubon Society, conducted between Dec. 15 and Jan. 6, is now history. The data provide us with information on the status of our regular winter residents, the number of northern birds coming south to seek food, and the number of summering birds that have ignored their normal migrate-by date. The Unity CBC on Dec. 16 produced a list of 52 species. The Augusta CBC, also on Dec. 16, yielded 59 species. The Farmington count on Dec. 28 tallied 38 species. The Misery Township CBC just to the south of Jackman found 19 species. The Isles of Shoals CBC on Jan. 1 counted 37 species. ~ Herb Wilson
BLOOMBERG • January 27, 2024
Establishing just how much carbon is saved by building with timber isn’t straightforward. There are still big unanswered questions: Is mass timber good for the climate irrespective of its source? Life-cycle assessments look at the carbon spent moving logs from forest to mill. There’s also the energy expended milling and manufacturing wood into mass-timber products such as cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glued laminated timber (glulam). In addition, there’s the carbon released when construction cranes and tractors burn fuel, and even renovations and routine maintenance over decades. Another critical concern is how the forest where the wood grew is managed, and life-cycle analyses don’t comprehensively quantify the benefits of sustainable forestry.
RUMFORD FALLS TIMES • January 27, 2024
According to new laws of the state’s Animal Welfare Program, the state won’t pay for any of the cleanup needed for a trailer on River Road. The trailer, housing a colony of an estimated 50 feral cats, was first discovered just days before Christmas after flooding forced a man out of the trailer. The trailer is considered a biohazard and has since been condemned by the town.
MAINE MONITOR • January 27, 2024
Situated on 256 acres at the farthest eastern tip of the United States, the humble 1940s-era airport, originally a Navy airstrip, now boasts a resurfaced $5.8 million, 4,000-foot runway that stretches across the western edge of Moose Island in Cobscook Bay. Until recently, a lack of local government support and funding kept the airport from expanding services. While it’s capable of serving regional airlines, flights have been limited to private planes. Peter Lehmann, the new airport manager, is working with volunteers and the city’s airport advisory committee to change that. They have a plan well underway to improve the airport and expand services.
KENNEBEC JOURNAL • January 27, 2024
Botanist Eric Doucette, hosted by Kennebec Land Trust and the Hallowell Conservation Commission, will give a workshop on winter tree identification at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 3. Meet inside at the Hallowell Fire Station Meeting Room on Coos Lane to learn basic identification techniques and terms, and then move outside to practice at the nearby Effie Berry and Howard Hill Conservation Areas.
SUN JOURNAL • January 27, 2024
There was a day when an ice fisherman didn’t concern himself much with the kind of live bait used to entice a landlocked salmon or a trout under the ice. You always used live smelts if you could find them. Not so today. There are live bait regulations galore. And, unless to want to get crossways with the law, you really want to familiarize yourself with the many varieties of live bait species before you venture forth, especially if you trap your own live bait. There are only 17 species of live bait that are legal to use in Maine. The live bait regulations are there for a purpose, however, to protect our precious sport fishery from invasive species getting in waters where they don’t belong. ~ V. Paul Reynolds
MAINE MONITOR • January 27, 2024
Maine has repeatedly floated bills to include farmworkers in the state’s minimum wage law, but the Democratic governor has vetoed it — and laborers say a lack of legal protections makes it impossible for them to speak up.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 27, 2024
Why are some lobsters brightly colored instead of the more common mottled brown? Are their colors influenced by water temperature or diet? And what does this mean for the future of the species? Those are the questions Dr. Markus Frederich, a professor of marine sciences at the University of New England, and a team of student researchers will try to answer by decoding these lobsters’ DNA.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 27, 2024
South Portland has a new, revised tree ordinance but it is weak and took two years from start to finish, which gave developers and uncaring neighbors plenty of time to hysterically cut down many trees. There seems to be no way to encourage some people to care about the environment, climate change, trees, or the known fact that our beloved lawns are another defilement of the Earth. After successive major weather disasters that have forever altered the coastline of Maine, people should stop doubting climate change and start taking action to prevent an environmental catastrophe. Let’s start by leaving the trees alone. ~ Barbara Dee, South Portland, ardent tree hugger
