Maine’s might be the only Sea Grant program cut by Trump

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 3, 2025

Maine Sea Grant, a $4.5 million initiative that relies on federal funding to provide environmental and economic research along Maine’s coast, appears to be the only program of its kind that has so far had its funding abruptly cut off by the administration of President Donald Trump. Trump recently threatened to cut federal funding to Maine after a heated exchange with Gov. Janet Mills in Washington last month. The national Sea Grant program has funding partnerships with higher-learning organizations in more than 30 states and in the territories. A search did not turn up any reports of other Sea Grant programs outside Maine having their funds abruptly cut off.

Trump executive orders to increase logging in national forests

AXIOS • March 3, 2025

President Trump signed executive orders to increase lumber production across national forests and other public lands in the U.S., but wants to sidestep endangered species protections and other environmental regulations. Wildlife species reliant on undisturbed forests could face significant habitat loss, while expedited environmental reviews may reduce oversight on ecological impacts.

Anti-Hunter Turned Hunter Gives Back Through Wildlife Conservation Career

NRA HUNTERS NEWS • March 3, 2025

“I grew up an anti-hunter, in a residential neighborhood in Scarborough, Maine. My dad laughs at who I am now,” said wildlife biologist Olivia Lappin. “My motto when I was a child was ‘save the animals.’ It would be years before I saw the role hunting played in doing just that.” After completing a degree in biology at the University of Maine, and more fieldwork in various parts of the United States, Olivia realized she wanted to see through a wildlife biology research project of her own from beginning to end. That led her to the next phase of her immersion with nature, and the master’s degree program at Mississippi State University. It would also lead to a serious challenge of her anti-hunting stance. Olivia’s employment with Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever exposed her to another example of how hunters and hunting provide the needed support for the restoration and conservation of natural areas.

Lobster Fishermen Can Sue Environmental Group for Defamation, Judge Says

ASSOCIATED PRESS • March 3, 2025

A group of lobster fishermen can sue one of the world’s largest seafood watchdog groups for defamation, a federal court has ruled, over a report that described Maine lobster as an unwise choice for consumers. The threat to a rare whale species from getting tangled in fishing gear prompted Monterey Bay Aquarium in California to caution against eating a variety of lobster that New England fishermen have harvested for centuries. Seafood Watch, a conservation program operated by the aquarium, placed lobster on its do-not-eat “red list” in 2022. Judge John Woodcock ruled last month that the fishermen made a case that they suffered damage to their industry's reputation as a result of the red-listing, after the aquarium made a bid in court in Maine to have the 2023 lawsuit tossed. A spokesperson for the aquarium said Sunday it plans to appeal.

Rising Temperatures Are Scrambling the Base of the Ocean Food Web

NEW YORK TIMES • March 3, 2025

Plankton, minuscule organisms, are spread across the oceans, covering nearly three-quarters of the planet. But a warming world is throwing plankton into disarray and threatening the entire marine food chain. Think of Calanus, a type of zooplankton, as “little batteries that are floating in the ocean,” said Jeffrey Runge, a zooplankton ecologist who recently retired from UMaine. Calanus hibernate through winter, hiding from predators. But in November in the Gulf of Maine, David Fields, a zooplankton ecologist at the Bigelow Laboratory for Marine Sciences, was out hunting them. He aims to understand what’s happening to planktonic species as the ocean warms and its currents shift. Amy Wyeth, a zooplankton ecologist, is starting a new plankton sampling and habitat monitoring program for the Maine Department of Marine Resources to give the state “more predictive power,” to forecast the movements of right whales and help Maine’s lobster fishery avoid whales entanglements with endangered North Atlantic right whales.

High Peaks Alliance continues conservation and community engagement

DAILY BULLDOG • March 3, 2025

The High Peaks Alliance Director of Engagement, Amanda Laliberte, provided an update on their upcoming community involvements, including replacing the bridge that spanned the Sandy River in Farmington, the 2025 Outdoor Heritage Festival on June 21 at the Farmington Fairgrounds, and a Recreation Rangers Corps grant from the Sugarloaf Region Charitable Trust. The High Peaks Alliance is a land trust that focuses on public access to nature, recreation, hunting, fishing, and boating, as well as a focus on conservation. It is a non-profit organization comprising local volunteers who enjoy the outdoors.

