Madison wood insulation manufacturer to expand distribution in U.S., Canada under new partnership

MORNING SENTINEL • June 3, 2024

The Madison-based manufacturer TimberHP is partnering with a subsidiary of a large French company to expand its distribution of sustainable wood insulation products in the United States and into Canada. CertainTeed Inc., a subsidiary of the French multinational corporation Saint-Gobain, is to distribute TimberHP’s products across North America. The company began operations last year at the former Madison Paper Industries mill in Madison. That facility closed in 2016, causing more than 200 workers to be laid off. The renovation of the mill cost about $150 million. TimberHP expects to employ 114 people in Madison.

Maine collaboration aims to protect birds from fatal window strikes

MAINE PUBLIC • June 3, 2024

Maine Audubon says as many as 988 million birds die each year in the U.S. after accidentally colliding with windows. Nick Lund, advocacy and outreach manager for Maine Audubon, says birds see sky and trees reflected in windows and fly into them. He says a recent study shows most birds don't survive a strike even if they fly away. Lund says any homeowner can apply decals or tape to their windows at a low cost, or use screens year-round to protect birds. And there are now bird-safe windows on the market that can be used in new construction. BirdSafe Maine, a collaboration between Maine Audubon, the University of Southern Maine and the Portland Society for Architecture, works to raise awareness of the bird strike problem and its solutions.

U.S. energy regulators order grid operators to plan for more electrification, extreme weather

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 3, 2024

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission earlier this month addressed long-term transmission planning for the first time as the grid faces what will be an “unprecedented surge in demand for affordable electricity” at the same time more storms threaten the reliability of electricity. Huge drivers of increased demand for electricity are happening—greater use of electric heat pumps and electric vehicles, manufacturers returning to the U.S. from overseas—while severe storms are coming faster and fiercer. New England has begun looking at how the regional grid can adapt to change; the region’s grid operator has filed a proposal with FERC. But the region has a “way to go” before it can expand transmission lines and rights of way. A transmission line to bring power generated by a wind farm in northern Maine was rejected by state regulators in December over cost differences.

Opinion: Right whales’ lives are an exercise in pain

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 3, 2024

In the modern era, not a single adult right whale death has been shown to stem from natural causes. Whether from a vessel strike or a fishing gear entanglement, every adult right whale found dead has been brought to its end by human causes. Since 2017 alone, NOAA Fisheries has reported 15 documented right whales killed by vessel strikes. Two more are unlikely to survive, and another four have been wounded. Those are just the ones we know about. As many as 2 in 3 right whale deaths go undocumented. A proposed expanded vessel speed rule would mandate slower speeds for more vessels crossing right whale habitats – lowering the risk of fatal vessel strikes. Advocates are also fighting for the adoption of innovative fishing gear technologies that could reduce the risk of whale entanglement. The Biden administration will decide whether the story of the North Atlantic right whale ends with no survivors, or redemption, protection and recovery. ~ Jane Davenport, Defenders of Wildlife

Letter: Oyster farming is ruining Maquoit Bay

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 3, 2024

Maquoit Bay is a shallow saltwater body enjoyed by boaters, fishermen and appreciators of nature. The bay has been taken over by a commercial oyster farm. The farm is depositing sludge, produced as effluent from the oysters, along the banks of this shallow, not-self-cleaning body of water. Our local government is reviewing the oyster company’s application for a 160-foot-long dock into the bay, disrupting the quietude of neighbors and others who enjoy the serenity still present. This water, which used to nourish shellfish and other spawning species, is now bereft of precious eel grass, which had been the critical component for the life of this bay. This loss is probably irreversible, damning the future of this precious resource to being a dead zone. Where have sensibility and forethought gone? As has been said often: Follow the money. ~ Prentiss Tubby, Brunswick

Old Town fisherman reels in a rare catch

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 3, 2024

Josh Webber, 35, and his family frequently fish the Penobscot River, just behind the airport in Old Town. Memorial Day was no different. What was different was the piebald bullhead, also known as hornpout and catfish, Webber pulled in.

