The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
MAINE MORNING STAR • March x, 2024
The Maine House and Senate have been furiously voting on bills ahead of the looming end of session. The full Legislature went against the majority committee recommendation and killed a bill (LD 163) that would have required free renewals in certain circumstances of lifetime hunting and fishing licenses in order to increase communication between licensed holders and the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 15, 2024
As a high school student, I would like to share my perspective on L.D. 2077, An Act Regarding Customer Costs and the Environmental and Health Effects of Natural Gas. Climate change affects us all, regardless of political affiliation. Climate change-fueled disasters, such as storms, floods and fires, do not discriminate. Investigating opportunities to redeploy Maine’s existing gas infrastructure into geothermal districts would help us move away from fossil fuels and improve our health. Delaying action on climate change will only cost us more in the future. Every minute we wait to address climate change is a minute we lose in terms of economic and health benefits. While it may be tempting to ignore the reality of climate change, it is crucial that we take action now. ~ Maya Faulstich, Yarmouth
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 15, 2024
State regulators are starting to go after violators of a relatively new law that prohibits the sale of used vehicles that have modifications resulting in more air pollution. Passed in 2021, that legislation was meant to help address a relatively pervasive issue in Maine: the dismantling of systems for limiting the air emissions of diesel trucks. Among the pollutants released by those vehicles are nitrous oxide and a particulate matter known as black carbon, which are harmful to human health and the environment.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 15, 2024
A $30 million bond request meant to bolster existing and develop new trails could be used to repair damage that multiple storms inflicted on the state’s trail system, according to a Maine Trails Coalition spokesperson on Thursday. The bond is part of an effort to take a statewide approach to designing, developing and maintaining trails that draw people into Maine’s more than $3 billion recreation economy. One goal is to build trails that stand up to the effects of climate change. “We need a more dedicated stream of funding and we need to have more climate resilience,” said Silvia Cassano of the Maine Trails Coalition.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 15, 2024
Blue jays have a trick up their sleeves, or they would if they had sleeves. They are excellent mimics. They do a red-shouldered hawk imitation that is better than most real hawks I’ve heard. Their broad-winged hawk impression is almost as good. Vocal versatility is perhaps the blue jays’ true superpower. They make many different noises, indicating a complex language that supports their highly social communities. Most blue jays stay local year-round, though they may move around somewhat to adjust to winter conditions. Last year, they almost completely vacated the North Maine Woods, moving closer to suburbia where food was more plentiful. This year, mild weather and abundant natural food kept more of them back in the woods. ~ Bob Duchesne
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 14, 2024
A drought during the 2020 growing season, followed by unusually heavy rains in 2023. It’s a pattern brought on by a changing climate that is expected to occur with more frequency in Maine, challenging farmers’ ability to plan their crops and to sustain their business. “It is difficult to prepare for both of these at the same time,” Melissa Law, owner of Bumbleroot Organic Farm in Windham, said during the quarterly update meeting on Thursday of the Maine Climate Council. “A lot of farms and fisheries are just struggling to stay in business.” The council, which created the “Maine Won’t Wait” four-year climate plan for the state in 2020, met on a Zoom call with 160 attendees to hear updates from its scientific and technical subcommittee. Presentations by scientists revealed that many climate change effects, including four of Maine’s warmest years on record, are happening faster than expected since its 2020 report.
ASSOCIATED PRESS • March 14, 2024
They’re wriggly, they’re gross and they’re worth more than $2,000 a pound— more than 400 times more than lobster, Maine’s signature seafood. And soon, fishermen might be able to catch thousands of pounds of them for years to come. Baby eels, also called elvers, are likely the most valuable fish in the United States on a per-pound basis — worth orders of magnitude more money at the docks than lobsters, scallops or salmon. That’s because they’re vitally important to the worldwide supply chain for Japanese food. This year’s elver season starts next week.
ANGUS KING NEWS • March 14, 2024
This week, Senator Angus S. King, Jr. (I-ME) and Representative Jared Golden (D-ME02) joined other members of Congress to introduced the "Biomass for Transportation Fuel Act” (H.R.7609). This legislation would allow facilities generating renewable electricity from forest biomass like woodchips or sawdust to participate in the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program, which forces fossil fuel companies to subsidize alternative energy.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 14, 2024
Aroostook County saw a spike in visitors in Maine on a percentage basis last year as more people returned north to visit family and friends after the pandemic. Aroostook had a 17.5-percent jump in tourism between Dec. 2022 and Nov. 2023, with 332,400 total people having visited during that time, according to the Maine Office of Tourism’s regional 2024 data released Tuesday. That’s the highest percentage increase among the eight regions for which the Maine Office of Tourism splits its tourism data.
ASSOCIATED PRESS • March 14, 2024
The Biden administration will be allocating more than $120 million to tribal governments to fight the impacts of climate change, the Department of the Interior announced Thursday. The funding is designed to help tribal nations adapt to climate threats, including relocating infrastructure. Indigenous peoples in the U.S. are among the communities most affected by severe climate-related environmental threats, which have already negatively impacted water resources, ecosystems and traditional food sources in Native communities in every corner of the U.S.
