New Public Lands Actions Turn the Page on Decades of Conflict and Mismanagement

CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS •

The U.S. Department of the Interior is taking important steps to turn the corner on a long history of conflict and mismanagement of nearly 250 million acres of America’s public lands. Key actions include the BLM’s foundational new Public Lands Rule, as well as new policies supporting responsible clean energy growth, updated oil and gas requirements, and a new framework to better support outdoor recreation and visitation. Together, this set of commonsense but long-overdue actions will update the BLM’s public lands oversight role to fit the modern era, enabling the agency to responsibly steward public lands, waters, and wildlife for the long haul; meet the nation’s clean energy needs; expand outdoor recreation opportunities; and support rural economies.

How the Kenduskeag Stream Canoe Race became the biggest of its kind in New England

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • April 19, 2024

The first running of the Kenduskeag Stream Canoe Race came about because two friends thought it might be a fun idea to race canoes and kayaks in the spring of 1967. Little did founders Sonny Colburn and Lew Gilman know that 55 years later, the race would still be going strong. After years of high water and low, through sunny days and freak snowstorms, and even after 2020, when the pandemic forced the cancellation of the event for the first time in its history, the Kenduskeag Stream Canoe Race will be run for the 57th time this Saturday.

Letter: Scrap plan for Gorham Connector

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 19, 2024

Scrap the plan to put a highway through Smiling Hill Farm. Urban sprawl is the result of continuous highway expansion. It is sad. As early as 1728, Nathaniel Knight built Harrow House, and his progeny have been protecting the property ever since. Knight was a person of great influence in the “mast trade” and worked with George Tate during the Colonial period, when the British were desperate for masts for the Royal Navy. Also, in 1976, archaeologists found Col. Westbrook’s grave on Smiling Hill Farm. Please let Warren Knight continue to do what he has proven to do so well and conserve his family farm for future generations. ~ Mary Louise Sprague, Cape Elizabeth

Portland’s Amtrak station may move from Thompson’s Point

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 19, 2024

The operator of the Amtrak Downeaster hopes to increase the passenger train’s efficiency and appeal to travelers by building a new Portland station along the main rail line that runs from Boston to Brunswick. Passengers hope the new station will ease traveler and parking congestion where the Downeaster currently stops at the Portland Transportation Center, a facility owned by and shared with the Concord Coach Lines bus company. A new train station and platform would cost $25 million to $30 million and could be completed within five years.

Opinion: What if Portland became a bike town?

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 19, 2024

I’m selling my bike. Until I moved to Maine, biking from A to B was one of the great day-to-day pleasures of my life. I didn’t think Portland would take it from me; I was wrong. It’s really hard to bike in and around Portland. It shouldn’t be. The city is eminently bikeable. It’s packed with people who are physically active, environmentally minded and interested in using bikes to get around it. But the car is king, its reign tyrannical. It’s really hard to reconcile the nature of the place and its residents with the screaming lack of bikes. We need many more functioning bike lanes; we need to upgrade the uninviting public bike scheme, encouraging more willing people to take bikes around casually and intermittently; we need places to safely park bikes, of which there are very few; and we need PSAs to rouse inattentive motorists and pedestrians. ~ Siobhán Brett

Column: Arrival of certain spring birds coincides with Kenduskeag canoe race

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • April 19, 2024

I’ve been wondering for several years if Maine’s entire canoe racing schedule needs to be advanced a week. Snow melts sooner, if there’s any snow at all. If the arrival of yellow-rumped warblers is still going to coincide with Kenduskeag Stream Canoe Race weekend, the day may be coming when the race is held on the second weekend of April. If so, you heard it here first. ~ Bob Duchesne

9 oceanside trails to try in Maine this spring

Patten can’t afford to repair national monument access roads

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • April 18, 2024

Increased traffic on roads leading to the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument is creating unsafe driving conditions and a financial hardship on Patten’s resources and infrastructure, officials said. The national monument directs visitors into the Seboeis Parcel of the 87,500-acre attraction in northern Penobscot County through four Patten roads that are deteriorating from the increased use. Depending on the level of repair or restoration, the project will cost between $16 million and $28 million, according to an engineering report.

Biden administration moves to make conservation an equal to industry on US lands

ASSOCIATED PRESS • April 18, 2024

The Biden administration on Thursday finalized a new rule for public land management that puts conservation on more equal footing with oil drilling, grazing and other extractive industries on vast government-owned properties. Officials pushed past strong opposition from private industry and Republican governors to adopt the proposal. GOP members of Congress said that they will seek to invalidate it. The rule from the Bureau of Land Management — which oversees more than 380,000 square miles of land — will allow public property to be leased for restoration in the same way that oil companies lease land for drilling. The rule also promotes the designation of more “areas of critical environmental concern” — a special status that can restrict development on land with historic or cultural significance or that’s important for wildlife conservation.

Booming cold drink sales means more plastic waste. So Starbucks redesigned its cups

ASSOCIATED PRESS • April 18, 2024

Booming sales of cold drinks at Starbucks has created a problem: growing amounts of plastic waste from the single-use cups that Frappuccinos, Refreshers, cold brews and other iced drinks are served in. The coffee giant said Thursday it plans to alleviate some of that waste with new disposable cups that contain up to 20% less plastic.

