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February 6, 2012
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Press releases, events, publications released, etc. from Maine environmental organizations and agencies. Submit content.
Maine Environmental News
Announcement - Sunday, February 05, 2012
Thanks for visiting Maine Environmental News, the most comprehensive online source available for links to Maine conservation and natural resource news stories and events. Since the start of 2009, I have posted more than 16,000 news articles and announcements. Be sure to check not only today's stories, but take a look at the headlines from the past several days as well. Articles often come to my attention a few days after they are published. ~ Jym St. Pierre, RESTORE: The North Woods |
Defining Wilderness: Defining Maine
Event - Posted - Sunday, February 05, 2012
This book discussion series is offered by the Maine Humanities Council. The discussions will be held at the Cary Memorial Library in Wayne on four Mondays: Feb 13, Mar 19, Apr 23, May 14. Discussion leader: Carol Kontos, English professor at UMA. |
Windfall
Announcement - Sunday, February 05, 2012
We can all agree that energy independence is a worthy objective, right? Alternative energy sources like solar power can help free the U.S. from fossil fuels and the grip of unstable Persian Gulf states. And wind power — wait, not so fast, says “Windfall,” Laura Israel’s urgent, informative and artfully assembled documentary. An account of rural Meredith, in upstate New York, when wind turbines came to town, the film depicts the perils of a booming industry and the bitter rancor it sowed among a citizenry. ~ Andy Webster, New York Times |
Intro to Winter Camping, Feb 10-12
Event - Posted - Friday, February 03, 2012
Introduction to Winter Camping with David Butler. This course will provide information about the skills to maximize your winter camping experience. At Hidden Valley Nature Center, Jefferson, Feb 10-12. |
Tracking with a naturalist, Feb 10
Event - Posted - Friday, February 03, 2012
Join naturalist Nancy Holmes to learn how to identify the animal tracks you will (hopefully) see in the snow this winter. At Damariscotta Lake Watershed Association office, Jefferson, Feb 10, 3:30 pm. |
Dirty Tar Sands Oil Coming Through Maine? Feb 9
Event - Posted - Thursday, February 02, 2012
Learn about the environmental and safety risks of this proposed project and about ways you can join the effort to prevent Portland from becoming the tar sands capital of the eastern U.S. The Canadian oil and gas giant Enbridge is proposing to pump dirty tar sands oil from Ontario to South Portland, where it would be shipped by tanker to refineries along the East Coast or Gulf of Mexico. The pipeline passes next to Sebago Lake, the drinking water supply for more than 15% of Maine people, and could endanger Casco Bay and our fishing and lobster industries. At USM, Glickman Library, Portland, Feb 9, 7-8:30 pm |
The Wildness Within: Remembering David Brower
Publication - Wednesday, February 01, 2012
The twentieth-century environmental movement owes much to a single man: David Brower. For the hundredth anniversary of David Brower’s birth, his son Kenneth Brower, an acclaimed nature writer, has brought together the testimonies of twenty environmental leaders whose lives and careers were transformed by David Brower; the result is a book in which a repertory company of path-forgers reveal their deepest values and most moving experiences. Available May 2012 from Heyday. |
Reducing coastal erosion, Feb 8
Event - Posted - Wednesday, February 01, 2012
Megan Facciolo, district manager of the Hancock County Soil and Water Conservation District, will talk about reducing coastal erosion. At Lamoine Town Hall, Feb 8, 7 pm. Sponsored by Lamoine Conservation Commission. |
Managing Your Timber Harvest, Feb 8
Event - Posted - Wednesday, February 01, 2012
Maine Forest Service District Forester Morten Moesswilde will talk about harvest planning, working with professional foresters and loggers, different harvest methods, wood values, closing out the job, and other aspects of harvesting. At Damariscotta Lake Watershed Association office, Jefferson, Feb 8, 6-8 pm. |
Birds, Bats & Blades-Wind Turbines & Wildlife, Feb 7
Event - Posted - Wednesday, February 01, 2012
Steve Pelletier, Wildlife Ecologist, Stantec, speaks about bats and wind power. At Curtis Memorial Library, Brunswick, Nov 7, 7 pm. Sponsored by Friends of Merrymeeting Bay. |
Winter Extremes: Oh, Deer, Feb 7
Event - Posted - Wednesday, February 01, 2012
Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife Regional Biologist Keel Kemper will discuss current wildlife issues, including the effects of severe winters on Maine's deer herd. At Sheepscot Valley Conservation Association office in Sheepscot Village, Newcastle, Feb 7, 6:30 pm. |
Great blue heron flies into Merryspring, Feb 7
Event - Posted - Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Danielle D’Auria, Maine wildlife biologist, will give a presentation on the Great Blue Heron at Merryspring Nature Center, Camden, Feb 7 at noon. |
Smelt/Ice Festival, Feb 3-4
Event - Posted - Saturday, January 28, 2012
Ice Cutting-Smelt Fishing Festival. At Mailly Waterfront Park, Bowdoinham, Feb 3-4. Part of a yearlong celebration of the 250th Anniversary of the Town of Bowdoinham. |
Family Winter Ecology Festival, Feb 4
Event - Posted - Saturday, January 28, 2012
This year’s Family Winter Ecology Festival will offer a variety of free indoor and outdoor activities for the entire family. At Merryspring Nature Center, Camden, Feb 4, 10 am to 12:30 pm. |
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Editorial: Conflicted Secretary
Bangor Daily News - Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Maine's Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap also finds time to serve on the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine board of directors. Mr. Dunlap may have strong feelings about SAM's mission, and he may be diligent in his job as secretary of state, but he exercises poor judgment by mixing the two. |
Veterans group urges energy reforms
