The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
MAINE MONITOR • February 18, 2024
“Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get,” as some scientists have put it in the past. Maine has always seen a wide range of day-to-day conditions throughout its seasons. But if we zoom out and look at the trends among those anomalies and deviations, we see a clear pattern of warming, especially in winter.
MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • February 18, 2024
The Franklin Street four-lane road that divides Portland’s peninsula once was part of a vibrant neighborhood populated by Scandinavian, Armenian and Jewish immigrants. Business owners lived above corner stores, kids played in the street, people walked and biked to work. Then, in the ’60s, as the nationwide push for urban renewal aimed to clear cities of their so-called decaying areas, the neighborhood was decimated to make room for the modern-day arterial and the large grassy median. In a few years, Franklin Street could become the center of a lively residential neighborhood again instead of just a wide urban thoroughfare people take to get in and out of the city. The street could be bustling with pedestrians and bikes instead of cars. New housing could rise over busy storefronts near the ample green space of an expanded Lincoln Park.
MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • February 18, 2024
Maine is home, at least seasonally, to more than 300 species of birds. Of that total, slightly more than 200 nest here. Being an avid birder and field trip leader most of my adult life, I’m often asked to name my favorite birds. If I had a list, Canada jays would be in the top five. There isn’t another Maine bird more charming. ~ Ron Joseph
MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • February 18, 2024
There are more effective solutions to vehicle congestion than road-building, which forces people into cars, drives sprawl, increases vehicle miles traveled and increases carbon emissions. Yes, these alternative solutions are all much harder to pull off. That doesn’t mean we can shirk the responsibility to try. Change like this requires bold visualization, insistence on new and unfamiliar standards of public service, and supportive infrastructure. We can achieve these things at a reasonable cost and with a critical return on that investment for the environment, community cohesion and sought-after population growth. Or we can pave yet more land and stay sitting in our cars.
MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • February 18, 2024
Though Gov. Percival Baxter is remembered for his gifts of the park and the state school for the deaf, another contribution is worthy of special note. In the 1920s, Central Maine Power was probably the single greatest political force in Maine. The Legislature readily agreed with the utility’s demand to lease state land for a new storage dam without the state being paid anything. The legislative action had been obtained without CMP ever having talked with Baxter and the bill had passed by a veto-proof majority, composed almost entirely of members of his own party. Baxter was furious. His only recourse was to solicit signatures for a popular veto, which brought the president of CMP to his office, ready to make a deal. The people were relieved of some of their tax burden thanks to the foresight of a governor who not only opposed a land grab but put the people ahead of private interests. ~ Gordon L. Weil
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 18, 2024
Maine Maritime Museum in Bath has just opened a new exhibit featuring rarely heard or appreciated sounds, called “Lost and Found: Sounds of the Maine Coast.” The sonic installation features recordings of swelling tides, rumbling lobster boats and distant, offshore bell buoys by Portland sound artist Dianne Ballon. The show also gives voice to some of the museum’s long-silent artifacts, including century-old, hand-cranked foghorns and shipboard bells from vessels scrapped decades ago.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 17, 2024
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has removed the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery from its National Priorities List of contaminated Superfund sites after 30 years of extensive remediation. Removal of contaminated soil, sediment and other hazardous materials at the 278-acre shipyard is complete, and no future remediation is required, the agency announced Friday. However, ongoing operation, maintenance, land use controls and monitoring activities will continue at the site as needed.
MAINE MORNING STAR • February 17, 2024
Environmental agencies in nine states will work together to reduce planet-warming carbon emissions by making electric heat pumps the norm for most new home HVAC equipment sales by 2040. The memorandum of understanding, spearheaded by the inter-agency nonprofit Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management, or NESCAUM, was released last week and signed by officials in California, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Rhode Island. While it is not legally binding and does not commit particular funding, the agreement calls for heat pumps to make up 90% of residential heating, air conditioning and water heating sales in these states by 2040.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 17, 2024
Acadian winters have magic. Snow highlighted the peaks, ice lined the bays and the seeps and springs that trickled all summer were frozen solid. Ice flowed over rock in some places, while in others frigid water rolled halfheartedly down a mountainside before turning to temporary stone, freezing the roiling chaos of a waterfall in place. This is where the ice climbers come to play. If it calls to you, try it. There’s nothing quite like standing mid-waterfall, mid-winter. Everything is suspended — the ice, the waterfall, you between ax swings. All waiting to see what will happen next. Or, just go to Acadia. Have hot cocoa on Sand Beach (which is still very sandy after the storms if you were wondering), and laugh at how wild our world is. Laugh that there are people who find it fun to swing around on frozen falls. ~ Clark Tate
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 16, 2024
Every winter is different. Somehow, it took me most of my life to figure that out. I spent three days in the North Maine Woods last week, and I’m here to report that this winter is vastly different from last winter. The number of pine siskins was outrageous. They outnumbered an insane abundance of white-winged crossbills. It all depends on where they find the best food and weather. This year, Maine’s got what they want. I found more purple finches in the North Maine Woods than any of the last three years. On the other hand, common redpolls were scarce. The mix of finches in the Maine woods varies every year. But this is a good winter overall. Last winter was dull. The previous winter was incredible. ~ Bob Duchesne
MAINE SPORTSMAN • March, 2024
A recent biological study of waters in the Allagash Wilderness Waterway found that the Allagash River has become too hot for trout in summer. Trout must rely on finding cooler water in the tributaries. One member of the AWW Advisory Council asked whether a more extensive protection area around the tributaries would help. The response was unequivocal: “As buffer strips increase, temperatures decrease.” It’s time for the Bureau of Parks and Lands to expand the 400-800 foot “Protected Zone” over which the state has absolute jurisdiction, and to prohibit cutting and development within that zone.