Restoring Old Growth Forest Characteristics in New England, Apr 3

MAINE ORGANIC FARMERS AND GARDENERS ASSOCIATION • March 3, 2025

Anthony D’Amato, Forestry Program Director at UVM, and Paul Catanzaro, Professor & State Extension Forester at UMass Amherst, discuss maintaining old-growth characteristics within forests. Sponsored by Southern Aroostook Soil & Water Conservation District. April 3, 6 pm, Zoom, free, preregister.

Susan Collins, Angus King and Chellie Pingree call on Trump to avoid trade war with Canada

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 3, 2025

Maine’s congressional delegation is calling on President Trump to avoid a trade war with Canada as he plans to impose 25 percent levies on goods from Canada. Canadian energy products would be subject to a 10% tariff. Canada has vowed to retaliate. In a letter to Commerce Sec. Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer, U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King and U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree called Canada a “trusted friend and ally” with which the U.S. has substantial trade ties. In 2023, in Maine alone, $6 billion in goods traversed the border. Trade with Canada supports 60,000 Maine jobs. About 70% of imports in Maine come from Canada, and 30% of the state’s exports are destined to the north, including $200 million to $400 million of lobster shipped to processors over the border annually. Nearly all of Maine’s heating oil comes from Canada. Irving Oil has sent a notice informing customers their bills would rise to offset tariffs. ISO New England warned that Trump’s tariffs could increase electricity costs for New England between $66 million and $165 million.

Falmouth to audit trash scofflaws in response to pay-as-you-throw bag noncompliance

FORECASTER • March 3, 2025

In the coming months, Falmouth will begin auditing the trash that residents put on the curb for pickup, checking that they are using the mandatory yellow trash bags. Following the switch to an automated waste collection system in 2023, which no longer entails a person checking that the trash is in yellow bags, Falmouth saw a 10% decrease in the purchase of yellow trash bags as compared to the previous year. At the same time, the volume by weight of trash collected in Falmouth increased by 7%, leading some town councilors to believe that more households in Falmouth are putting their trash in the collection bin without using the yellow bags. The discrepancy between the increase in trash and the decrease in yellow trash bag purchases has left a hole in the town’s trash disposal budget. In FY 2024, Falmouth saw a net loss of $186,644 in the program.

Opinion: Let’s keep Portland’s public in public transit

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 3, 2025

I have been a public transit user for decades. My morning commute these days begins on a Casco Bay Lines ferry. I usually catch the No. 8 bus from the parking lot that will take me to the front door of Maine Medical Center. Or, I might take a bus to a class at USM. I might walk up to Congress Street to catch a crosstown bus. The fare is a true bargain. I get to see how the streetscape changes constantly. Inside the bus there are folks heading off to shopping, medical appointments or work. It feels like a small community on wheels. Since Jan. 20, it seems all we have heard about are public servants being summarily dismissed. Private transportation in cars will be prioritized under this new government that seems solely intent on being cruel and indifferent to those among us who can’t afford Teslas. To keep the public in public transit we must remain aware and involved with combating threats to our essential services. ~ Irv Williams, Peaks Island

See all the chemicals in your Maine town’s drinking water

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 3, 2025

Public drinking water across Maine contains 68 contaminants to varying degrees, including forever chemicals, chromium and byproducts of the disinfectants used to clean the water, according to new data from Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit that tracks toxic substances. The collected test data from 385 Maine water utilities provided by the state’s Department of Health and Human Services from 2014 through 2024. Consumers can find out which chemicals and in what concentrations are in their tap water by typing their zip code into the group’s database. “I’m not too happy with it,” said Chuck Harrison, general manager of the Bangor Water District. He said the group’s low contaminant guidelines are stricter than Maine or federal drinking water standards, which the water district meets. Almost 11,000 customers drink tap water from the Bangor Water District.

New rail push for Bangor wins over Republican skeptics

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 3, 2025

Though past efforts have failed, a broader coalition of Democratic and Republican lawmakers from urban and rural areas are backing this year’s proposal to study how to expand passenger rail service from Maine’s biggest city to the home of its flagship university. Gov. Janet Mills and her transportation department continue to air concerns about the cost of creating new train routes while arguing improved bus service is the better option for Maine at the moment. That has left lawmakers behind this year’s measure admitting it could stall out. But less than two years are left in the governor’s term. Having a rail advocate in the Blaine House could sharply change the conversation. This new approach could show a way forward for a long-stalled priority for politicians in the Bangor area and other places along a once-vibrant passenger rail corridor.