It’s getting harder to find cheap parking in Bar Harbor this year

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 3, 2024

The town of Bar Harbor is banking on continued high demand for its paid downtown parking, after revenue from the program more than doubled in the five years since it started. This year, the summer tourism mecca has increased the number of public downtown parking spaces for which it’s charging the premium rate of $4 per hour. That’s twice as much as the cheaper spaces that are farther away from the intersection of Maine and Cottage streets, which cost $2 per hour in the two-tiered fee schedule. After the program took in $1.65 million during its first season in 2019, that number rose to $3.4 million by last year. This year, the town aims to bring in $3.6 million.

Column: Meet the beetles

TIMES RECORD • June 2, 2024

We peered into a cardboard box and welcomed 1,000 lady beetles to the Maine woodlands. It had been a long ride from Tree Savers, the Pennsylvania laboratory where these beetles were raised. Very soon the beetles would meet their new home tree, an eastern hemlock at Crystal Spring Farm in Brunswick, which bore the white, webby sign of an unwanted boarder, the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA). Left unchecked, this aphid will sap a hemlock of nutrients, eventually killing it. As a recent invasive first found in our area in 2010, HWA has no native predators. The hope is that these beetles, who eat only hemlock woolly adelgids, will establish themselves and spread into the forest’s hemlocks. The most promising strategy may be the introduction of such natural controls as our beetle friends. ~ Sandy Stott, chairperson, Brunswick Conservation Commission

Guest column: A restoration experiment at the Brunswick Town Commons

For generations, American chestnut trees fed people and wildlife throughout eastern North America.Tragically, at the turn of the 20th century, ecological disaster struck. A fungal pathogen accidentally introduced from Asia swept through killing entire forests of American chestnuts. For the past three years, volunteers have joined the town arborist to plant wild-type chestnut seedlings in the Brunswick Town Commons as part of an ongoing restoration project. So far, of five dozen chestnut seedlings planted in the Town Commons, about half have survived, a hopeful sign. Globally, 30% - 51% of tree species are threatened with extinction. The chestnuts in the Brunswick Town Commons represent an important effort at biodiversity restoration and at recovering a crucially important tree species in North America — indeed, in the world. ~ Jym St. Pierre, Brunswick Town Commons Committee

Republicans make Biden’s EV push an election-year issue as Democrats take a more nuanced approach

ASSOCIATED PRESS • June 2, 2024

Republican allies in the petroleum industry have spent millions on ads that say President Biden's tax credit for EV buyers will cost Americans their freedom. But interviews with about 20 voters in the pivotal industrial heartlands of Ohio and Michigan reveal a more complicated dynamic among people who may decide the winner of November’s presidential and Senate elections.

Maine stocks PFAS-laden waters with fish, warns ‘do not eat’

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • June 2, 2024

Chock-full of forever chemicals, the fishing holes next to Fairfield’s youth athletic complex on Industrial Drive are believed to be some of the most polluted waters in Maine – yet the state still stocks these ponds every year with hatchery-raised brook trout for local children to catch. The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife said it puts brook trout in the ponds for kids to catch for fun, not for sustenance, and that it warns against eating anything caught from these waters. But scientists question the department’s decision to stock a water body that it knows is badly contaminated.

Agriculture is a growing part of Maine’s economy, despite fewer farms, farmland and farmers

SUN JOURNAL • June 2, 2024

The 2022 USDA Census of Agriculture shows there are fewer farms in Maine than just five years ago, fewer acres available to be farmed and fewer farmers. Farms are a driver of the economy in Maine, worth just under $1 billion. Yet, there were 7,036 farms in 2022, down from 7,646 in 2017. Ninety-seven percent of the farms are small, family-owned. More than 82,000 acres of Maine farmland fell out of agricultural production within five years. Dairy farms have been particularly hard hit, with the number of dairy farms cut in half between 2010 and 2022. Key challenges facing the agriculture sector include an aging workforce, labor constraints and costs, high costs of production, lack of control over pricing for some commodities, climate change, PFAS, the cost of land and development issues.

