The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
SUN JOURNAL • May 6, 2024
The Greater Lovell Land Trust has appointed Erika Rowland of Bridgton its executive director, effective June 1. She will succeed Rhyan Paquereau, who was appointed interim executive director in 2023, and who will remain at the trust as stewardship and conservation director. Rowland served as executive director of the trust from 2019-23, where she was responsible for more than 2,000 acres of newly conserved lands.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 6, 2024
Tekαkαpimək Contact Station, the welcome center at Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, is slated to open this summer. Designed in collaboration with Wabanaki leaders, it is one of the first major efforts in the state to boost Indigenous tourism. The Contact Station is emblematic of the attention and awareness that’s building around opportunities to increase travel, tourism, recreation and education related to the culture and heritage of the Wabanaki, or “People of the First Light.”
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 6, 2024
Researchers from the Biodiversity Research Institute and University of Maine are trying to understand how perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, move through our environment: from the factory, sewer plant or sludge-spread farm fields to ponds, lakes and rivers to fish, birds, and mammals. Very little is known about how PFAS exposure might impact wildlife health, but some scientists predict wildlife will be affected in many of the same ways that humans are. Most wildlife PFAS research that is underway has focused on whether a species can absorb PFAS and pass it on to humans if we eat them. Preliminary results from tests of 85 loons and 77 eagles, as well as a small batch of Maine ospreys, found forever chemicals in every sample, including some alarmingly high concentrations.
MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • May 5, 2024
If you’re new to the sport, it’s always wise to seek out the wisdom and advice of more-experienced hunters, but it doesn’t hurt to be a little skeptical, especially if something seems illogical. In addressing the oft-repeated notion that deer only travel into the wind, Gene Wensel said, “If that were true, they’d all eventually end up in the Pacific Ocean. ~ Bob Humphrey
MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • May 5, 2024
About 95% of all species of birds have a monogamous mating system. A male and a female will develop a pair bond and raise one or more clutches of eggs together. Some birds, like swans, common loons and bald eagles, mate for life with permanent pair bonds. Others, like ducks, change partners every year but maintain a single pair bond each year. Some species with multiple clutches in a season, like the eastern phoebe, may change partners with every clutch. Another type of mating system involving pair bonds is polygyny, where a male maintains pair bonds with multiple females. The red-winged blackbird is an example. The tables are turned in polyandry, where a female has multiple pair bonds with males. Even rarer are polygamous systems, where both males and females have multiple partners in the same breeding season. Woodcocks fit into a fifth category. They don’t believe in pair bonds. ~ Herb Wilson
MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • May 5, 2024
he Maine Trail Crew has been a critical component of the Maine Appalachian Trail Club’s efforts to maintain the state’s 267-mile stretch of the AT – plus side trails, shelters, campsites and privies – since 1976. These folks do the heavy lifting, bridge building and rock work, for example, that regular volunteers cannot. But for the past 30 years, the seasonal crew, lacking a home base, has been forced to move six times. That situation is about to change in a big way, however, thanks in part to the generous donation of an MATC member. Mark McAuliffe donated $1 million before his death in October for a facility to house those who maintain the Appalachian Trail, and much more. ~ Carey Kish
MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • May 5, 2024
The convenience of computers has stolen some of the joy from life. The internet opens everything up for criticism, including gardening in a phenomenon that some call plant-shaming. My advice on shaming attempts is to ignore them. Yes, every yard should have native plants and some natural areas that are a bit messy with left-behind leaves that support wildlife. But lawns and non-native plants can be part of the yard, too. ~ Tom Atwell
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 5, 2024
State leaders will discuss how to balance solar growth with agricultural uses when they update Maine’s climate change plan this year. The discussions will include undeveloped land as well, said Anthony Ronzio, deputy director of strategic communications and public affairs in the governor’s office of policy innovation and the future. Although five years have passed since solar array projects began their rapid growth across Maine, the future of their relationship to agriculture in the state remains uncertain. Just one man has made a business out of grazing sheep under Maine’s solar arrays since 2020.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 5, 2024
When it comes to Maine hiking, summiting Katahdin is the ultimate achievement. Maine’s tallest mountain stands at 5,269 feet, and there are a number of different trails hikers can take to get up and down Katahdin. And while some are harder than others, none are easy. But the views are incredible. Whether it’s the rugged terrain of the Knife Edge or the vast landscape of the 200,000 acres that compose Baxter State Park below, here’s a look at what it’s like to climb Katahdin.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 5, 2024
Lack of federal funding has reduced the resources needed to maintain Aroostook County’s only designated wildlife refuge to the point where local volunteers are working to keep its trails and gift shop open. After Loring Air Force Base closed in 1994, the U.S. Air Force transferred 4,700 acres to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, creating the Aroostook National Wildlife Refuge in 1998. Today, the refuge consists of 5,252 acres in four divisions located within the former Loring base, Caswell, Caribou and Connor Township. The refuge has nearly 13 miles of walking trails but it is primarily an oasis for over 500 native and migratory species of mammals, birds, plants and fish. Aroostook’s refuge, part of the Northern Maine Complex, has no full-time local staff, and has not had an on-site manager since 2017.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 5, 2024
isits to some of Maine’s popular state parks and historic sites may not be what you remember, thanks to damage from the major storms in December and January that devastated the state’s landscape. Severe beach erosion and destruction of structures were common on the coast. But even while the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands oversees repairs and restoration projects, attendance in the state’s parks is up 30 percent from last year at this time, thanks to the mild spring. One of the most significant environmental changes at Popham is that the Morse River has shifted its course, and people can no longer safely walk out to Fox Island.
