Column: Territorial birds sometimes form a flock, letting other species join the group

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • March 24, 2024

Flocking confers two advantages. A flock of birds has lots of eyes to detect predators. Vigilance against predators increases as flock size increases. Flocking also increases food acquisition. Yet another social behavior, mate selection, occurs in these flocks. There are usually an equal number of male and female juvenile chickadees in each flock. Over the course of the winter, the young birds form pair-bonds. In late spring, the flocks break up and the resident male will contract the territory to a smaller territory. ~ Herb Wilson

Marijuana farms are increasingly Chinese-run. Why?

NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO • March 24, 2024

About half of U.S. states have now legalized recreational use of marijuana, and that has led to an explosion of pot farms in states with cheap land and cheap labor. And many are using workers from China. The workers say they were trafficked to these farms, prevented from leaving and never paid. They're part of a new pipeline of vulnerable Chinese migrants trying to escape China and who are now streaming into the U.S., and they're ending up at at least hundreds of Chinese-run marijuana farms that have popped up nationwide from California to Maine.

The Carter Meadow Road Trail at Sunkhaze leads to a special surprise

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 23, 2024

It’s always hard to turn around on a trail because the next bend beckons. I’m usually hoping for a rare wildlife sighting, like the silver fox glimpsed last weekend. But I’ve never considered stumbling across a community treehouse, standing sentinel at the edge of a peat bog, facing the sunset and flanked by a beaver lodge. But that’s just what I found at the end of Carter Meadow Road at Sunkhaze Meadows National Wildlife Refuge last fall.

Heavy spring snow blankets Maine, putting a damper on Maple Sunday weekend

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 23, 2024

A powerful early spring snowstorm on Saturday blanketed most of Maine with heavy wet snow – more than a foot in northern and mountain areas – and made driving conditions treacherous. The early-spring snowstorm coincided with Maine Maple Sunday weekend, a long-awaited affair for sugarhouses around the state. Many were nonetheless open Saturday.

Bird flu is decimating seal colonies. Scientists don’t know how to stop it

ASSOCIATED PRESS • March 22, 2024

Avian influenza is killing tens of thousands of seals and sea lions in different corners of the world, disrupting ecosystems and flummoxing scientists who don’t see a clear way to slow the devastating virus. The worldwide bird flu outbreak that began in 2020 has led to the deaths of millions of domesticated birds and spread to wildlife all over the globe. This virus isn’t thought to be a major threat to humans, but its spread in farming operations and wild ecosystems has caused widespread economic turmoil and environmental disruptions. Seals and sea lions, in places as far apart as Maine and Chile, appear to be especially vulnerable to the disease.

Committee endorses amended changes to cannabis industry regulations

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 22, 2024

A controversial cannabis bill designed to reduce stigma surrounding the cannabis industry and revise regulations to more closely mirror those for alcohol-related industries is moving forward after substantial revisions. A committee this week voted to endorse the bill, which will now to go the full Legislature for a vote. The industry, which combined brought in about $493 million in Maine last year, was hoping for more sweeping regulatory reforms.

Proposal to give lawmakers final say over Maine’s electric vehicle standards sails through committee

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 22, 2024

State lawmakers are taking the wheel in Maine’s debate over phasing in electric vehicle sales. The Legislature’s Environment and Natural Resources Committee on Thursday unanimously approved legislation declaring EV rules to be the jurisdiction of lawmakers and not the Board of Environmental Protection, an appointed citizen board that rejected a mandate to boost electric and hybrid car sales the previous day. The measure now heads to the House and Senate. An absence of controversy would contrast with thousands of public comments submitted to the board from environmentalists who say Maine must act immediately to curb tailpipe emissions – a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions – and opponents who accused state officials of seeking to impose mandates limiting vehicle choice.

Where have all the mussels gone?

