The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 24, 2024
Officials from six separate island communities—Frenchboro, Matinicus, North Haven, Swan’s Island and Vinalhaven—are asking Gov. Janet Mills to intervene in a workforce crisis that has disrupted ferry service to and from the mainland. Throughout the year, cancellations due to staff shortages have plagued the Maine State Ferry Service that operates daily service to several Midcoast and Down East islands, affecting both residents and visitors.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 24, 2024
Wabanaki tribes may soon have the ability to gather sweetgrass in Acadia National Park for traditional uses after more than a century of not being able to do so. The National Park Service announced Wednesday that Acadia can enter individual agreements with the federally recognized tribes with historical and cultural ties to the land there. The Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, the Mi’kmaq Nation, the Passamaquoddy Tribes at Pleasant Point and at Indian Township and the Penobscot Nation, collectively called the Wabanaki Nations, have a cultural heritage of using the grass medicinally, ceremonially and in basket making.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC • July 24, 2024
Since the early 1980s, Maine lobstermen have experienced a climate-driven lobster boom. That’s because climate change has been warming the Gulf of Maine more than three times faster than 99 percent of the ocean. Warmer waters initially meant more lobster, but by 2050 conditions may become challenging for lobsters to survive in. Since a 2012 marine heatwave, the deep-water temperatures have been about 3°F warmer than average, but this year, temperatures are back to levels not seen since before 2011. But it’s still hard to say if this year’s cooler waters will benefit Maine’s lobsters, particularly if the warming trend continues in future years.
PETA PIXEL • July 24,2024
National Geographic photographer Brian Skerry has spent decades diving around the globe, telling the stories of the world’s oceans. For his latest projects, years in the making, he has been much closer to home, documenting the unprecedented — and deadly — changes happening in the Gulf of Maine. Unfortunately, the Gulf of Maine is imperiled. The gulf’s waters are warming faster than 97% of the global ocean, offering a startling preview of a looming disaster and destroying ocean life and habitats with terrifying rapidity. As part of a cover story in National Geographic last month and a three-part documentary NOVA series premiering on PBS this week, Skerry investigates what’s happening in the Gulf of Maine, how it’s affecting animals and people alike, and what can still be done to curb the destruction.
MAINE PUBLIC • July 24, 2024
the Gulf of Maine is 7,500 miles long and as much as a thousand feet deep, a marine treasure of some 36,000 square miles. From the tip of Cape Cod to Nova Scotia, it courses with cold, nutrient-rich, deep-sea water, artfully mixed by the world’s biggest tides. This rich environment feeds a web of 3,000 species ranging from microscopic plankton to seals and massive right whales. Millions of people have lived along its rising edge, drawing their sustenance, fame, and fortune from its plentiful depths. For all its storied bounty, and because of it, the Gulf is also in peril. The first episode of Sea Change (July 24) explains how the bounty in the Gulf was forever affected by European settlers and how wildlife and people adapted to its changes. In the second (July 31), scientists investigate how the Gulf came to be and how its cold waters, unique tides, and even geologic shape powers a web of thousands of species. The last episode (August 7) explores the future of the Gulf. Maine Pubic TV, July 24-August 7, 9 pm.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 24, 2024
A road project that started this week in Blue Hill will limit access to a popular set of local hiking trails, although there are alternative ways to reach them. The town of Blue Hill says that Mountain Road will be closed for eight to 10 weeks as it is totally rebuilt. During that time, hikers won’t be able to access the main parking area to reach the trails up Blue Hill Mountain. Blue Hill Heritage Trust, the group that manages the mountain, says there are two routes that hikers can still use to summit it. They can use street parking downtown and climb the Post Office Trail, which is about a mile long and connects with other trails up the rest of the mountain. Alternatively, they can park along Turkey Farm Road, which provides access to the 2-mile Becton Trail up the backside of the mountain.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 23, 2024
Two fishermen had to leap from their boat Tuesday afternoon when a whale breached and fell on top of the vessel, flipping it onto its side. Two brothers from Maine, Colin, 16, and Wyatt Yager, 19, shot the video on Tuesday and then rescued the fishermen who fell from the overturned boat.
CENTRAL MAINE • July 24, 2024
We’re well into spider season in Maine now, which runs from July to about mid-September. By “spider season” I just mean this is the time when most of them are the most active, so you’re apt to notice them. Most spiders live outdoors, but some seem to prefer being indoors with people. The ones who have adapted whole lifestyles to human presence are referred to as “synanthropic,” such as house spiders, who are usually the ones who build the cobwebs on your doorframes, lights and cellar ceiling. House spiders are shy and run away long before they’d ever try to bite a human. Like almost all spiders, they’re dangerous to bugs, not us. ~ Dana Wilde
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 24, 2024
Between 40,000 to 50,000 honey bees set up a home for themselves inside an old vent from the jail, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. This was a problem deputies, corrections officers and maintenance staff couldn’t handle on their own. the sheriff’s office recruited beekeepers Bill Case and Jim Lenke to handle the stinging bugs. Case and Lenke had to be lifted more than 30 feet in the air to reach the vent, where the bees had nested. The bees were removed and relocated to a local farm.