MAINE PUBLIC • February 16, 2024
As state officials consider a contract extension for the operation of Juniper Ridge landfill in Old Town, area residents say they aren't satisfied with management now, let alone for the years to come. But operator Casella Waste Management says Juniper Ridge is a key support for Maine's changing waste disposal landscape. Penobscot Nation Tribal Ambassador Maulian Bryant says the contract extension can't be discussed without noting the negative impact the landfill has had on the tribe and the nearby Indian Island reservation.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 16, 2024
Gas utilities, environmentalists, consumer advocates and others are negotiating the outlines of a study in proposed legislation on how Maine might restrict the build-out of natural gas systems to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The bill proposes to ban gas companies from charging ratepayers to build and expand service mains and lines beginning Feb. 1, 2025, and instead require business and residential customers that benefit from new infrastructure to pay the costs. Scaling back natural gas build-outs has strong support from environmentalists who are looking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 16, 2024
A decision by Scarborough and Cape Elizabeth to remove a low-lying road through the Spurwink Marsh is an example of managed retreat in the face of climate change and the difficult choices facing communities all along the coast.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 16, 2024
Sears Island is a historical and natural treasure for all Maine residents, and for our valued tourists. It is an economic benefit to Searsport and nearby towns. Every time a visitor comes to Sears Island, cash registers likely ring in Searsport stores, specialty shops, restaurants and the Maritime Museum. I believe locating an important industrial facility on the verdant Sears Island will kill this year-round Golden Goose. We need offshore wind energy and its union jobs. But already industrialized Mack Point is the most sensible staging area for wind farm construction. ~ Alan Cohen, Winterport
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 16, 2024
We definitely need a turnpike connector to alleviate traffic congestion in the Gorham area. But we need even more the wonderful oasis of animals and farmland that is Smiling Hill Farm, which has operated for 304 years for 13 generations. There are so few working farms left in Maine. Please help save this one. Pick one of the other road proposals that does not go through Smiling Hill Farm. ~ Cheryl Hall, Cape Elizabeth
FORECASTER • February 15, 2024
Cape Elizabeth and Scarborough plan to remove the portion of Sawyer Road/Sawyer Street that routinely floods during storms and is damaging marsh habitat. Plans call for a 1,400-foot portion of the road that goes through the marsh to be removed. The road would dead-end on each side.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 15, 2024
Maine’s lobster industry is not expected to face any immediate legal consequences after a fishing rope suspected to originate in the state was found embedded in the tail of a dead right whale. That is because of a measure approved by Congress more than a year ago that prevents new restrictions aimed at protecting right whales from being imposed on lobstermen before 2028. The only previously known case of a whale getting tangled in Maine fishing line occurred in 2004, and that whale survived.
SUN JOURNAL • February 15, 2024
It’s a topic facing coastal communities all over the country, but it’s of extra significance here in Maine. It’s known as “blue acceleration,” and is described by the Stockholm Resilience Centre as a race among diverse and often competing interests for ocean food, material and space. Kanae Tokunaga, senior scientist in coastal and marine economics at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, told a Great Falls Forum audience Thursday that the blue acceleration is happening at the same time that climate change is impacting the Gulf of Maine, meaning big changes are converging all at once.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 15, 2024
Maine’s lobster industry is not expected to face any immediate legal or regulatory consequences after a fishing rope suspected to originate in the state was found embedded in the tail of a dead right whale. That is because of a measure approved by Congress more than a year ago that prevents new restrictions aimed at protecting right whales from being imposed on lobstermen before 2028, despite repeated concerns raised by whale advocates that lobster gear poses too great an entanglement risk.
