The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 11, 2024
The dead humpback whale found wrapped in fishing gear off Cape Elizabeth on Thursday had congested lungs consistent with acute drowning, according to preliminary findings from a necropsy released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The preliminary information did not indicate what type of fishing gear the whale was wrapped in, where it may have come from or if it contributed to the whale’s death.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 11, 2024
There are a lot of reasons to want to control the non-native plants that have invaded the state of Maine. But scientific research done on Japanese barberry adds one more big one to the list: the dense, thorny shrub actually creates a microclimate that is good for ticks. And that is bad news for people. “There are places in southern Maine where barberry has completely taken over the understory of the forest,” said Susan Elias, a research associate at the Lyme and Vector-Borne Disease Laboratory at the Maine Medical Center Research Institute.
MAINE PUBLIC • June 11, 2024
Town leaders in Wells say they want the community to try to reach a compromise over use of Moody beach. Following a public hearing Monday night that at times was contentious, select board members said they plan to form a group of beachfront homeowners and other community members to reach an agreement about public use. Waterfront homeowners say most are happy to share the beach with respectful members of the public, but they want to retain their rights. Maine law extends property rights to the low tide line. A lawsuit currently working its way through the courts challenges that law.
BLOOMBERG • June 11, 2024
The speed of the energy transition in recent years can easily make people underestimate the scale of the challenge that lies ahead. That could be a fatal mistake. We are still not building enough solar and wind farms, nor enough factories for the components they’ll use, to make the switch work. Yet President Joe Biden’s justification for doubling tariffs on imported solar to 50% is that, to the contrary, the world has too many production lines for green tech. He’s going to need all of those production lines if he’s to meet his target of decarbonizing America’s electricity grid by 2035. It’s worse still with wind. The turbines we need simply won’t get built. Reducing the cost of green power is the single best thing the world can do if we’re to escape catastrophic warming in our lifetimes. Chinese clean technology isn’t “artificially cheap.” It’s just cheap. ~ David Fickling
CENTRAL MAINE • June 10, 2024
Regulations requiring EV sales are highly unpopular. California’s auto regulations aim to reduce total global carbon emissions, of which America’s share is 13%, but these rules may not succeed. 16 states and the District of Columbia signed on to California’s 2021 standards. Apple has withdrawn from developing an EV. Ford lost $100,000 per EV sold in the first quarter of this year and announced a pause in its delivery of the new F-150 Lightning, citing quality-control problems. Mercedes no longer plans to go all electric by 2030. General Motors has abandoned its goal of selling 400,000 EVs by June 2024. Dealers’ lots are overflowing with unsold EVs. Returning to the federal standard is in the best interests of the United States. ~ Diana Furchtgott-Roth, The Heritage Foundation
CENTRAL MAINE • June 11, 2024
On May 21, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, in Hamburg, Germany, ruled that greenhouse gases are marine pollutants and nations must take action to “reduce, control and prevent” their effects. The tribunal was responding to a request from a consortium of small island nations disappearing under rising seas. The tribunal’s unanimous ruling will influence national and global court cases now being brought against the fossil fuel industry and its well-funded resistance to a carbon-free, renewable energy future. Donald Trump offered himself up to that resistance when he solicited a billion-dollar donation from oil executives by promising, if reelected, to reverse clean energy rules. Why isn’t climate change a major issue in the 2024 U.S. election? ~ David Helvarg, Blue Frontier, an ocean conservation group
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 11, 2024
Recent tragic events in the U.S. have exposed the worst impulses of humans in their violence against animals. Our federal government wants to exterminate hundreds of thousands of barred owls, while Wyoming allows people to run down wolves using snowmobiles. Here in Maine, we witnessed the grotesque sight of three dead coyotes hanging from a buoy. How do we institute change for the good of wildlife and humanity today, before it gets even darker for us all? The line between egregious cruelty to animals and violent harm to women and children, especially, is paper-thin. Tell legislators you support legislation to protect all wildlife and that you care about the ethical treatment of wildlife, and that wanton killing for sport and prizes, especially, is unacceptable. ~ Gina Garey, Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 11, 2024
Briar Lyons Boetsch and her husband Aaron bought Northeast Carry General Store last year. Alarmed at the seemingly large number of bass, they decided to hold their first Catch and Kill Bass Derby to help protect the native trout and salmon fisheries in Moosehead Lake. What they didn’t count on was the heated debate that would rain down on them. By Monday there was a full-fledged argument between bass fishermen and people who want that species out of Moosehead.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 11, 2024
There are thousands of species of beetles in Maine, but just a few of them could cause big problems in your garden this year. Simple methods like the soapy water trap, protecting young plants with row cover, rotating your planting sites and disposing of eggs before they hatch can help you protect your plants at a low cost. Some farmers also plant other crops the beetles like next to the ones they want to protect, a method called perimeter trap cropping. Whatever you choose to do, knowing how to identify these common Maine beetles emerging right now is a good first step. The free online New England Vegetable Management Guide is one simple, updated resource for information on any of these insects.
SIERRA CLUB • June 10, 2024
By the 18th century, Europe had few trees left that were tall enough to be fashioned into single-stick ship masts—a construction superior to fastening two shorter logs together—so colonists coveted the long, straight trunks of eastern white pines. White pines were one of the first species that settlers targeted, reducing stand after stand of them to stumps and slash. In the 1980s, Bob Leverett and others began documenting remnants of forest in Massachusetts and beyond that had somehow escaped colonists’ axes. Enthusiasts and scientists have identified tens of thousands of acres of old-growth forest in the Northeast. “The best thing we can do for climate change with much of our forested land is to actually do nothing,” said David Foster, an ecologist who spearheads an initiative known as Wildlands, Woodlands, Farmlands & Communities, which aims to protect a network of designated wildlands spanning New England.
