Column: Some birds will attack if they feel a threat to their nest, young

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • July 7, 2024

The nesting season is in full swing and we often get some interesting reports of unusual wildlife behaviors that come with it. American goshawks are fiercely territorial and are the most likely to seriously injure someone getting too close to their nests. While males are off foraging for food that they’ll bring back to the nest, females stay to protect the chicks. There are lots of other signals that birds give us when we are too close to their nest or young, so be on the lookout. If you can avoid that spot for a short time, you can help increase the success of that nest and also keep from getting some goshawk scars. ~ Maine Audubon Staff Naturalist Doug Hitchcox

Editorial: Public beach access must be thoughtfully managed, protected

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • July 7, 2024

A fracas over parking for beach access in a Cape Elizabeth neighborhood highlights – yet again – tension between public, private and the supposed 'character” of a place. As the ongoing intertidal access case has shown us, public support for better public access to Maine’s beaches is – surprise, surprise – extremely robust. As neighborhoods up and down the coast seek to turn back the clock and close visitors out, that support will need to strengthen again. It needs to become so strong that it feels like common sense, which it is.

Letter: Maine pension fund should divest from PFAS

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • July 7, 2024

Your June 23 editorial warned of the high costs of dealing with Maine’s PFAS crisis. Recent articles have also warned of the costs that will be incurred by the worsening climate crisis. Ironically, the Maine Public Employees Retirement Fund invests in companies that are contributing to both of these crises. Would it not be an act of care to avoid profiting from investments that are harming present and future retirees? ~ Tom Mikulka, Ph.D., Cape Elizabeth

Letter: Stop noise pollution on our roads

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • July 7, 2024

Judging by the number of pickup trucks and motorcycles roaring up and down highways, large and small, the laws regarding modified muffler systems and the excessive noise they produce are not enforced. it appears neither law enforcement nor Maine state inspectors are doing anything to stop noise pollution on our roads. ~ Janice Robinson, Topsham

Obituary: Keith Fletcher

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • July 7, 2024

Keith Fletcher, 66, of Wells, passed away on July 2, 2024. Keith was a kind, passionate, and creative man who devoted his life to his family, land conservation, and music. After graduating from Antioch College in Ohio, where he earned a B.S. in 1980, Keith launched a career in land conservation. He also resumed his studies, finishing a M.S. from John Hopkins University in 1991. He championed conservation around the Delaware River, on the prairies of Iowa, and eventually across the woods and coastline of Maine. Most recently, Keith worked with Maine Coast Heritage Trust to help preserve Maine’s coast. He was also a member of the Wells Conservation Commission for 23 years.

Maine needs aquaculture workers. This free program is training them.

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 7, 2024

The aquaculture apprentice program is a joint venture launched in 2023 by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, the Maine Aquaculture Association, and Educate Maine. It was developed after a study found about 884 people working in the field as of 2022, with potential growth for up to 1,450 jobs by 2030, but only if aquaculture businesses can find the kinds of workers they need. The workers sea farming operations want most are ones with boat handling experience, as well as basic plumbing, electrical, construction and small engine repair skills. However those types of potential employees, with practical vocational training, are in the shortest supply.

Birds flock to Merrymeeting Bay, a globally unique destination

KENNEBEC JOURNAL • July 6, 2024

Ornithologist Will Broussard led a small yet knowledgeable group on a hike Saturday, sponsored by Friends of Merrymeeting Bay, through a diverse and unique Merrymeeting Bay ecosystem, which is a globally significant bird habitat. A half-dozen local residents gathered for the hike that explored the area between the Kennebec and Eastern rivers that makes up the state-owned Green Point Wildlife Management Area in Dresden to watch and – perhaps more successfully on an overcast morning – listen for birds. Broussard, a Bowdoinham native with a passion for birds and nature, was the youngest person certified years ago by Cornell University’s Ornithology Lab to record bird sounds.

As ecotourism grows, so does the desire to maintain Downeast’s wild character

MAINE MONITOR • July 6, 2024

In the past decade, the state and roughly a dozen large nonprofit conservation groups have caught on to the idea that land and water preservation could also help boost Maine’s Downeast region’s lagging economy. A 2018 study reported that 19 percent of the two-county area was in some sort of conservation status — more than 700,000 acres of parks, wildlife refuges and preserves. And the figure has only grown. Much of that conserved land and water is being groomed for public access. There has been a large uptick in recreational tourism, and thus an influx of money. Conservation leaders say their Downeast planning efforts consider a crucial question: How do you create new recreational experiences, and new economic opportunities, while maintaining the culture of the region?