MAINE MORNING STAR • July 24, 2024
Governors across New England are banking big on mammoth turbines being installed off the coast to not only keep the lights on as the region moves toward cleaner electricity, but also to meet a surge in power demand from electric vehicles and a shift to electrified home heating. The push into offshore wind comes amid longstanding apprehension over New England’s dependence on natural gas power generation. In 2023, about 49% of New England’s electricity was supplied by natural gas power plants. Nuclear plants accounted for 20% and renewables made up 10%, with hydropower, oil and imports from other regions comprising the rest. Coal was just 0.2%. The last coal plant in New England near Concord, New Hampshire, is scheduled to close in 2028 and will host solar and battery storage. At the moment, there are about 1,400 megawatts of wind power on the system. Developers are proposing nearly 18,000 megawatts, most of it offshore wind.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 24, 2024
Extreme weather events in Maine and across the country have fueled rising property insurance rates. First, talk to your insurance agent to see if there are more affordable options. Second, your agent can also check for discounts, such as “bundling” opportunities (using the same insurer to cover your home and auto) and certain upgrades to your home. You may also consider increasing your deductible. Third, check to see if your homeowner’s policy contains a water damage exclusion. Consider buying flood insurance. Finally, you should be proactive about removing rotten trees or other hazards that may cause a loss during a storm. ~ Bob Carey, superintendent, Maine Bureau of Insurance
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 24, 2024
An Aroostook County native is working to put Maine’s portion of the International Appalachian Trail in more people’s sights. Robert Greenier, 33, was born in Fort Kent and lived near Presque Isle as a child. Now a Colorado resident, he hiked all 138 miles of the Maine leg in just under 67 hours, finishing in the wee hours of Sunday in Fort Fairfield. His trek will give other competitive hikers something to beat. But more than that, he aims to draw attention to this route that traverses parts of the U.S., Canada and Europe and could potentially bring more tourists to Aroostook County.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 23, 2024
Deer flies, horse flies or black flies slash their way into human skin with scissor-like mouthparts looking for a meal, leaving painful bites behind. There are dozens of species of black flies and hundreds of deer and horse flies with different regional distributions. How many will bite you this year probably depends on the number of short, intense rain events that happen where you live. This precipitation pattern is becoming more common in Maine, replacing longer storms that leave less standing water, according to Jim Dill, a pest management specialist with the UMaine Cooperative Extension. There are unusual deterrents to try. You could make a baby oil-covered helmet trap, fill a spray bottle with repellent of Epsom salts, mouthwash and stale beer, or rub your clothes with a dryer sheet.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 24, 2024
Removing asbestos and lead paint from the old Getchell Brothers ice plant in Brewer could cost up to $330,000. An assessment of the site found materials with asbestos and lead-based paint within the building, as well as drains that connect directly to the Penobscot River. In some areas, the surface soil has lead and polyaromatic hydrocarbons, which come from burning materials like coal and oil and can cause various health problems.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 23, 2024
Rockland is the latest Maine community that’s going through the laborious and expensive work of closing a municipal landfill, with plans to complete the job this fall. In addition to paying a few million dollars to cap the 4-acre dump — much of which will be reimbursed by the state — the city will also have to continuously collect and remove the liquid leachate and gas that are produced there. Because of state regulations and the structure of the landfill, officials also say that plot will likely have to remain vacant forever. Brunswick closed its municipal landfill in 2021. Other Maine municipalities that have active landfills include Augusta, Bath, Lewiston, Presque Isle and Fort Fairfield.
MAINE PUBLIC • July 23, 2024
Maine regulators have approved new rules advocates said could offer a financial lifeline to Maine farms contaminated with toxic chemicals. Under a measure authorized by the Maine Public Utilities Commission, the state will open a competitive bidding process to develop nearly 600,000 megawatts of new clean power, equal to 5% of Maine retail electricity sales in 2021. The process will prioritized proposed developments sited on agricultural land tainted by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS. More than 50 Maine farms have been found to have unsafe levels of PFAS in water and soil. Some farms have had to stop selling produce, milk, eggs and meat from their land.
WASHINGTON POST • July 23, 2024
Global temperatures hit the highest levels in recorded history on Sunday, according to preliminary data from Europe’s top climate monitor – another worrying sign of how human-caused climate change is pushing the planet into dangerous new territory. The results from the Copernicus Climate Change Service show the planet’s average temperature on July 21 was 62.76 degrees Fahrenheit – breaking a record set only last year. The historic day comes on the heels of 13 straight months of unprecedented temperatures and the hottest year scientists have ever seen.
MAINE MORNING STAR • July 23, 2024
A public interest law firm that helped get the Chevron doctrine overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court is part of the legal battle over public access to shorelines in Maine. The Pacific Legal Foundation, which typically champions conservative and libertarian causes, is representing a defendant in a case involving public access to intertidal land in the town of Wells. The firm, which represents clients for free in cases nationwide involving individual and property rights, like the one in Wells, brought in more than $25 million in 2023. Meanwhile, those fighting for public access rely on donations to cover their legal fees. Donna M. Cummings, who has lived one street back from Moody Beach for 25 years, says it feels like an “agenda” that pushes private ownership over public access.
MONGABAY • July 23, 2024
Journalist and author Judith Schwartz lives near a forest in New England where a company plans to install an 85-acre solar power project and export the resulting energy to Connecticut, 100 miles to the south. She discusses why these types of projects are ecologically inappropriate for developing atop natural forests and how they can make adapting to climate change harder for local residents. Massachusetts offers a snapshot of the kind of damage that can occur without a policy preventing it: clearing forests and using natural working lands, such as farmland, has already converted more than 5,000 acres for solar energy production.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 23, 2024
The state is spending $6.6 million from Washington to strengthen independently operated electric grids that, along with Maine’s two dominant investor-owned utilities, face increasing threats from destructive storms. Eastern Maine Electric Cooperative, the Fox Islands Electric Cooperative at Vinalhaven and North Haven, Van Buren Light and Power and three power projects will benefit from the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. When combined with matching funds provided by the recipients, more than $11 million will improve the resiliency of Maine’s electrical infrastructure, Gov. Janet Mills said Tuesday.
