The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 10, 2024
Gov. Janet Mills hopes to accelerate her $50 million proposal to help Maine communities rebuild infrastructure and enhance climate resiliency in the wake of devastating, back-to-back-to-back winter rainstorms. Mills announced Friday that she plans to introduce legislation soon – separate from and in advance of the forthcoming supplemental budget – that will invest $50 million in the Maine Infrastructure Adaptation Fund.
SUN JOURNAL • February 10, 2024
Municipalities and environmental groups lined up behind a bill last week that would give towns more powers to handle landowners who flout state shoreland laws. The bill, L.D. 2101 sponsored by state Sen. Tim Nangle, D-Cumberland, would allow municipalities the authority to restrict, suspend or revoke any municipally issued permit to the owner of real estate who violates the state mandated Shoreland Zoning Ordinance. It would also allow municipalities and the Maine Land Use Planning Commission (LUPC) to place a lien against the real estate for all costs related to the ordinance violation incurred by the municipality. LUPC does the job of municipalities too small or remote to have employees or code enforcement.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 10, 2024
Maine lawmakers soon will vote on a bill that would require freight railroad companies to better inform state officials about hazardous materials that they are transporting through the state. The bill’s intent is to expand the types of information railroads are required to provide to the state so that emergency management and public safety agencies can better prepare for potential rail disasters. But the bill, L.D. 1937, has moved away from its original aim, which was to allow members of the public to access information about what hazardous materials are moving through their backyards.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 9, 2024
The 500-acre, 13th-generation family operation in Westbrook wants to preserve the farmland and forest it has cultivated and harvested since 1720, but some of its woodland lies in the path of the Maine Turnpike Authority's proposed 4-lane highway. “Smiling Hill Farm has not agreed to sell any land to any entity,” Warren Knight said. “We’re not interested in making our farm smaller.”
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 10, 2024
In 2021, the Legislature passed groundbreaking, bipartisan legislation to ban all nonessential uses of PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals,” in products used in Maine, with the goal of preventing further contamination across the state and protecting the health and environment of all Mainers. L.D. 1503, which had unanimous support in committee and passed nearly unanimously in both the House and Senate, banned all nonessential uses of PFAS in Maine by 2030 and required companies that use PFAS in their products to report that information to the Maine DEP. Unfortunately, key provisions of that law are under attack by businesses and aligned opposition groups. Maine people have a right to know which companies are using these toxic chemicals in their products. ~ Rep. Lori Gramlich and Sen. Rick Bennett
DAILY BULLDOG • January 10, 2024
The Land Use Planning Commission (LUPC) is about to rule on whether an area on Pickett Mountain should be rezoned to allow mining by Wolfden Resources, a Canadian mining company. Wolfden has no experience operating a mine and their finances are unsure. Allowing such a company to mine in Maine could set a precedent that would allow other similar mining companies here. The zinc mine they are proposing is in a massive sulfide deposit. The sulfides in the ore form sulfuric acid when it gets wet causing highly toxic heavy metals, arsenic, antimony, etc. to be released as acid mine drainage. Why would we want to put our environment at risk just so foreign owned mining companies can set up here and make a lot of money? ~ Lindy Moceus, Vienna
MAINE PUBLIC • February 9, 2024
The Mills administration hopes to fast-track a bill that would provide $50 million to communities to repair infrastructure damaged during recent storms. Gov. Janet Mills told lawmakers last weekduring her State of the State address that she would include the $50 million allocation in a larger budget bill. But lawmakers likely won't finalize that budget until spring. So on Friday, Mills' office said she would introduce a stand-alone bill that could move faster through the legislative process.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 9, 2024
Utilities, power generators and others can apply for funding to strengthen the state’s electric grid, which has been vulnerable to recent destructive storms, Gov. Janet Mills said Friday. The $4.4 million in federal funds awarded to Maine under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will pay for resilience projects. The goals are to increase resilience of the electric grid and reduce the frequency and duration of power outages. The grants also aim to improve clean energy workforce opportunities and meet electric grid modernization and state climate policy objectives.
MAINE PUBLIC • February 9, 2024
Norway, Maine, was once known as The Snowshoe Capital of America. Learn about the history of the snowshoe, how they’re made, where to go snowshoeing in Maine – and why this remains such a beloved wintertime activity in Maine. Panelists: Lee Dassler, Western Foothills Land Trust, which hold the annual Snowshoe Festival in Norway, Maine; Erika Johnson, Maine Huts & Trails; Brian J. Theriault, master snowshoe maker, Theriault’s Snowshoes, in Fort Kent.
