The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 3, 2024
A rabid fox that tried to bite a Bath man on Friday night has tested positive for rabies. The fox was tested for rabies after acting aggressively and reportedly trying to bite at the boots of the man, according to a press release from the city. The man, who lives on Western Avenue, kicked the animal away. He then called police, who shot and killed the fox. On Wednesday, the test results confirmed the fox was rabid. The man was not injured.
KENNEBEC JOURNAL • July 3, 2024
Swan Island, a state-owned wildlife management area, is about 350 feet off the coast of Richmond in the Kennebec River. People, including Jeremy and Amanda McDaniel, were devastated when the U.S. Coast Guard suspended the island’s ferry service in 2022 following a failed inspection that led to the service’s halt in 2020. The island is free, and people can swim, paddle, or take their own boats to it, but the ease of getting there diminished with the removal of the ferry service. Thanks to the efforts of the McDaniels, their friends, and the Friends of Swan Island, a nonprofit dedicated to the island, a ferry service will run on the weekends from July 27 through the end of the summer. To sign up for a ride to Swan Island go to the island’s website.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 3, 2024
The developer of a controversial 145-mile electricity transmission line through western Maine has told state regulators it’s making progress after resuming work last October, but projects such as setting foundations for poles and running wires are only about one-third completed. The corridor, which is to bring hydropower from Canada to the New England electrical grid, has grown to $1.5 billion from an original price tag of $1 billion due to delays and cost inflation.
SUN JOURNAL • July 3, 2024
The 20-mile loop that includes all-terrain vehicle trails at Mt. Blue State Park are closed for the season and may remain closed indefinitely. the closure has little to do with storm damage, although there was some. The trail is too narrow for the machines now being built and has become a safety hazard. The cost to renovate the trail that runs through Mt. Blue, including widening the bridges is $100,000 for that 20-mile loop. The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry decided that was too much to spend on such a short trail.
TIMES RECORD • July 3, 2024
Last winter, high water levels and erosive waves flattened the dunes along Popham Beach State Park, diminishing a front-line defense for upland habitats. Quickly, the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry and Maine Geological Survey devised a plan to rebuild beach elevation using recycled Christmas trees.By late March, 450 trees were lined up in four rows, stretching along 2,000 feet of the beach in Phippsburg. Popham and Pemaquid beaches tried a similar effort in 2023 using washed-up logs. “I would say the pines have been more effective than the driftwood,” said Sean Vaillancourt, Popham Beach State Park manager. “But, we’ll see how things pan out after hurricane season hits in late August.”
CENTRAL MAINE • July 3, 2024
My DeLorme’s Maine Atlas and Gazetteer is as indispensable in my vehicle as a spare tire. Smartphones with map apps are now wildly popular. But for old Luddites like me, the Gazetteer is our preferred traveling companion for three reasons: cellphone coverage is absent in many regions of Maine, Google maps are often unreliable, and best of all, the Gazetteer isn’t dependent on battery power. My handwritten wildlife notes have become my de facto wildlife journal. Here’s one dated 1977 referencing the first time I saw two moose mating. It says here that the bull was ‘drooling with excitement.’ ~ Ron Joseph
MAINE MORNING STAR • June 3, 2024
Maine’s climate action plan is due for an update later this year, and experts have already put forward a draft of what they’d like to see included. Many of the suggested strategies build on the efforts outlined in the original climate action plan, but there are a few new proposals — such as resiliency measures to address increasingly common spills from residential heating oil tanks and bolstering local food production. A survey is available on the council’s website for people to share suggested updates to the state’s strategies to address climate change.
TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY • June 2, 2024
Two-thirds of the way through Thursday night’s presidential debate, CNN journalist Dana Bash finally asked the candidates how they would tackle a challenge that scientists say poses an existential threat to human civilization: climate change. Donald Trump made a series of false claims about his first-term track record. “During my four years, I had the best environmental numbers ever.” The reality: U.S. air quality and water quality have been steadily improving for decades, thanks to federal laws such as the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. But scientists have found that polluted air and filthy water still afflict tens of millions of people with disease and premature death. And during his first term, Trump attempted to roll back limits on air and water contamination from power plants, trucks and other sources. He’s made it extremely clear he would do the same in a second term.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 2, 2024
Vandals caused several hundred thousand dollars in damage at a New Gloucester solar farm on Sunday night. At least two people used construction machinery on site at Novel Energy Solutions Solar Farm to damage the installation.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 2, 2024
Offshore wind is one of the biggest economic opportunities Maine has ever seen, even without considering its tremendous potential to meaningfully address climate change. The $456 million port proposal announced by the Maine Department of Transportation would be the largest ever federal investment in Maine, and would create long-term economic growth for Maine and thousands of quality clean energy jobs. The June 13 column in the Bangor Daily News by Matthew Burns of Maine Port Authority shows that the choice is not as simple as Sprague would have us believe. Let’s see what the environmental analysis has to say before jumping to conclusions on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Maine. ~ Stephen Moriarty, West Bath
MAINE PUBLIC • July 1, 2024
Maine's combined sewer systems released 745 million gallons of untreated sewage and storm water into the waterways last year. It's an increase of 244% compared to 2022 according to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection report. Many sewer systems in Maine use the same pipes to transport raw sewage and runoff collected from storm drains to water treatment facilities. Heavy rain events like the rainstorms seen last year can fill these combined sewers systems to capacity with wastewater. To prevent sewage from overflowing into homes, the pipes discharge the untreated wastewater into nearby waterways. There are 31 communities in Maine that use combined sewer systems — including Portland, which accounted for more than half of the state’s total overflow. More modern sewer systems use separate pipes so that only stormwater gets released during storm-related overflows.
MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • June 30, 2024
A fungus that kills browntail moth caterpillars appears to have knocked back populations of the perennial pest in portions of Maine this spring, providing a reprieve from the annual suffering caused by the tiny hairs they release into the air. But it’s too early to know whether the fungus will help spur a statewide population collapse of the forest pest or if this is the start of a prolonged break in the yearslong infestation that has spread along the coast and inland.
SUN JOURNAL • June 30, 2024
Despite dams blocking their path up the Kennebec River, a growing number of endangered Atlantic salmon have made their way to the cold-water habitat of the Sandy River to spawn each fall. But that habitat of braided channels in the South Branch of the Sandy River was destroyed following a December flood when town officials brought in excavators and other large equipment and dredged a large section of the river. Thousands of salmon eggs and juveniles were destroyed due to the dredging that turned the branch with numerous channels into a “canal.” The Maine Department of Environmental Protection is investigating the town for destroying the delicate habitat.
MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • June 30, 2024
Natural grasslands in Maine have always been fairly limited in extent. These grasslands are home to a suite of species including upland sandpiper, grasshopper sparrow, Savannah sparrow, vesper sparrow and bobolink. Unfortunately, all these species are in serious decline. Over 60% of native grasslands in the country have been lost over the years to agricultural development and the encroachment of abutting forests. Native grasslands close to agricultural fields can be affected by pesticide application on the farms. There is a tension between farmers and birders because farmers need to cut their fields during the bird nesting season. ~ Herb Wilson
MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • June 30, 2024
It is important that governments protect us from the horrifying and costly effects of our warming climate and make storm relief available to Maine residents as quickly as possible after an extreme event. More important, all levels of government must concede that climate action is urgently needed to halt the cause of global warming and move as quickly as possible to aid the transition to clean energy. Most important is passage of effective, federal climate legislation that halts the continuing rise in global average temperatures: an economywide plan to phase out the burning of fossil fuels. Be an informed voter. ~ Dorothy Jones, Brunswick
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 30, 2024
Sebago Lake is one of four lakes in Maine that had indigenous wild strains of Atlantic salmon. Now it has the largest and most robust population, and possibly the only nearly self-sustaining one of the four. One of the major tributaries, the Crooked River, until recently had a 200-plus-year-old dam on it, but it also represents more than 80 percent of the Sebago salmon’s spawning grounds. The Edes Falls dam was in the way of more progress in the state’s efforts to restore the Sebago watershed fishery. Since its removal the river is back to its original state for the salmon, the salmon are doing well in the lake and there are a lot of the fish in the 62-mile-long Crooked River.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 29, 2024
Little Whaleboat Island in northern Casco Bay is a special place. Actually a trio of small islands and ledges named Little Whaleboat (West), Nate and Tuck, they’re connected at low tide. I’ve been visiting them since I began sea kayaking a couple of decades ago. The reason is simple — it’s a beautiful location easily reached by launching from Mere Point in Brunswick or Lookout Point and Mitchell Field in Harpswell. ~ Ron Chase
SUN JOURNAL • June 30, 2024
Every year more than 70,000 aspiring Maine moose hunters submit an application to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to have their names placed in an electronic barrel in hopes of being drawn for a fall moose hunting permit. A tad over 4,000 permits are drawn and issued. So, the odds are formidable: about 95% of those entering do not get drawn. Maine’s annual moose hunt continues to be one of the most coveted big game hunts in the country. ~ V. Paul Reynolds
MAINE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS • May 30, 2024
See the premiere of a beautiful new wildlife film by Lee Ann Szelog and Thomas Mark Szelog. Touted as a quiet film, a Peace of Forest is a one-of-a-kind cinematic adventure, allowing viewers to experience a wild, peaceful and mysterious world that is filled with complex relationships and ways of wonder. A Peace of Forest celebrates the beauty and intimacy of wildlife in Maine with surprising, tender and exquisite interactions of wildlife during undisturbed moments in Maine’s natural world. At Lincoln Theater, Damariscotta, June 30, 2 pm. Tickets for adults $20, Lincoln Theater members $15, youth 18 and under $5.
MAINE MONITOR • June 28, 2024
A new analysis by the nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists finds that at least 20 to 30 pieces of “critical infrastructure” in Maine will face frequent, disruptive tidal flooding in the coming years and decades. Even in an optimistic climate change scenario, three Maine Superfund sites and two brownfields are at risk of flooding every other week by 2030, which could spread dangerous contaminants. With sea level rise accelerating in Maine, according to the state Geological Survey, the new study describes looming deadlines for action in coastal communities that depend on the buildings most at risk.