Maine House backs environmental exemption to allow wind terminal on Sears Island

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 17, 2024

The Maine House of Representatives on Wednesday backed legislation exempting sand dunes on Sears Island from environmental rules to authorize the state to grant a permit to build an offshore wind terminal. By voting 77-65, the House reversed itself eight days after voting 80-65 to reject the legislation. Thirteen lawmakers, hearing from environmental and labor groups, changed their positions and yielded to Gov. Janet Mills on a key energy policy priority: putting Maine on the path to become an East Coast player in generating wind power from the Atlantic Ocean.

FERC staff are recommending relicensing 4 Kennebec River dams

MAINE PUBLIC • April 18, 2024

Staff at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) are recommending the relicensing of four dams along the Kennebec River that have been at the center of a fight over the restoration of endangered salmon and other species. Commission staff recommended relicensing as part of a plan that would include proposals from Brookfield, including turbine shutdowns and construction of new fish lifts, as well as other conditions from staff and federal and state agencies. But Nick Bennett, a staff scientist with the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM), said the proposed measures are inadequate and haven't worked on other rivers, including the Merrimack and Connecticut Rivers.

Phippsburg Fishermen’s Museum project aims to preserve the 1925 Murphy house

TIMES RECORD • April 18, 2024

A historic Phippsburg home is being converted into the new Fishermen’s Museum to recognize the town’s long fishing tradition. The town donated the tiny Murphy home, one of the last small fishing homes surviving demolition, to the Phippsburg Historical Society, which is restoring and renovating it to serve the museum. Local fisherman and preacher John Murphy was born and raised on Malaga Island. His wife, Perle Murphy, was known for knitting lobster trap heads. The Historic Preservation Commission is now seeking a $30,000 endowment to finalize plans for the Fishermen’s Museum.

West Paris under a boil water order

SUN JOURNAL • April 18, 2024

According to West Paris Town Manager Joy Downing, it was discovered Wednesday that the cover for the reservoir had a hole and rips in it. Tests revealed that the integrity of the water had been affected, resulting in a boil water order issued Thursday morning.

The ospreys are back in Lamoine. Watch the livestream.

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • April 18, 2024

After a disastrous 2023, a pair of ospreys have returned this year  to a nesting platform equipped with a camera in Lamoine. The osprey lost their chicks to an eagle last year. This is the fourth year the same nesting pair has occupied the platform. You can watch them work on their nest, care for their eggs and raise their chicks.

Earth Day celebrations

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 18, 2024

Earth Day is on Monday and there are plenty of ways to celebrate it this weekend. Head to Payson Park in Portland Saturday morning for a family friendly gathering with food trucks, outdoor activities, music and more. Green ME Up Earth Day Celebration in Freeport is also Saturday, and it includes a rock climbing wall and science projects.

Column: Brunswick poetry stroll celebrates coast

TIMES RECORD • April 18, 2024

Posters on several Brunswick storefronts display poetry written by students across grade levels in celebration of National Poetry Month, which is the month of April. The posters are part of a poetry stroll, much like the town’s Art Walk or other local events that add another aspect to the downtown experience. A poem by Ava Coley, a member of the Brunswick High School’s class of 2025, titled, “Gathering of Geese on Maquoit Bay” was particularly evocative of a coastal spot just a few miles down the road from the high school. The accompanying photograph features an image akin to the title of the poem. The poet writes about the feelings brought out by “sitting by the cold blue water.” You’ll have to visit her poetry display to read the rest. It is a lovely reminder of the power of places along our coast to draw out beautiful language in celebration of it. ~ Susan Olcott, Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association

After initial split, lawmakers back bill to keep Sears Island in running for offshore wind port

MAINE MORNING STAR • April 17, 2024

After initial disagreement between Maine’s House of Representatives and Senate, a bill needed to continue the permitting process for the state’s desired location for an offshore wind port appears to have prevailed. On Wednesday, the House revisited LD 2266 and ultimately decided to go back on its previous vote against the legislation and concur with the Senate, which passed the bill earlier this week. There was no explanation for the change. Later Wednesday night, the Senate advanced the bill to the Appropriations Committee for funding.

After removing osprey nest, CMP installs perch off Route 1 in Bath

TIMES RECORD • April 17, 2024

Central Maine Power raised a nesting platform off Route 1 in Bath to replace a nest the company removed from atop a utility tower before April’s snowstorm. The removal left a nesting pair of ospreys without a place to lay and care for their eggs, sparking outrage among local birdwatchers.

Injured bobcat euthanized after center determines leg required amputation

AMERICAN JOURNAL • April 17, 2024

Bobcat Betty won’t be returning to her habitat, as many hoped, after being struck by a car in Gorham last month. She was euthanized last week at the Saco River Wildlife Center in Limington, where she had been receiving care. Despite its best efforts to rehabilitate her, the center determined that extensive damage to one leg would require it to be amputated, precluding the possibility of releasing her back into the wild.