MAINE MONITOR • March 22, 2024

About a decade ago, Blue Hill Bay mussel farmer Evan Young noticed it was getting more and more difficult to harvest mussel larvae — known as spat — needed to grow mussels. Experts believe the shortage of spat is due to warming waters and increased predation on the young shellfish due to green crabs, sea squirts and the like. The wild blue mussels population on the Maine coast has dropped 60 percent since the 1970s, according to a 2017 study. “Whether or not it’s a direct or indirect link between warming waters and mussel spat decline, I don’t think it matters,” said Brian Beals, a marine ecology professor at the University of Maine at Machias and the volunteer director of research at Downeast Institute in Beals. “If it’s direct, that means the mussels are physiologically not capable of coping with warming waters. If it’s indirect, the warming waters have caused predators to increase.”

Lake Auburn sets records for earliest ice-out, least amount of days with ice cover

SUN JOURNAL • March 22, 2024

Lake Auburn set two ominous records last week, marking the earliest ice-out and least amount of days with ice cover since record-keeping began. The records fell in a year in which most of Maine’s lakes and ponds saw very short periods of ice cover due to a mild winter, but that has local water quality experts on guard as spring and summer arrive.

About 100 employees affected as Rumford paper mill makes ‘key operational changes’

SUN JOURNAL • March 22, 2024

ND Paper in Rumford announced Thursday that it is temporarily shutting down one of its papermaking machines, affecting about 100 employees, some of whom were laid off Thursday. In a written statement provided to the media, the company said: “In Rumford, we are reallocating our production capacity to match our customer demand across our manufacturing platform. This change will result in market-related downtime for one of our machines. Approximately 100 employees will be impacted by this decision.”

Opinion: Keep the Allagash wild

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 22, 2024

As a Master Maine Guide for over 45 years, at the Allagash Council meeting, great disappointment washed over me. The people with the power to direct $1.2 million in federal windfall to the Allagash Wilderness Waterway made it clear their focus is adding infrastructure over wilderness enhancement. How would the managers of this famous wilderness river with the clear statute that management should at all times “preserve, protect, and enhance the wilderness character of the waterway” spend this kind of money? For six new buildings inside the restricted zone and a large landing craft with twin 115 horse power motors. I ask the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands, Allagash Wilderness Waterway Advisory Board, AWW Foundation and the AWW Supervisor to reconsider their decision to un-wild the Allagash. Times have changed. It’s time for rewilding. ~ Alexandra Conover Bennett, Elliotsville Township

Opinion: Legislature must fully fund the Maine Climate Corps

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 22, 2024

I introduced legislation to establish the Maine Climate Corps, which received a unanimous committee vote and was signed into law by Gov. Janet Mills. This landmark legislation has greatly enhanced our state’s ability to address a wide array of challenges through a climate-focused lens, including transportation, energy, housing and land and freshwater preservation. The corps works on climate mitigation issues along with climate resiliency, which is needed now more than ever as communities recover from the recent devastating storms and flooding. Alarmingly, this program and the Maine Service Fellows program are set to run out of funding this year, cutting off support for the Climate Corps coordinator position that connects programs with federal opportunities. As a Legislature, we cannot allow that to happen. ~ Rep. Morgan Rielly, Westbrook

Farmington native becomes the first woman to solo hike entire 6,800 mile American Discovery Trail

FRANKLIN JOURNAL • March 21, 2024

Farmington native Briana DeSanctis began a two-year journey on New Year’s Day 2022, becoming the first woman to hike the American Discovery Trail — 6,800 miles from the Atlantic in Delaware to the Pacific Ocean in California — alone. “I finished the American Discovery Trail this morning,” DeSanctis wrote in an Instagram post Feb. 10 as she walked into the waters of Limantour Beach at Point Reyes National Seashore in northern California. For 770 days the lifelong outdoorswoman took 50 million steps and used 27 pairs of shoes to complete the coast-to-coast journey.