WMTW-TV8 • March 14, 2024
Spring conditions have arrived early across much of Maine this year following a relatively mild winter, and bears are getting active earlier than normal, too. The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife says black bears are normally most active in Maine from April 1 to Nov. 1, but biologists have already seen sows with yearlings out and about this year. Officials said male bears and solitary females were the first to be up and about, and sows with cubs will soon be active. Biologists say now is the time to remove, store, secure, and clean common bear attractants in your yard.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 14, 2024
An under-the-weather groundhog is now resting peacefully after stowing away beneath the hood of a car and getting a free ride to the far side of Portland Harbor on Wednesday. The rodent was spotted lying listless in the VA Clinic parking lot on Commercial Street. A pair of unnamed humans attempted to corral the buck-toothed furball to safety with a pair of thick gloves and a towel. They succeeded in keeping it away from the busy road, but the groundhog dashed straight for one of their cars, vanishing somewhere under the hood. Unable to find the obviously ill, yet still canny, beast, the car was then driven home, across the Casco Bay Bridge. “Once home, she discovered that the groundhog was in fact… still there.” Cape Elizabeth Animal Control Officer Maggie Maxwell was able to coax the recalcitrant, rough-looking animal out of its hiding place in one of the car’s wheel wells.
KENNEBEC JOURNAL • March 14, 2024
Maine has a chance to continue progress on climate action with a new emissions standard that would clean up pollution from transportation, our most polluting sector. Climate change is here, and we have to respond to it. Recent storms have shown this in no uncertain terms. Advanced Clean Cars II would help by reducing fuel costs for drivers, lowering the upfront cost of zero-emission vehicles, and switching from fossil fuels to clean energy. Join me in supporting the adoption of Advanced Clean Cars II. ~ Karen Francomano, Augusta
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 14, 2024
Using my backpack as a rest while I lay prone on the ground, I took careful aim with my .44-caliber black powder handgun. Boom! As the smoke cleared, I could see that the chuck was gone. Approaching the hole slowly, the answer was clear. It was a clean miss. There are typically three “seasons” to hunt woodchucks: early spring, after the first hay cutting around June, and after the second cutting in August or September. Traditionally, woodchuckers have used long guns that reach out hundreds of yards, but there’s much more of a challenge to a handgun since getting close to them is essential. Although woodchucks are quite edible (they are almost pure vegan), I have never eaten one, but those who have say the meat is somewhat similar to lamb. ~ Leighton Wass
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 13, 2024
An infestation of the invasive emerald ash borer is wreaking havoc on the Portland’s 600-or-so inventoried ash trees, and officials expect hundreds will die. Many other ash trees will be cut down in an effort to keep the devastating insects from spreading. “It’s a tough pill to swallow,” said Portland City Arborist Mark Reiland. “And a lot of the ash trees were planted to replace elms wiped out in the 1970s by Dutch elm disease.”
ASSOCIATED PRESS • March 13, 2024
Salisbury trucked in 14,000 tons of sand at a cost of $600,000 to protect homes and infrastructure. It was all washed away in the first storm. Congress has long appropriated money for such work, arguing it effectively protects lives and property and sustains the tourism industry. But critics say it’s inherently wasteful to keep pumping sand ashore that will inevitably wash away. Climate change is forecast to bring more bad weather, including hurricanes.
MORNING SENTINEL • March 13, 2024
At least two people fell through the ice on a small pond off Middle Road Wednesday night while trying to rescue two dogs, one of which had broken through the ice and was in the water. The people, who were pulled into canoes before emergency crews arrived, declined to be taken to the hospital and one dog is believed to have suffered life-threatening injuries.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 13, 2024
A coalition of youth climate activists and former government employees is calling out the system that oversees how to invest the retirement funds of Maine’s teachers, judges, municipal workers and other public employees, saying it has not done enough to divest its holdings in fossil fuel companies. A first-in-the-nation law that the Legislature passed in 2021 ordered the state pension fund, known as MainePERS, and Maine’s treasurer to divest all holdings in fossil fuel companies by Jan. 1, 2026. MainePERS has said that it cannot meet the 2026 deadline because it violates the system’s fiduciary duty, outlined in the Maine Constitution.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 13, 2024
A survey released Wednesday by the Maine Trails Coalition showed that trail repairs from storm damage in 2023 and 2024 will cost at least $5.2 million. The impact on trails is statewide. Severe rain and wind storms in December and January caused damage to multiple snowmobile, ATV and hiking trails, in addition to other infrastructure including power lines and poles across the state. The repair costs are expected to rise. Some of those surveyed said they would not know the true damage until they could assess the trails this spring. In general, they reported major washouts and erosion, damaged, shifted or missing structures like bridges, as well as major and minor blowdowns, plus damage to trailheads and access roads. Maine’s trail systems bring in millions of dollars for the state’s economy.
MAINE PUBLIC • March 13, 2024
Two months after back-to-back storms ravaged much of Maine's coast, high winds and waves caused more damage this past weekend. In Surry, Perry's Lobster Company's wharf was entirely washed away Sunday. "It just lifted everything right off the pilings, the spikes, just everything, it broke them right off," owner Seth Cote said. "It was insane, it was throwing boulders up over the road.”