SUN JOURNAL • May 5, 2024
Looking to start a pollinator-friendly garden? Start small and keep it simple, says certified master gardener Rhyanna Larose of Auburn. Oh, and make it fun. Pollinators are insects and animals such as bees, wasps, moths, butterflies, birds, flies and even small mammals, including bats. It’s important to feed them because “one out of every three bites of food you eat exists because of pollinators,” according to the park service.
SUN JOURNAL • May 4, 2024
If you enjoy the outdoors and wild things, you must get yourself in the turkey woods early in the morning during spring mating season. The Maine turkey season opened on April 27 with Youth Day and followed with the general opener on Monday, April 29. You have until June 1 to harvest your birds. If you hunt in the southern wildlife management districts, you can take two bearded turkeys during the season. ~ V. Paul Reynolds
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 3, 2024
The Cadillac Mountain Summit Road will be closed while Acadia National Park repaves the roadway. The closure will start on Monday, May 6, at 6 a.m. Access will be restored on Thursday, May 9, at 8 a.m., provided the weather conditions allow construction work. Access will be restricted to all vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians during the paving and striping process. Acadia National Park also warns visitors that other sections of the Park Loop Road will experience single-lane closures throughout the summer tourist season. Delays should be expected.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 3, 2024
As disease-ridden ticks become more numerous and widespread in Maine, many veterinarians are suggesting that dog owners invest in both a canine Lyme vaccine and some form of tick preventative treatment year round. In recent years, these anti-tick treatments have been refined and improved, offering dogs better protection against tick-borne infections that can cause serious complications and even death.
MAINE PUBLIC • May 3, 2024
Maine's municipal public water utilities are required by the Safe Drinking Water Act to provide inventories of their lead service water lines to the state this year, and replace them with the help of federal funding. The Environmental Protection Agency is awarding up to $28 million a year to Maine for five years to help public water systems identify and replace lead service lines. The federal government said 40% of the funding must go to disadvantaged communities.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 3, 2024
A Portland man has filed a second lawsuit against the city challenging rules that require dogs to be leashed in Baxter Woods at times. Marc Lesperance says in a lawsuit that the city’s restrictions on unleashed dogs in the popular 32.5-acre park in Deering Center go against what former Maine Gov. Percival Baxter intended. He is asking a judge to strike down the city’s leash rules and stop the parks department from issuing violations for dogs running at large. When Percival Baxter gave 29 acres to the city in honor of his father in 1946, he stipulated that the park “shall forever be kept in its natural wild state and as a sanctuary for wild birds.” In 2021, to protect migratory birds during nesting season and control dogs running loose, the City Council adopted a policy that requires owners to keep their dogs on an 8-foot leash from April 1 to July 31. In other months, dogs are allowed to be unleashed between 5 and 9 a.m. and 3 and 10 p.m.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 3, 2024
The University of Maine will launch a pilot program this month to better understand tick populations on the heels of a record-setting year for Lyme disease. Tick activity is increasing and about to peak in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, researchers plan to study how local weather conditions and the presence of different wildlife species influence tick populations and health risks to humans. Maine logged a record 2,943 Lyme disease cases in 2023, breaking the record of 2,617 cases set the year before.
CBS 13 • May 2, 2024
The Maine Audubon Society says despite several sightings, the birds are still considered a threatened species.
MAINE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS • May 2, 2024
A 40-year-old permit is under scrutiny and may be yet another fly in the ointment for plans to develop Sears Island into a logistical hub for future floating offshore wind facilities, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and Islesboro Islands Trust. The permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers authorizing the Maine Department of Transportation to build a “bridge” connecting Sears Island to the mainland was premised upon it including a two-foot diameter culvert, but that culvert may never have been constructed.