Letter: Hold fossil fuel companies accountable for climate crisis

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 6, 2024

It’s obscene that the fossil fuel industry continues to receive billions in subsidies (i.e., taxpayer dollars) at a time when they’ve been reaping record profits and, more importantly, the use of their products is beginning to render the planet unlivable. While common sense would dictate stopping these subsidies, Big Oil controls many of our elected officials. A portion of the financial support fossil fuel corporations receive should be converted to funding for carbon dioxide removal technologies. Funding currently to prop up the coal industry and finance fossil fuel development abroad are two areas that could be diverted for this purpose. ~ Tom Berry, Kennebunk

Letter: Petrochemicals increasingly threaten our health

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 6, 2024

Many are unaware that air pollution from burning fossil fuels and the chemicals released by their use is a health threat. Since 1990, there has been a 28% to 150% increase in diabetes, chronic lung disease, cancer and neurodevelopmental disorders. Experts believe petrochemicals have contributed to these increases. Since the 1950s, petrochemical production has increased 15 times and is rising. Improve your chances of good health by telling legislators to support a price on carbon to energize a rapid transition to renewables. Also, ask legislators to regulate existing chemicals and research chemicals before they are released on the public. ~ Nancy Hasenfus, Brunswick

Dramatic rescues punctuated a busy June for Acadia rangers

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 6, 2024

Rangers at Acadia National Park have had their hands full. They received a larger number of calls this past June than they did in the same month last year, even though park visitation is down this year. Some of their most dramatic rescues stacked up in the later part of the month, including the rescue of a climber on South Bubble Mountain, hikers who separately suffered injuries three days later on South Bubble and Gorham mountains, and a truck that drove over a cliff on the Park Loop Road. The park also sent staff when a New Hampshire man drowned off Bar Harbor.

Rescue underway on Appalachian Trail near Caratunk

CENTRAL MAINE • July 5, 2024

State and local emergency personnel were responding Friday to the report of an injured 14-year-old hiker on the Appalachian Trail at a point between Pierce Pond and the Kennebec River west and north of Caratunk. Unconfirmed emergency reports say the hiker had been unconscious for two hours, and weather conditions were stormy.

Train derailment in Penobscot County spills about 1,200 gallons of diesel

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 5, 2024

Officials are cleaning up about 1,200 gallons diesel fuel that spilled onto the ground in Penobscot County this week after a train engine hit parked rail cars and ruptured its fuel tank. The collision happened Tuesday near the Mattawamkeag-Winn town line, the Lincoln Fire Department said. The crash caused one car to overturn and a second car to derail, puncturing the engine’s fuel tank and releasing 1,200 gallons of fuel onto the ground. A newspaper investigation published last year revealed widespread issues with freight rail operations in Maine, including poorly maintained lines, unreported accidents, and secrecy around the hazardous materials transported through the state.

Oosoola Park in Norridgewock gets new dock, self-service boat rentals

MORNING SENTINEL • June 5, 2024

The new facilities, installed in Oosoola Park at the end of June, are part of Norridgewock's ongoing efforts to promote outdoor recreation. The park stretches along the Kennebec River off U.S. Route 2.

Wilton man in critical condition after being thrown from personal watercraft on Wilson Pond

SUN JOURNAL • July 5, 2024

On Thursday, Bertrand Poisson, 47, was operating his recently purchased 2024 Ski-Doo on Wilson Pond at high speeds and in a back-and-forth serpentine fashion with little experience. As he was turning he was thrown and tumbled across the water at high speed about 5:30 p.m. Poisson immediately began yelling for help and several boaters and witnesses responded. They were able to pull him from the water and take him to the boat landing where emergency medical personnel performed lifesaving measures. “Speed, alcohol and marijuana appear to have contributed to the crash.”

With new efforts to improve fish passage, Maine is seeing a record number of river herring in 2024

MAINE PUBLIC • July 5, 2024

Scientists say many more alewives and blueback herring have made their way into Maine's waterways this year — a recovery they attribute to dam removals and habitat restoration. Sean Ledwin, the director of the Bureau of Sea-Run Fisheries and Habitat at the the Maine Department of Marine Resources, said more than 6 million fish have been counted at Benton Falls, along the Sebasticook River (a tributary of the Kennebec River) — far more than last year. More than 3 million have been counted at China Lakes. “Probably 15, 20 million alewives in that river system." Ledwin expects alewife counts to continue to grow, thanks to $70 million in new federal funds to remove more dams and improve habitat across the state.

Climate change, rising home costs converge to drive up insurance rates in Maine

MAINE MONITOR • July 5, 2024

Sea level rise, intensifying coastal storms and rising construction costs converged to drive up annual Maine home insurance rates by an average of 15 percent this year, a recent report found. That number is expected to balloon to 19 percent by the end of the year, the second highest increase in the country, behind Louisiana. Under this scenario, Maine would see average annual rates go from $1,322 to $1,571. And although Maine’s average rate is still one of the lowest in the country (the national average was $2,377 in 2023, according to Insurify), such a rapid rise demonstrates the vulnerability of Maine’s historically low rates to both the natural disasters occurring locally and the global and national trends hiking up insurance rates.

Legal experts say Chevron deference decision puts Maine’s reliance on federal partners at risk

MAINE MORNING STAR • July 5, 2024

The Supreme Court’s ruling ending the “Chevron deference” will directly impact Maine. With federal agencies’ power to implement and interpret laws diminished and open to challenges, it makes Maine’s reliance on federal partners risky, which ultimately could result in lack of services for Mainers. For example, the uncertainty about the EPA’s authority could directly affect Maine’s ability to enforce the federal Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. Since judges are not elected, the Supreme Court ruling also indirectly takes away some public voice in policy decisions.

Coast Guard suspends search for missing Maine boater

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 5, 2024

The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended its search for a missing Maine boater. Edward Berke, 30, fell overboard from a recreational boat about 8 p.m. Thursday near Clapboard Island in Casco Bay, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. Local, state and federal officials searched 350 square miles of water for Berke, but could not locate him. The search was called off mid-day Friday.