Bangor Daily News - Wednesday, March 31, 2010
The push for comprehensive energy policy reform that would reduce the United States’ dependence on foreign oil is hardly a new concept. But people need to hear that message from more than just environmentalists. Eckstein, an Army veteran who represents a group called Operation Free, said Tuesday at UMaine in Orono that military “people might be willing to listen to veterans about this issue. This isn’t some left-wing radical idea.” |
Acadia to hold session on marine protected areas
Bangor Daily News - Wednesday, March 31, 2010
A public information session about federally recognized marine protected areas, and what it might mean for Acadia National Park, has been scheduled for April 13 at 7 p.m. at Ellsworth Middle School. |
Letter: The dirty sock strategy
Bangor Daily News - Wednesday, March 31, 2010
If there weren’t so much at stake in the Mallinckrodt-HoltraChem story, their whining and deep investment in PR puffery — to convince us rubes that the plan to do a partial cleanup ought to be good enough for Orrington — and threats of endless appeals would be amusing. What really needs to happen is for this company, which owns this mess, to act like an adult, stop pouting about it and clean it all up now. |
R.I. regulators reject plan to sell wind power
Associated Press - Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Rhode Island regulators Tuesday dealt a major setback to a proposed offshore wind farm, rejecting an agreement between Deepwater Wind to sell power from eight turbines proposed off Block Island. Gov. Don Carcieri, who has said the wind farm and power-purchase agreement would create jobs and benefit the environment, said he was "stunned" and disappointed. The Block Island plan was to have been a demonstration for what Deepwater Wind hoped would eventually be a larger offshore project involving about 100 turbines. |
Montville voters OK ordinance for wind energy
Bangor Daily News - Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Residents voted at Saturday’s annual town meeting to join some of their Waldo and Penobscot county neighbors in adopting a strict wind energy ordinance that would require mile-wide setbacks between wind turbine towers and homes. |
Eddington to consider wind moratorium
Bangor Daily News - Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Residents at tonight’s annual town meeting will vote on whether to enact a six-month moratorium on commercial and residential wind energy facilities to give planners the time they need to craft an ordinance that fits the town. |
Opinion: Coyotes not subject to ‘wanton waste’ rules
Bangor Daily News - Tuesday, March 30, 2010
When the governor signed a bill that jump-started the state’s open-water fishing season on Thursday, he also enacted a number of other provisions in the so-called “omnibus” legislation. The state will now allow bear hunters to utilize six, instead of four, dogs while pursuing bruins in Maine. Wasting game is still not allowed, but the new law adds the phrase “this subsection does not apply to coyote.” The new law also allows the placing of a carcass on any lake, pond or river that is used for domestic drinking purposes, as long as the carcass is used for bait by those hunting coyotes, and as long as the carcass is removed before the ice melts and the carcass falls into the water. |
First Wind set to test the waters with IPO
Portland Press Herald - Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Maine's most prominent wind energy developer is attempting to go public and issue stock, aiming to fund aggressive growth plans. Boston-based First Wind Holdings LLC is preparing an initial public offering, in which it hopes to list common stock on the Nasdaq market under the symbol WIND. The outcome of First Wind's effort could affect Maine's energy future and the public debate over how many wind turbines to erect and where to put them. |
Letter: Letter writer was right about Maine woods park
Portland Press Herald - Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Besides protecting a magnificent landscape, a North Woods park would help Maine's economy. Who doesn't respect Percival Baxter for his generous gift to Maine of Mount Katahdin and its immediate environs? Now it's our turn to create what could be the Yellowstone of the Northeast |
Letters: No wind power near Bigelow, please
Portland Press Herald - Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Thirty-five years ago this spring, Mainers exhibited the incredible foresight in creating the Bigelow Preserve. Right now, the issue is about opposing one wind project that has been proposed for a site where it should not be placed....I understand Angus King's desire to see wind power developed in Maine, but if this development harms Highland in ways that can't be repaired, it's not First Wind who will lose. |
Opinion: Next Year, Everyone Will Need a License to Fish in Maine
George Smith Maine Nature Blog - Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Thanks to an intensive month-long lobbying effort by the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine aided by a few key legislators, freshwater anglers will not have to purchase a new, separate saltwater fishing license. |
Maine conservation chief to be sworn in
Associated Press - Monday, March 29, 2010
The commissioner of the agency that oversees state parks, public lands and wildlands development in Maine will be sworn into office today. Elizabeth Townsend has been serving as acting commissioner since January. Before joining the Conservation Department, Townsend was executive director of the Maine League of Conservation Voters and the Maine Conservation Voters Education Fund. She also served previously a state representative. |
Baldacci signs saltwater license bill
Associated Press - Monday, March 29, 2010
Gov. John Baldacci has signed into law a bill creating a saltwater recreational fishing registry, ending a four-year debate over the issue. The law, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2011, meets a federal mandate for states to set up their own registries this year or face having a federal registry with fees next year.