DOWN EAST magazine • February 2024
Derek Lovitch has made a career out of his lifelong passion for birds. After graduating with a degree in environmental policy from Rutgers University, he worked in avian research and education projects in nine states, from New Jersey to Hawaii, Florida to Michigan. He also spent three summers as a tour guide on Alaska’s Pribilof Islands, serving as tour director in 2003 and conducting the first comprehensive Fall Avian Survey in the islands’ history. Derek and his wife, Jeannette, live in Durham, where they own and operate Freeport Wild Bird Supply, a retail store that caters to birders of all levels. The store serves as a vehicle for Derek to continue sharing his enthusiasm for birding, birds, and bird conservation. We talked with Derek to get more insight into his birding background and some of his favorite spots to go bird-watching.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 8, 2024
Our homelands are at risk. The lands of our ancestors — where our people have been stewards for thousands of years — face an urgent threat from Wolfden Resources’ proposed mine. The company is seeking to rezone lands near Pickett Mountain in the Katahdin region and move forward with its controversial mining operation. Wolfden has shown blatant disrespect for the Wabanaki Nations. Do we really want to risk a place as special as this on an unproven company making grandiose promises? The Penobscot Nation, alongside our brothers and sisters in the Wabanaki Confederacy, continues to stand in firm opposition to this unproven mining company’s proposal. ~ Maulian Bryant, Penobscot Nation tribal ambassador
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 8, 2024
Young people like me are increasingly worried about the reality of climate change. With the devastating damage brought by recent storms, this reality has become even clearer here in Maine. Action must happen now to address it. We cannot focus just on returning to the way things were or on upgrading our infrastructure to withstand future storms. We must go further to stop the source of these extreme weather events. Speak up to your elected officials at all levels of government; support policies that will stop climate change; campaign and vote for candidates who will support these policies; make changes in your own life to lower your carbon footprint; tell your friends and neighbors to take action as well. ~ Connor Ransom, student at Colby College
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 8, 2024
Passing the Advanced Clean Cars II Standards will make it easier for everyone to transition to an EV, by ensuring that manufacturers supply Maine with a greater number and variety of affordable new EVs, in turn stimulating the used EV market. If we don’t pass it, affordable EVs will go to states that do have these standards, limiting access to new and used EVs in Maine for years to come. ~ Laurie Manos, Harpswell
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 7, 2024
The first phase of the large Gorham housing development moved ahead Monday with unanimous Planning Board preliminary approval. KV Enterprises developers hope to begin construction this spring on 43 single-family homes in the initial phase of a planned mix of 96 homes and 295 multifamily units. Developers need the Town Council’s permission to build a road on town-owned property. They are also seeking to increase the pace of buildout from 10 units a year allowed under the existing growth ordinance to 15. The project is proposed for a 131-acre tract, and 51 acres of it off New Portland Road would be conserved.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 7, 2024
Though the Worcester family has dropped its pursuit of a $1 billion flagpole and patriotism park in Washington County, officials in Columbia Falls, the small Maine town where the park was to be located, still have concerns about the proposal’s impact. The Worcesters did not approach the town about annexing land in the unorganized territory — a move to avoid scrutiny by the state Land Use Planning Commission — until after legislators drafted a bill. The town has not been given a copy of any survey of the land, which would show who owns it, and does not know what may exist on it. David Perham, chairman of the town’s planning board, said the town was “surprised” by the Worcesters’ annexation idea and that the skyscraper tower and surrounding buildings would have been the largest development project ever in Maine’s history. “It was under very shady circumstances to begin with,” Jeff Green, one of the town’s three elected selectmen, said of the annexation bill.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 7, 2024
Wood fiber insulation, made for the first time in North America by Madison manufacturer TimberHP, promises to be the next big thing in Maine construction. Production of TimberHP’s first product, a blown-in insulation, began last summer in Madison’s old paper mill. It is just starting to catch on. A 65-unit workforce housing development in Westbrook is using it. The College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor has installed it in two buildings, and the company is trying to quickly expand its use in Maine.
SUN JOURNAL • February 7, 2024
The town will pay tribute to the late Fred Huntress with a memorial bench to be placed in the center of the village. The Select Board committed $5,500 to the endeavor at Tuesday night’s meeting. In addition, Selectperson Stephen Robinson said the town’s Conservation Commission plans to add a bronze plaque and plant a white oak honoring Huntress, an acclaimed Maine forester who served in that capacity for the town from 1964 until his passing in November 2023.
SUN JOURNAL • February 7, 2024
The state has lowered the town’s property valuation by $93.6 million because of Pixelle Specialty Solutions’ downsizing and eventual closure of the Androscoggin Mill in March 2023. It is the fifth time Jay has applied for relief and been granted it.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 7, 2024
For years, I’ve hopelessly suffered from the acute seasonal effects of an ongoing addiction to shed antlers. I still haven’t been able to nail down exactly what it is about finding a shed deer antler that calls to me so loudly. After all, of the dozens I’ve found over the years, only a very few have ever served any decorative or functional purpose. I don’t care if it’s big, small, old, new, bleached, brown, chewed or perfect: I have to have it. ~ Chris Sargent
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 7, 2024
Dozens of Maine dairy farmers packed a legislative hearing Wednesday to call for lawmakers to approve higher milk prices set under a state relief program. The boosted price levels are sorely needed, particularly after higher inflation during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to farmers. That came amid historic struggles in Maine’s dairy industry, which has dwindled from 4,600 farms in 1954 to less than 150 now on the heels of major closures over the past few years.
