The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 4, 2024
Jared Larsen, 32, of Waldoboro, who ran a boat aground on Vinalhaven Wednesday morning, was arrested for operating under the influence. Roughly 80-100 gallons of diesel fuel were on board the vessel, according to the marine patrol. Efforts are now underway to keep it from leaking.
TIMES RECORD • September 4, 2024
In the aftermath of the recent chemical spill at Brunswick Landing, the Mere Brook Steering Committee met to review current and near-future work on the brook. The spill took place in the Mere Brook watershed’s eastern sector. This is already toxic ground that will now be even more heavily studied over as this spill works its way into the area’s waters. What I ask for also is redoubled attention to Mere Brook’s western branch. Our offerings, whether pesticides, fertilizers or driveway runoff, have deeply compromised the brook’s ability to clean itself and support basic macroinvertabrate life. But we are working to change that, to bring life back to its waters as complement to its still vital population of a prize Maine fish, the brook trout. ~ Sandy Stott
TIMES RECORD • September 4, 2024
Recreational fishing is a big industry in Maine, where there are numerous waterways both salty and fresh that are home to a variety of species. Many of these species even overlap their habitats, spending part of their life in fresh water and part in salty. These sea-run fish include everything from shad and salmon to eel, herring, trout and even sturgeon. There’s a whole separate set of regulations and information for striped bass. The most important thing to know is not the types of fish, but that you must register with the DMR as a saltwater angler. Aside from making oneself legal, another reason to go to the recreational fishing section of the DMR’s website, is to learn more about where different species live and where you can access the water to try to catch them. ~ Susan Olcott
ASSOCIATED PRESS • August 4, 2024
The world creates 57 million tons of plastic pollution every year and spreads it from the deepest oceans to the highest mountaintop to the inside of people’s bodies, according to a new study. It’s enough pollution each year to fill New York City’s Central Park with plastic waste as high as the Empire State Building. India leads the world in generating plastic waste, producing 10.2 million tons a year – far more than double the next big-polluting nations, Nigeria and Indonesia. China, often villainized for pollution, ranks fourth but is making tremendous strides in reducing waste.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 4, 2024
The Mount Desert Select Board Tuesday night officially resolved to get Otter Creek’s working waterfront back. The signed resolution will also become part of the town’s comprehensive plan, which will help make sure that the mission to restore that working waterfront continues even as staff, administrators and elected officials change.
TIMES RECORD • September 4, 2024
At the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) in Edgecomb kids spend a day each week learning outdoors. After receiving Down East Magazine’s 2024 Best Private Elementary School title, school Director Katy Inman pointed to CTL’s outdoor classroom as a distinguishing feature. Unlike most schools, once a week — rain, shine or freezing temperatures — students romp through the woods to attend class. Meggie Harvey, who connected with the school when she began working at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in 2016, said, “This includes tuning into youth voices. CTL students are valuable members of today’s climate conversation and they’re tomorrow’s future decisionmakers.”
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 4, 2024
It escapes me why free-roaming “neighborhood cats” are an accepted norm when we know that outside cats are bird killers. It does not matter how well we feed them. It does not matter how softly they purr on our laps, or keep us good company. When they are outside and off of a leash, they often kill birds. Between one to 4 billion birds per year. Want to do something good for the planet? Keep your cats indoors, or walk them only on a leash. ~ Craig Kesselheim, Southwest Harbor
MORNING SENTINEL • August 4, 2024
Voters will decide in November whether to adopt a temporary moratorium on new high-voltage power lines within town limits after nearly 250 residents signed a petition in support of the ban. The petition was presented to the China Select Board at its Aug. 26 meeting in response to the proposed Aroostook Renewable Gateway Project, an infrastructure proposal that would send energy generated by wind farms in Aroostook County to consumers in southern Maine and Massachusetts via roughly 150 miles of high-voltage transmission lines through central Maine.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 4, 2024
Mya Wolfinger, 8, of Shapleigh has been working on her goal of catching Maine’s seven major game fish in the salmon family since she was 4 years old. She caught a brook trout and a brown trout in a tributary of the Saco River when she was 4. Her father Justin Wolfinger planted the idea for her to catch a landlocked salmon and the other trout species found in Maine. Mya caught a rainbow trout when she was 5. Then she caught a splake. This year she caught a landlocked salmon, lake trout and most recently, an Arctic charr or blueback trout. Her salmon, brown trout and lake trout were all in the 18-19-inch range. The only fish in the salmon family native to Maine she hasn’t caught is a whitefish, which she has in her sights.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 4, 2024
Three interstate natural gas pipelines serving Maine — Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline, Algonquin Gas Transmission and Granite State Gas Transmission — are seeking rate increases that could lead to higher energy prices in the state. The pending requests are months away from either getting approved or denied but come as regulators and lawmakers grapple with helping Mainers facing the nation’s 10th highest average electricity prices and newer fees from solar subsidies.