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House OKs concealed guns in Acadia
Associated Press - Monday, March 29, 2010
A bill restricting guns at Acadia National Park moved a step closer to final passage Monday as the House routinely approved a measure that changes the previous no-gun policy by allowing a few exceptions — including an exception for concealed weapons. |
Letter: Big wind encroaching
Bangor Daily News - Monday, March 29, 2010
No one is asking the majority of residents living in the unincorporated townships of Maine how they feel about having the tops of their mountains covered with huge wind turbines and flashing red lights. When they complain about the noise, no one cares. When they complain about the flicker effect, they are told to stop whining. What about the effects on wildlife near these wind farms? |
Editorial: Ground Condor Expansion
Bangor Daily News - Monday, March 29, 2010
More information is needed before a decision is made on expanding a military flight training area in western Maine. The state’s major concerns include the impact of noise levels from civilian plane traffic on wildlife habitat in the area. Allowing the public to share its concerns is a help. Better would be for the Air National Guard to show that it truly considered alternatives and that the negative consequences for Maine truly are necessary for military readiness. Until that happens, this proposal should be put on hold. |
Can fishermen tap into tourism?
Bar Harbor Times - Sunday, March 28, 2010
Clive Farrin of Boothbay Harbor is a lobster fisherman who, three years ago, started taking one or two paying passengers at a time when he went out to haul traps. Farrin shared his experience at a session on how fishermen can tap into the tourism dollar, hosted by Maine Sea Grant at the Maine Fishermen’s Forum in Rockport. Farrin said it didn’t take long for him and his sternman to realize that they had a good thing going. |
Peregrine falcons nesting at Acadia National Park
Bar Harbor Times - Sunday, March 28, 2010
Acadia National Park staff have observed the adults engaging in courtship and pre-nesting behavior, signaling the birds' intentions to nest and raise chicks into and beyond the middle of the summer. Peregrine falcons are identified as a state endangered species and with the fledging of more than 90 chicks over the last 19 years, Mount Desert Island's falcon pairs have become the foundation of Maine's peregrine falcon recovery program. |
Thrills, chills, spills galore at St. George River Race
Herald Gazette - Sunday, March 28, 2010
With temperatures in the 30s and ice on the tree branches near the side of water, the scenario was set Saturday for plenty of thrills, chills and spills during the 31st annual St. George River Race. And the popular event did not disappoint. The event, which starts in Searsmont and finishes in Appleton, is the start of the whitewater paddling season. |
Surf’s up, dude
Capital Weekly - Sunday, March 28, 2010
Surfers at Reid State Park have their own culture. They share a skill, a passion, and a unique language in which the word “dude” can be applied as a noun, verb, exclamation, greeting, or simply allowed to stand alone as a complete sentence. They also make quite a splash with our park visitors. Whether you call them thrill-seekers or “crazy fools,” the show that these adrenaline junkies put on is absolutely riveting. |
Tidal energy center gets approval to begin in-stream testing
Capital Weekly - Sunday, March 28, 2010
The Tidal Energy Demonstration and Evaluation Center based at Maine Maritime Academy received a special order of clarification from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to be established as the only in-stream tidal energy device testing facility in the United States. |
AMC Maine Woods: Scenic skiing, comfy lodges
Maine Outdoor Journal - Sunday, March 28, 2010
The Appalachian Mountain Club is refurbishing the cabins at Chairback Lodge, renovating the lodge, and making a variety of other improvements in order to open the place to the public by early next winter. The lodge will be the 4th link in the fabulous AMC lodge to lodge ski route route, along with Medawisla Lodge, the privately-owned West Branch Pond Camps, and Little Lyford Ponds Lodge. We are on one of the AMCs few scheduled trips here this winter. |
Wind tower ordinance turned down
Morning Sentinel - Sunday, March 28, 2010
The only request voters turned down at Saturday's town meeting in Unity was an article asking them to enact a moratorium ordinance for wind mill towers more than 35 feet in height. Officials wanted an ordinance in place to protect the town until a more permanent ordinance could be developed for next year. But some said the wording of the article could be better crafted and returned to voters for approval at a special meeting. |
Wind-farm pioneer ties family farms to Wall Street
Portland Press Herald - Sunday, March 28, 2010
