The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • March 3, 2024
Maine has made licenses 16 available – the most up for grabs since the first iteration of the license lottery in the competitive 2013 market. Even so, the chances are slim. Fewer than 0.5% of applicants have been successful in each previous lottery. The window to apply closes Monday.
MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • March 3, 2024
Maine maple syrup producers are saying warm winters, little snowfall and a changing climate are contributing to increasingly intermittent and unpredictable sugaring seasons. But while many industries that rely on winter weather are reeling from the effects of climate change, many maple syrup farmers say they are finding ways to adapt and even thrive.
MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • March 3, 2024
Witherle Woods Preserve occupies a commanding location at the tip of the Castine Peninsula that rewards visitors with outstanding views over Penobscot Bay. The 193-acre property, owned and managed by the Maine Coast Heritage Trust, features a wonderful network of trails for hiking, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing. ~ Carey Kish
MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • March 3, 2024
The creation of the Maine Trails Bond, L.D. 1156, deserves to be approved. A landmark investment in our trails can boost economic activity statewide (and in rural areas where it is particularly needed), attracting residents and tourists alike; supporting environmental and climate goals by protecting valuable swaths of our coasts, mountains and woodlands and promoting transit by many means other than car or truck; and making a meaningful contribution to public health by inviting people to get out in the air and get moving – year-round.
MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • March 3, 2024
Recently at a meeting when two people spoke against the adoption of the Climate Action Team’s proposed greenhouse gas reduction goals because of tire dust from electric vehicles. The weight of EV batteries and EVs’ ability to briskly accelerate means that tiny particulates shed from these vehicles’ tires are greater than those shed from lighter vehicles. But it’s the weight of vehicles and the aggressiveness with which they are driven that cause greater tire dust pollution. Nine out of the 10 best selling cars in the U.S. last year were trucks or SUVs. The solution to tire dust pollution lies in promoting more reasonably sized vehicles, calming traffic with safer road design, enforcing speed limits more consistently and developing tires made from fewer dangerous materials. ~ Sam Saltonstall, Brunswick
MAINE MONITOR • March 3, 2024
As I’ve grown up and my career has honed in [sic] on environmental issues, I’m often asked about my education and how I got here. I have no formal science training; I studied classics and journalism in college. It’s this foundation of outdoor education that gave me my connection to the natural world — a sense of my place in it, and an awareness that human actions can and do change the planet. Teachers in Maine are increasingly pushing for more resources to expose their students to this kind of “place-based” climate and environmental learning. They gathered in Augusta this week to celebrate that effort and look to expand it.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 2, 2024
On a cold winter night, having the means and knowledge to build a small campfire just might save your life. it’s crucial that you carry a fire-starting tool. Examples of fire starters include waterproof matches, a pocket lighter and a spark-producing device made of flint and steel, of which there are many varieties. Gather plenty of materials before you even think about striking a match. Collect wood of all sizes, from tiny twigs to big branches. The dryer, the better. Last but not least, you’ll need tinder, which is a bundle of dry, loose material that’s highly flammable. This is where you’ll aim your spark or first flame. By far, the best tinder I’ve found is natural, and it’s all over Maine: birch bark.
MAINE MONITOR • March 2, 2024
Beneath the surface, western Maine and California’s Imperial Valley share something in common — nationally significant deposits of lithium. It’s a strategic metal considered essential for batteries that power electric vehicles and the storage systems needed to support a global, renewable energy revolution. The Maine discovery is said to be one of the world’s largest deposits of lithium, locked in rock crystals on the side of Plumbago Mountain in Newry. Meanwhile, lithium found thousands of feet underground in the superheated, salty water called geothermal brines is making global headlines. There’s enough lithium contained in the brines around the Salton Sea for 375 million batteries for electric vehicles, according to a recent federal analysis. It’s enough to help the U.S. meet global demand for decades.
MAINE MONITOR • March 2, 2024
Kingfish Maine, the company behind a proposed aquaculture facility in Jonesport, received $4 million from the state last month while appeals challenging the project continue to wind their way through the courts. Though a number of aquaculture projects across the state have stalled in recent years because of pushback from conservation groups, fishermen and coastal landowners, Kingfish Maine remains optimistic it will break ground on a $110 million land-based fish farm next year. For now, construction on the recirculating aquaculture facility, which the company says will eventually produce 8,000 metric tons of yellowtail kingfish a year and provide between 70 and 100 jobs, is on hold as the Maine Supreme Judicial Court and Maine Business and Consumer Court consider challenges to the group’s permits.