Humor: The goat invasion is upon us

SUN JOURNAL • June 2, 2024

According to a bulletin I am just now receiving there are “lots of goats” in Livermore Falls. Authorities would not confirm nor deny that the goats are shooting lasers straight out of their eyes and vaporizing innocent civilians. OK, that last part isn’t true, but the rest is. When I read the headline for the first time, I got a “War of the Worlds” vibe and immediately set out to determine how I can best protect myself and my alleged loved ones from this goat invasion. So far, the best I can come up with is to jump up on the roof of my car where the goats can’t reach me. Sign up for my newsletter for further survival tips. ~ Mark LaFlamme

Birding: Color patterns can vary within same species in different locations

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • June 2, 2024

Biologists commonly use comparative techniques to try to understand variation. Bergmann’s Rule says that birds and mammals that live in higher latitudes or higher elevations are generally larger in size than animals from lower altitudes or from temperate and tropical habitats. Allen’s Rule looks at the same gradient and predicts that the smaller body appendages like ears, tails, limbs, or bills should be smaller in arctic or montane species. Both rules can be explained in terms of heat loss. ~ Herb Wilson

Canoeing: Enthralled with the serviceberry blooms on South Pond in Warren

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • June 2, 2024

Serviceberry is one of the first flowering trees of spring in southern Maine. South Pond in Warren proved to be a superb spot to enjoy the white flowers accentuated against backdrops of deep blue sky and the shoreside greens of hemlock and pine. South Pond has a colony of cottages adjacent to the boat launch site, and some at the far southern end of the pond, but for the most part this 2-mile long pond offers seclusion and lots of bird life. We paddled for three hours; circling the lake and then snaking our way up to Route 1 via high water in a sprawling bog at the northern end of the pond. ~ Michael Perry

Letter: State should welcome public input on wildlife plan

CENTRAL MAINE • June 2, 2024

Every 10 years, state fish and wildlife agencies are required to develop a state Wildlife Action Plan (WAP) to receive federal funding. The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (IFW) is updating its plan. A major component is compiling a list of Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN). Unlike other states which are soliciting public input, Maine is developing its 2025 WAP with no formal or informal process for doing the same. The SCGN list is being developed behind closed doors. The only time the public will be allowed to provide input will be after the list is already made and the plan is a done deal. IFW refuses to give those who do not hunt, some 90% of Maine people, a seat at the proverbial table. If you support democracy, contact IFW Commissioner Judith Camuso and request a formal process for public participation early on in the process, long before the SCGN list is developed, and the plan is drafted. ~ John Glowa, South China

Letter: Federal bill takes on climate change

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • June 2, 2024

The fact that 78% of Maine physicians surveyed said that climate change threatens their patients’ health (“Climate change is already affecting Mainers’ health, doctors say,” May 27) is both alarming and unsurprising, as most of us are clearly dealing with ticks, heat and anxiety. But it was surprising and refreshing to learn that the American Medical Association in 2022 called upon its members to advocate for policies that limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, support a rapid clean energy transition, etc. If any AMA members (or anyone else, really) is looking for such a policy to advocate for, please read up on Carbon Fee and Dividend (there’s a Wiki), also known as carbon cashback. ~ Cynthia Stancioff, Camden

Veterinarian shortage is killing Maine livestock

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 2, 2024

Maine farmers and homesteaders have struggled to access veterinary care for decades. A shortage of vets who treat large animals is made more complicated by the small and scattered nature of Maine livestock operations, according to state veterinarian Stefanie Bolas. A recent federal rule outlawing over the counter animal antibiotic sales has also increased demand for vet visits. With more inexperienced people raising livestock at home post-pandemic, unable to get a vet or facing increased costs when they do, some are teaching themselves medical procedures and turning to Facebook for guidance. A lack of access to livestock vet care could have a negative impact on the food supply and human health. Eighteen veterinarians serve thousands of livestock in Maine. Five treat just horses and five focus mostly on pets and small animals. Farm vets make less money than their small animal counterparts.