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 27, 2024
The 2016 Louisiana floods devastated my hometown. I live in Saco now. I am on the city’s conservation commission and personally witnessed Camp Ellis after the recent storm. I know and understand the push for development, but lax planning and kowtowing to cranky developers who don’t get their way, doesn’t solve these very real issues. If anything, it leads to more flooded homes and traumatized families. I know the property owners don’t want to leave. They would prefer to stay and rebuild. But they must understand — this will not stop. ~ Justin C. Hill, Saco
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 27, 2024
Denyse and Alan Michaud of St. Agatha were bedazzled by the unexpected appearance of five beautiful Canada lynx. (2023 video)
SUN JOURNAL • January 27, 2024
the unelected Board of Environmental Protection is set to incrementally take away our ability to choose what vehicle we are able to purchase. When we brought this to light, Gov. Janet Mills came out against this rule. Later, though, her board moved to adopt that mandate, even though she indicated she was opposed to the motion. Since that statement in August, we have not heard from the governor on this matter. ~ Rep. Sheila Lyman, Livermore Falls
LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS • January 26, 2024
This morning, the Biden-Harris administration announced it will be issuing a pause on considering permits for liquefied methane gas (LNG) export projects. LCV President Gene Karpinski said, “This is huge. The Biden-Harris administration’s decision to take a deeper look at all the impacts of LNG exports is a major step forward towards protecting our families, our communities, and our climate. This decision sends a clear signal that the administration is taking the global commitment reached in December to transition away from fossil fuels seriously. No president has done more on climate.
MAINE WIRE (Maine Policy Institute) • January 26, 2024
Maine’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife released a statement yesterday encouraging people to sign up for its “Traps+Trails LGBTQAI+ Winter Outdoor Extravaganza.” “Folks of all identities, abilities, and experience levels are welcome to join us for a day of fun and learning in the Maine outdoors! Whether you are a part of the queer community or an outdoor ally, you’re invited,” said the DIFW in its posting for the event. It represents the state government explicitly partnering with far-left activist groups. The LGBTQIA+ Outdoor Extravaganza is not the first time the state has tried to push far-left ideology using its outdoor programs.
WMTW-TV8 • January 26, 2024
A 51-year-old man from Carmel has died after falling through the ice on Etna Pond on Friday. Kevin Howell was walking with his four-year-0ld son at around 6:30 a.m. when both he and his son fell through. Howell was able to get his son back onto the ice, who ran roughly one-third of a mile back to their home to tell his mother to call 911. His mother grabbed an anchor and rope and ran back down to the water while the boy stayed at home. She secured the rope to the shore and but broke through the ice as well while trying to reach her husband. A detective with the Penobscot County Sheriff's Office managed to reach her by crawling across the ice. Divers from state police and the warden service found Howell's body in the early afternoon.
MAINE PUBLIC • January 26, 2024
There were fewer visits to Acadia National Park again last year, according to preliminary numbers from the National Park Service. The park saw 3.8 million visitors in 2023, with all but 300,000 going to the Mount Desert Island area of the park and the rest to the Schoodic Peninsula. The numbers are down about 100,000 from 2022, which was already less than the peak four million visitors in 2021. But visitors are still up compared to pre-pandemic levels.
MAINE PUBLIC • January 26, 2024
Federal officials say they have a plan to protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales amid increasing interest in potential offshore wind development. The Gulf of Maine is being eyed as a possible development ground. A new plan from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management suggests that offshore wind projects should not be leased in places where major impacts to right whales might occur. Potential wind energy areas for the Gulf of Maine haven't been finalized. But the federal agencies say that if development does move ahead in the Gulf, it would occur in an area that's a critical habitat for right whales.