SUN JOURNAL • March 2, 2024
Maine is the only state in the lower 48 that still has the Arctic charr. The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife took “extraordinary steps” to preserve, not just the charr, but also the wild brook trout in Big Wadleigh Pond. In 2012, 100 charr and 300 native brook trout were captured and moved to Mountain Springs Trout Farm in Frenchville. Once bucket-stocked rainbow smelts were eliminated from Big Wadleigh Pond and the captured species were successfully raised and spawned by the Frenchville hatchery, they were systematically restocked back into the reclaimed pond. ~ V. Paul Reynolds
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 1, 2024
I support the development of an offshore wind facility at Mack Point, and oppose development of that facility on Sears Island, if any such facility is to be built in Penobscot Bay. Sears Island, or Wassumkeag, is a treasure and has been revered for more than 3,000 years. The choice is clear: to redevelop Mack Point, an active port and industrial site for more than 100 years, into the hub for manufacturing renewable energy from floating offshore wind turbines; or to potentially destroy the ecological, recreational and economic value of Sears Island, the largest undeveloped island on the Maine coast connected by a causeway. ~ Nicholas Kranz, Searsport
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 1, 2024
An abandoned gravel pit in Hampden has been repurposed as a 14,000-panel community solar farm. Investor and owner Wishcamper Cos. on Thursday cut the ribbon on the project which will generate an estimated 8.6 million kilowatt hours of electricity. The electricity from the solar farm will power the Bangor Water District, the College of the Atlantic and other local institutions.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 1, 2024
Central Maine Power Co. asked state regulators Friday to authorize a $162 million reimbursement – a near-record – for the costs of restoring power after three destructive storms last year. The money would be paid by ratepayers over two years. Regulators will decide “approximately” in April how much the utility may charge customers and will set a payment schedule and allocate rates for residential and business customers.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 1, 2024
It’s peregrine falcon nesting season in Maine. That means that select areas of Acadia National Park will be closed to the public so as not to disturb the mating pairs. The Jordan Cliffs Trail, Precipice Trail and Valley Cove Trail will be closed until further notice, according to park officials. Peregrine falcons start finding mates and settling into nests in March and early April, and throughout April and May, incubate their eggs. Peregrine chicks hatch in June, and by July the chicks become fledglings and start stretching their wings. By the fall, the chicks have matured. Some will choose to migrate further south, but peregrine falcons can be found along Maine’s coast in the winter months, depending on resources and how severe winter weather gets.
MAINE PUBLIC • March 1, 2024
Maine fishermen brought in about $464 million worth of lobster last year, a $72 million increase over the previous year’s haul, which had been the lowest in the decade. The rebound was mostly driven by higher lobster prices. By volume, fishermen harvested nearly 94 million pounds of lobster, the lowest in 15 years.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 1, 2024
Thank you to our Land Use Planning Commission for its recent decision regarding Wolfden Resources and the proposed Pickett Mountain mine. When industry seems to be winning over nature more and more, I figured it might go through even though the proposed location was just awful for so many reasons. In the end, the commission agreed with many Mainers and Indigenous people that this was a special area, and its status as a protection district should not be changed. ~ Kara Potter, Mount Chase
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 1, 2024
Maine fishermen earned an additional $25 million dockside in 2023. The total value of Maine’s fisheries came to $611,277,692, according to preliminary figures for 2023 the Maine Department of Marine Resources released Friday morning. That’s a boost compared with 2022’s $574,049,682, but a far cry from the record more than $890 million hauled in throughout 2021. The increase over the value of 2022’s catch was attributed to strong prices for Maine lobster, which remains the state’s most valuable fishery.
MAINE PUBLIC • March 1, 2024
A federal judge has halted enforcement of a voter-approved law designed to bar foreign government-owned entities from spending money to influence Maine referendums. The 40-page decision by U.S. District Judge Nancy Torresen is not the final ruling, but suggests that she views significant portions of the law — backed by 86% of Maine voters in November — could include domestically held corporations and, as a result, are unconstitutional. The law is the result of a citizen's initiative last year in response to record spending on a 2021 ballot campaign aimed at halting Central Maine Power's transmission corridor through western Maine. The effort originally targeted a multimillion-dollar electioneering effort by Hydro-Quebec, which is wholly owned by the government of Quebec. But its list of opponents grew to include CMP and Versant Power, a subsidiary of ENMAX which is owned by the government of Calgary, Alberta.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 1, 2024
A 25-year-old Fairfield man, Colby Davis, reported missing during a snowsquall on Moosehead Lake has been found safe approximately five miles from where he was separated from his friend. Davis apparently became disoriented when he was separated from his friend and drove his snowmobile on the lake until he got it stuck on a pressure ridge. He then walked until he found an occupied camp approximately five miles from where the two were separated. Because there was no cell phone reception at the camp, the owner drove a snowmobile to where he could get a call out to wardens this morning. While looking for Davis Thursday, the wardens had to help a person whose ATV went through the ice in the same area.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 1, 2024
As Women’s History Month begins, get on the right side of history and support L.D. 780 to codify reproductive autonomy for all Mainers in state law. When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, reproductive rights were limited across the U.S. Since the ruling, abortion has been banned or more restricted by 21 states. Since the Supreme Court ruling, Maine has enacted legislation to protect reproductive rights. Despite this, reproductive justice will continue to be vulnerable in Maine if not constitutionally protected. Reproductive and environmental justice go hand in hand, in the promotion of healthy human life today and for future generations. Extreme heat and air pollution, intensified by climate change, has been linked to poorer maternal health, higher rates of premature birth, low birth weight and stillbirths. Without codifying reproductive rights as human rights, climate change will make an already difficult reproductive issue much worse. ~ Jane Olsen, Brunswick, Bowdoin College senior