Worlds away from Wall Street, Dan Juhl runs Juhl Wind – one of a few publicly traded companies helping communities and farmers develop their own wind projects. |
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Natural Resources Council
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Do I Dare to Plant a Peach? | | It's a sign that Maine and the nation are getting hotter, according to a new analysis by the U.S. De... | | 1/30/2012 12:00:00 AM |
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Maine Organic Farmers and
Gardeners Association
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The myth of the self-made yeoman |  By Gene Logsdon – No figure is more endearing and enduring in agriculture than the lonely plowman out there on the horizon who raises himself by his own bootstraps to financial success. Only problem is, there is no occupation more dependent on the cooperation of society and nature to achieve success than farming. | | 11/2/2011 12:00:00 AM |
Sharp, careful eye brings Maine mushrooms from forest to table |  By Avery Yale Kamila – On a crisp morning at the end of October, chef David Ross and I step off a dirt road in Kennebunk and head into a forest dominated by pines and smaller hardwood. Our objective: To track down a few chanterelles and any other wild mushrooms we can find this late in the season. This trip will mark one of the last of the year for Ross, who is an avid mushroom forager and the owner of 50 Local in Kennebunk. | | 11/2/2011 12:00:00 AM |
New climate prediction: ‘Weird’, getting weirder |  By Seth Borenstein (AP) – For a world already weary of weather catastrophes, the latest warning from top climate scientists paints a grim future: more floods, more heat waves, more droughts, and greater costs to deal with them. A draft summary of an international scientific report obtained by The Associated Press says the extremes caused by global warming could eventually grow so severe that some locations become “increasingly marginal as places to live.” | | 11/2/2011 12:00:00 AM |
What to feed your chickens to get the best eggs |  By Nina Lalli – "I have a theory, and I don't think you're gonna like it." Justin was seated across from me at a communal table in a "Secret Restaurant." We had met not half an hour before, but were now deep in discussion about what chickens should eat to produce the best-tasting eggs – an obsession of mine recently. | | 11/1/2011 12:00:00 AM |
Factory farming: not just on land anymore |  By Wenonah Hauter – When most people think of factory farming they typically think of feedlots, hog factories or chicken operations–not massive open net pens growing millions of fish in our oceans. However, factory fish farming will soon pose many of the same threats to the environment and to consumers as its land-based counterparts. | | 11/1/2011 12:00:00 AM |
Bt resistant rootworm spreads | | By Dr Eva Sirinathsinghji – Bt is a toxin from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, which produces a large family of similar proteins that target different insect pests; and quite a few of them have been incorporated in genetically modified crops to act as ‘biopesticides’. Unfortunately, the pests soon develop resistance to it. | | 10/31/2011 12:00:00 AM |
Cranberry juice beats extract at fighting infection |  By Christine Lepisto – Just between you and me, ladies, what do you do when you feel that irritating burn, knowing it can only mean a urinary tract infection? Do you run to the doctor's office for antibiotics, only to fight the yeast infection that sets in when drugs knock other systems out of balance? Then you probably haven't heard yet that cranberries can fight infections naturally, and very effectively. | | 10/30/2011 12:00:00 AM |
‘Hobby farm’ couple do part, feed hungry |  By Bill Nemitz – It's not uncommon for someone to show up at the Bread of Life Soup Kitchen in Augusta with a bag full of fresh broccoli, tomatoes or other leftovers from their garden. In recent months, however, Glenn and Rachel Powers have taken that kind of community support to a whole new level. They're giving away the farm. | | 10/30/2011 12:00:00 AM |
New England shrimp target cut in half | | AP – Portland: Fisheries regulators have set the start date for the shrimp season and halved the target for the amount of shrimp to be caught by New England fishermen. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission on Friday set a target of 2,000 metric tons, compared with 4,000 metric tons the year before. | | 10/29/2011 12:00:00 AM |
The life of a seaweed gatherer |  By Daniel Klein – Most of the seaweed we get these days is farmed. But way up in northern Maine, Larch Hanson is still harvesting it wild in its many varieties on the rugged coast. This video isn't about the details of that process, however. It's about the essence of life for Larch, who rises at dawn to cut seaweed and then writes Zen poems about it. | | 10/28/2011 12:00:00 AM |
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