International Day of Forests, March 21

CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY • March 21, 2024

March 21 is International Day of Forests. David Cooper, Acting Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, said, “Forests harbor some 80% of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity; they support more than a billion people with food, shelter, income, and energy. And they provide three quarters of the world’s accessible freshwater. Containing over half of the global carbon stock in soils and vegetation, forests also support us in combating climate change. But forests continue to face major threats. We need innovation and new solutions to provide early warning of forest fires and other threats, to combat organized crime, and to promote sustainable forest management and fair supply chains in support of a sustainable bioeconomy.”

Maine is losing farms quickly, report finds

WMTW-TV8 • March 21, 2024

A new federal report shows there are fewer farms now in Maine than there have been in more than 25 years. The United States Department of Agriculture released results of the 2022 Census of Agriculture, showing in 2022 there were an estimated 7,036 farms with 1.23 million acres of farmland, down from a peak of 8,173 operations and 1.45 million acres in 2012. Maine lost 564 farms and 82,567 acres of farmland since the last census in 2017.

Range ponds survey comes before Poland Select Board

SUN JOURNAL • March 21, 2024

The Select Board learned Tuesday night that a watershed survey will be conducted on Lower, Middle and Upper Range ponds on May 11. Kim Brandt and Shannon Dwyer from the Range Ponds Association said the survey is necessary to identify nonpoint sources of pollution, namely areas of stormwater runoff resulting from soil erosion. The runoff carries sediment containing phosphorus and other nutrients that can lead to algae blooms in lakes, which depletes the oxygen level. Low oxygen impairs fish habitats, such as trout and salmon.

Column: Investing against the tide of global warming

KENNEBEC JOURNAL • March 21, 2024

Since late January, we’ve had nothing but rain and lots of coastal flooding. It’s hard not to think the Maine long-range climate forecast of “warmer and wetter” has arrived. The mean temperature for the entire state is nearly 8 degrees above normal, with ice-out a month early. Starting with the dawn of modern state government — the Curtis administration, from 1967-75 — Maine’s been using general fund bond issues to invest in its future. Gov. Paul LePage shut it down. Bond issues are an important way to involve voters directly in making choices about the state’s future. Looking at the magnitude of climate change, it’s dismaying we’re not already addressing the enormous capital commitments it will require. ~ Douglas Rooks

Orrington now co-owns troubled incinerator with mystery partners

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 21, 2024

The town of Orrington is now a partial owner of a shuttered trash incinerator, but no one involved will say who is behind the new majority owner trying to restart it. A Florida company that bought the plant in November but failed to restart it sold 80 percent of its stake to Orrington and the new majority owner, Eagle Point Energy Center LLC, on March 1. Orrington’s Board of Selectmen approved the town entering into an agreement with Eagle Point Energy Center after an executive session Feb. 26. But the question of who owns Eagle Point Energy Center remains unanswered.

Biden administration declares disaster in Maine from January storms, unlocking federal aid

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 20, 2024

The Biden administration has issued a “Major Disaster Declaration” for storms that hit Maine on Jan. 10 and Jan. 13, unlocking millions in federal assistance to help the state recover. Gov. Janet Mills announced that eight coastal counties will be eligible for funding to rebuild from the storms that caused substantial flooding and damage. Maine’s eight coastal counties – Washington, Hancock, Waldo, Knox, Lincoln, Sagadahoc, Cumberland and York – will be able to apply for funding to help cover the cost of public infrastructure repairs, estimated at more than $70 million from the January storms. Also, the federal government will offer assistance to eligible individuals and families that experienced “severe property damage,” the Mills administration said in a prepared statement.

Maine environmental board rejects controversial EV rules

MAINE PUBLIC • March 20, 2024

Maine's Board of Environmental Protection voted Wednesday not to move forward with controversial rules aimed at increasing sales of electric vehicles in the state. Instead, the issue may now end up in the hands of the Legislature — if it's considered at all. The proposal would have added Maine to the growing list of states — led by California — that are using government regulations as a way to push car makers into selling more zero-emissions vehicles. "Whether the board votes to adopt this or not, the Legislature will have final say on it," BEP board chair Sue Lessard said.