Pingree Criticizes Trump Cancellation of Grant for Maine Maritime Program

WGAN radio • March 2, 2025

Maine Congresswoman Chellie Pingree is criticizing the Trump Administration termination of the University of Maine’s $4.5 million grant for its Maine Sea Grant program. Pingree called it a shortsighted and heartless decision and a devastating loss for Maine coastal communities and marine industries. “This program has long been a critical partner in supporting working waterfronts, advancing sustainable commercial and recreational fisheries, and preparing for the impacts of climate change—like those we saw during last winter’s storms, which devastated so many of our communities,” said Pingree. The administration said the work of Maine Sea Grant is no longer relevant.

Maine’s groundfishing industry is in decline. Saving it is complicated.

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • March 2, 2025

According to the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association, there were more than 300 boat operators catching cod, haddock, pollock, halibut and flounder for a living in the early 1990s. In 2024, there were around 30. Once a major economic engine of Maine’s coastal region, the groundfishing industry is disappearing. At grocery stores and markets across Maine, it’s often easier to find cod caught in the Norwegian Sea than in the Gulf of Maine. Fishermen, scientists and advocates chalk the sharp decline up to a tangle of issues: unstable markets, regulatory changes, outdated science, competition with countries like Iceland and Norway and depleting fish stocks.

These 2 bills could change how Mainers hunt

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 2, 2025

Two controversial hunting bills will be considered by the Legislature’s Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee in public hearings on Monday. One would restrict coyote hunting to six months instead of open season year round. How it would affect night hunting is unclear. The other bill would allow youth hunters to hunt on Sundays. Bills have been presented before to  restrict coyote hunting and it is a hot button topic between hunters and nonhunters. There also have been several bills over the years seeking to allow Sunday hunting in general and for only youths. These two bills are the latest attempts to make changes in those laws. The public hearings on these two bills will be held at 1 p.m. Monday, March 3, in Room 206 at the Cross Building in Augusta.

President Trump signs executive order unleashing forest "management "

USA TODAY • March 1, 2025

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Saturday that looks to unleash forest management efforts following this year's devastating Los Angeles wildfires. The order takes steps for quicker federal permitting approvals of forestry projects under the Endangered Species Act so that clearing brush, timber removals and other projects aren't delayed by environmental and other regulatory reviews.

Trump takes actions to increase lumber supplies and curb wood imports

ASSOCIATED PRESS • March 1, 2025

President Donald Trump on Saturday signed a pair of actions to increase domestic lumber production, including a directive for the Commerce Department to investigate the possible harms that lumber imports pose to national security. The U.S. president signed an executive order to increase the possible supplies of timber and lumber. The goal is to streamline the permitting process by salvaging more wood from forests. Trump told reporters on Feb. 19 while aboard Air Force One that he was considering a 25% tariff on lumber imports.

Michel Bernier wins 2025 Can-Am 30

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 1, 2025

Michel Bernier of Saint Anselme, Quebec, took first place in the 2025 Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog 30-mile race with a time of 2:46:28. According to the official results, Stephane Roy took second place with a time of 2:47:45 and Eric Delisle took third place with a time of 2:50:05. The first team over the finish line was Alexander Therriault of Oxford, Maine, who crossed at 12:21:07 pm.

Column: Known as a sign of spring, robins are year-round species

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 1, 2025

Let’s start with the myth that robins are a sign of spring. We definitely see an influx in their numbers during spring migration, but they are a year-round species in Maine and have been for a long time. Robin winters in the state has been known since the time of Audubon. Bird populations and ranges are changing, increasingly so with the changing climate. I have long looked to red-winged blackbirds as a truer sign of spring in Maine, but even they are starting to become more regularly seen in winter. In winter, robins are primarily frugivores and can devour a bush of berries within an afternoon. Soon we’ll be hearing their melodious songs filling the morning air. You can usually pick out a robin because it’ll wake you up even before the sun rises, but at least you know that means longer and warmer days are coming! ~ Maine Audubon Staff Naturalist Doug Hitchcox

Maine Sea Grant in jeopardy after Trump administration terminates $4.5 million grant program

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 1, 2025

The federal government is discontinuing a $4.5 million grant program for Maine Sea Grant, one of the state’s prominent fishery organizations, as one of the first major cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration amid President Donald Trump’s efforts to slash budgets and issue grant restrictions. The move leaves 20 employees and Maine Sea Grant’s programming in limbo. “This notice is devastating for our team and countless partners, the University of Maine and the entire state,” Maine Sea Grant Director Gayle Zydlewski said. Maine Lobstermen’s Association said in a written statement Saturday. “While we appreciate the importance of cutting fraud and waste from government spending, eliminating vital programs like Maine Sea Grant could have a negative impact on both our economy and our environment.”