WORKING WATERFRONT • June 10, 2024
Before the development of automobiles, highway systems, and commercial airlines, coastal steamers were the primary mode of travel for visitors from major Northeast cities coming to Maine. For those seeking to enjoy the pristine woods and waters of inland Maine, disembarking steamer passengers were reliant on a network of transportation methods. The prevalence of the automobile later in the 20th century radically changed the travel landscape and provided greater amounts of control and freedom for tourists. It was not long before steamer and rail travel were a thing of the past. Maine Maritime Museum’s newest exhibit, Upta Camp, explores Maine camp culture. It is on view through October 2025.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 10, 2024
Trout Mountain is sandwiched between Baxter State Park and Debsconeag Lakes Wilderness Area. It’s a protected parcel of 3,598 acres that The Nature Conservancy has classified as a preserve. Due to this designation, the forestland is managed as an ecological reserve, where natural processes such as ice, drought and wind shape the forest. Follow a blue-blazed trail maintained by TNC to reach an 80-foot fire tower in the preserve.
MAINE PUBLIC • June 10, 2024
The town of Wells is holding a public hearing on public access of Moody Beach on Monday. In May, the select board announced it would file an amicus brief in support of plaintiffs who are suing private beachfront homeowners over public access. James Connerney of the group Free Moody Beach, says he appreciates the town's support, but wants them to take more direct action. He wants them to pursue a Beach Use Agreement, where all interested parties reach an agreement on allowed use.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 10, 2024
The fate of four dams in Maine that are hindering the migration of wild Atlantic salmon and other sea-run fish has drawn international attention after federal regulators gave preliminary approval in March to relicense one dam and require all four to improve fish passages, moves that will allow the dams to operate for several more decades. The stakes couldn’t be higher, pitting the potential survival of a species against business interests. Maine is the only U.S. state where wild Atlantic salmon have survived in a few rivers, including the Kennebec and Penobscot. That is forcing parties involved to weigh whether the dams are producing enough electricity to justify ongoing operations now that alternative energies including solar and wind are coming online.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 9, 2024
Today we learn how to speak woodpecker. At least five different species are cavorting somewhere near your house right this minute. There are three other woodpecker species in Maine. Woodpeckers have can pound out a message. The downy woodpecker has a nice, short, even drum. The hairy woodpecker is a rapid-fire. Yellow-bellied sapsucker drumming starts strongly and then peters out unevenly. Pileated woodpeckers have a deep, booming drum that gets faster and quieter toward the end. Northern flickers have deep booming drums. Red-bellied woodpeckers have moved into the state. In northern Maine, we have always had black-backed woodpeckers and American three-toed woodpeckers. They all sound different.. ~ Bob Duchesne
WASHINGTON POST • June 9, 2024
Over the next few months, millions of visitors will flock to U.S. national parks to hike, climb, boat and explore. With a maximum cost of $35 per vehicle for entry, visiting a national park can be one of the cheapest, most rewarding vacations you can plan this summer. Solo hikers should be flexible enough to enter at off-hours and win last-minute lotteries. Hiking and spending time in nature alone has demonstrably proved to improve mental health.
SUN JOURNAL • June 9, 2024
On the third weekend every June for the past 39 years, Scott Cowger of Hallowell has pulled on his bike shorts, shoved his feet in his cycling shoes, buckled on his helmet and started pedaling in his quest to raise money for the American Lung Association. On Friday, kickstands will go up and Cowger and hundreds more cyclists will set out on the 180-mile 40th annual Trek Across Maine. The goal is to raise $750,000, with more than $500,000 of that already raised as trekkers head into this year’s Father’s Day weekend trek. The ride has raised $31 million collectively since its inception.
CENTRAL MAINE • June 9, 2024
Since Akua’s kelp burgers launched in 2021, the company has sold more than 1 million of the plant-based patties. Made with kelp harvested by the farmers of the Maine Family Seafarm Cooperative, the burgers are sold in roughly 1,000 grocery stores and 200 restaurants nationwide. Akua processes 40,000 pounds of Maine kelp each year and plans to move its burger production to Freeport from Atlanta this summer. “The hamburger is the symbol of everything that’s wrong with the American food system. A kelp burger is the opposite,” said Akua CEO Courtney Boyd Meyers. Like Akua, Atlantic Sea Farms processes its own seaweed and sells its kelp burgers to grocery stores. Atlantic Sea Farms operates 40 kelp farms stretching from Casco Bay to Eastport.
MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • June 9, 2024
We currently have nine species, some with multiple subspecies occurring here, and there was historically a 10th, which has been extirpated. The “lost” species is the timber rattlesnake, which used to occur in southern Maine, but due to extreme persecution from humans hasn’t been documented here since 1860. This was the only venomous snake in Maine; all the remaining nine species are safe to be around, although some can be more aggressive when agitated. Venomous is toxic when they bite you, poisonous is toxic when you bite it. Now you know. More than 13,000 records have been submitted by hundreds of volunteers around the state for the Maine Amphibian and Reptile Atlas Project. One outcome has been the beloved “Maine Amphibians and Reptiles” book. ~ Maine Audubon Staff Naturalist Doug Hitchcox
MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • June 9, 2024
Some gardeners don’t enjoy gardening. They like plants and the way those plants look in their gardens. They may even take pride in the results of the work that they do. But they dread the drudgery, the insects, the labor and dirtiness of actually tending the plants. I absolutely enjoy the time I spend in the garden. For me, the best times are harvesting vegetables and cutting flowers to bring inside, but planting – whether seedlings or seeds – is also a pleasure. I even enjoy weeding, mostly because it is mindless, so I can let my mind wander to future columns. ~ Tom Atwell