ROCKY BARKER • September 3, 2024
Since the Edwards Dam in Maine came down 1,200 other dams in the U.S. have been removed, restoring rivers and hope for the communities that they run through. The latest were the dams on the Klamath River in Oregon and California. The last was removed last month, opening a waterway to salmon just as the Fall salmon are beginning their run upriver to the places they once spawned. Klamath River lovers can give some of the credit to Brownie Carson and the others in Maine who first got the Edwards Dam removed. More dams will come out because they will end up costing more than keeping them there. Eventually money talks. Still, it takes people like Brownie Carson of the Natural Resources Council of Maine to force the issue.
E&E NEWS • September 3, 2024
Millions of Americans are endangered by extreme heat due to federal policies that steer billions of dollars away from the nation’s hottest regions. At least a dozen government agencies oversee programs that ignore or minimize the threat of extreme heat as rising temperatures shatter historical records across the U.S., an investigation by POLITICO’s E&E News found. Disregard for the health dangers of heat is embedded in federal laws and regulations written decades ago, when home heating costs were soaring, air conditioning was rare and the risks of climate change were not widely understood.
FORBES • September 3, 2024
Let your armchair traveler’s imagination soar while diving into the new gorgeously filmed, five-episode series National Parks: USA, which is Nat Geo’s latest behind-the-scenes swoop into America’s spectacular wild places. Premiering September 8 on National Geographic TV and streaming the next day on Hulu, our nation’s natural beauty and bounty are intimately illuminated and interlaced with intriguing stories and cultural touchstones. It’s narrated by Indigenous actor Michael Spears.
TIMES RECORD • September 3, 2024
Brunswick Town Council called for action from the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, adopting an unprecedented resolution Tuesday night. Just days after MRRA came under fire in a special public meeting, the Brunswick Town Council voted unanimously to call on MRRA and the Maine DEP to take several steps, including moves to safeguard human health and the environment as well as accountability measures, such as taking a statewide inventory of the toxic firefighting foam known as AFFF that was spilled on Aug. 19.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 3, 2024
The Brunswick Town Council unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday night to require the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority to immediately remove and dispose of the remaining toxic foam at Brunswick Executive Airport, over a thousand gallons of which spilled over two weeks ago. On Aug. 19, a malfunction with the fire suppression system at hangar 4 in the airport caused the release of 1,450 gallons of PFAS-laden firefighting foam, which led to the contamination of nearby bodies of water and outcry from the public. But this wasn’t the first spill of this foam from the airport. In fact, it’s the third known to the public since MRRA took over the airport in 2011.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 3, 2024
A 22-foot dead minke whale washed up on the shore of Belfast Harbor sometime in the past few days. Maine Marine Patrol took researchers from Allied Whale, which is part of College of the Atlantic, to take samples of the whale when it was floating in the harbor on Friday. There was no evidence the whale had gotten tangled in fishing gear, but no other information was yet available about the time and cause of its death. At least four other dead whales have been found in or off Maine so far this year, including humpbacks located near Cape Elizabeth, Harpswell and Wells. Another dead minke whale was also found in Harpswell in late August.
MAINE PUBLIC • September 3, 2024
Mainers can now apply online for heating assistance. The state has unveiled a new online application for benefits through the Home Energy Assistance Program. Community action agencies around the state should now be able to process benefits applications more quickly, the Maine State Housing Authority said. Demand for home heating help has jumped by 20% over each of the last two winter seasons, MaineHousing said. Last year was the first time that Maine ran a waiting list for heating assistance due to high demand. The state received about $41 million last heating season and provided assistance to roughly 50,000 households. State officials said Maine is expected to receive a similar amount of federal funds for benefits this year.
SUN JOURNAL • September 1, 2024
From Provincetown to Portofino, locals are angry about the impact of mass tourism on their daily lives. Too hot in Rome? How about Bar Harbor, Maine, with its cooling breezes? That thought has already occurred to the multitudes. Not long ago, mega cruise ships were disgorging as many as 4,000 passengers a day into this small town of about 5,200. The voters subsequently capped the number of cruise visitors to 1,000 a day — over the howls of local tourist-dependent businesses. We get that tourism is the main source of income for many of these places. But residents should get a say. The travel industry is hustling us. Don’t let it. ~ Froma Harrop
MAINE PUBLIC • September 3, 2024
A report published last week estimates that new appliance efficiency standards from the Biden administration could save Maine businesses $9.5 million per year over the next two decades. The Energy Department’s new standards could also save the average Maine household $147 per year on energy costs, according to the report.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 3, 2024
Passy Pete, a lobster pulled from the waters off Belfast, delivered his forecast Monday at Heritage Park. The Belfast Area Chamber of Commerce, which hosted the event, said that Pete predicted an early winter. He then returned to the waters of Belfast Bay. During the ceremony, Pete selects one of two scrolls, one bearing a poem about summer and the other one about winter. If he selects the first, we’re supposed to get six more weeks of summer, while if he selects the latter, winter will descend early. The Bangor Daily News took a look at nearly a decade of Pete’s predictions and found he had about a 22 percent success rate. But Pete has been more successful at forecasting an early winter than a longer summer.
