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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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Opinion: At whim of the wind
Other - Saturday, July 31, 2010
Boston Herald - A hidden cost of wind power is that it requires full backup from conventional power plants for those times when the wind does not blow sufficiently or when it blows too strongly. Wind plants can be successful. However, a publicly-owned wind turbine in Saco, Maine, was built at a cost of $210,000 but generated only around $5,000 worth of power over its two years of operations before being shut down. |
And That's for Shore
Portland Press Herald - Saturday, July 31, 2010
About 200 people began hitting the sand -- and mud -- of Kennebunk Beach about 6 p.m. Friday as part of a cleanup organized by the Kennebunk Beach Improvement Association to mark the group's 100th anniversary. |
Protection of lynx falls short, court says
Associated Press - Saturday, July 31, 2010
A federal judge has ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is arbitrarily excluding "critical habitat" that could be occupied by the elusive Canada lynx, which were listed a decade ago as threatened. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy ruled Wednesday the agency excluded large swaths of habitat from protection when it recommended in 2009 that 39,000 square miles in Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and Washington be designated as critical habitat. |
Letter: The BP, Acadia connection
Bangor Daily News - Friday, July 30, 2010
The U.S. Senate is poised to vote on a bill that would take a major step toward permanently protecting the nearly 1,000 acres of privately-held land inside Acadia National Park as well as other treasured places in Maine. It also would hold BP and other oil companies accountable for oil spills. Sens. Snowe and Collins should support this bill to ensure that future generations can take in the unspoiled beauty from the top of Cadillac Mountain. |
Letter: Watershed management program
Sun Journal - Friday, July 30, 2010
The new 2010 Lake Auburn watershed study details all the nice things we can do for our lake. But the annual costs in the study and current practices misrepresent the truth of the total cost to deliver water quality to the community. |
Opinion: Bad decisions about shorefront property are no longer excusable
Portland Press Herald - Friday, July 30, 2010
Despite countless examples of the risks inherent in owning oceanfront property, many coastal landowners still seem surprised when nature comes to collect. This willful naivete about the real cost of owning coastal property is disappointing, and doesn't bring towns, states or the federal government any closer to finding equitable solutions to the problems driven by permanent development along dynamic shorelines. |
Law firm, fish exchange reach deal
Portland Press Herald - Friday, July 30, 2010
Pierce Atwood and city officials have reached a tentative deal in which the law firm would pay the financially troubled Portland Fish Exchange an undisclosed amount of money if the city-owned auction house agrees to restrict development on two empty lots that abut the law firm's new waterfront headquarters. The restriction would protect the law firm's view of the Fore River and would allow fishermen to continue using the lots to repair their nets. |
Canadian moose evade journalists
Bangor Daily News - Friday, July 30, 2010
Somewhere in the Matane Wildlife Preserve, the moose are laughing. Located about 30 miles from Matane, Quebec, the preserve purports to have one of the healthiest moose populations in the province with 3,000 spread over 500 miles. Rollout was 2:30 a.m. for the pre-pre-dawn departure to arrive at the best pond for moose just as dawn broke. Two hours and no moose. I felt bad for my fellow journalists, only one of whom had ever seen a moose before. As for me, when I got home in Maine there were three hanging out by my pond. |
Forest service: Be on lookout for invasive pest
Bangor Daily News - Friday, July 30, 2010
Last year’s unusually warm winter may have kept heating bills down but did come with a price: the continued northeasterly spread of an invasive pest that could ravage Maine’s hemlock trees, according to forest service officials. Hemlock woolly adelgids have been found since May in Cumberland, Sagadahoc and Lincoln counties. Maine Forest Service entomologist Allison Kanoti said she expects that list to grow as summer interns continue to survey the coastline in Knox County next week. |
Stopping bucket biologists
Bangor Daily News - Friday, July 30, 2010
“[Maine has] 6,000 bodies of water. On any given day, 35 to 40 game wardens are on patrol,” Game Warden Maj. Gregory Sanborn said. “I don’t know how many game wardens you’d have to hire to prevent [illegal] stocking. I don’t think you could get enough.” The solution — if one exists — relies in part on education, in part on cooperation.
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Maine Towns Restrict Lawn Chemicals
Maine Public Broadcasting Network - Friday, July 30, 2010
About two dozen Maine communities have adopted some kind of pesticide limits, including Ogunquit, Brunswick, Castine and Harpswell. |
Opinion: Ants may have an edge when designing efficient systems
Morning Sentinel - Friday, July 30, 2010
The really important political debate today is not between Democrats and Republicans, or between liberals and conservatives. It’s between the architects and the ants. The architects see the state and society as if it were a building, designed and constructed according to a rational blueprint. Each ant sees only what’s right in front of him and performs only a limited task, according to a few, simple rules given him by instinct. But when multitudes of these individually limited individuals work together, somehow a kind of order and even a sort of collective intelligence emerges spontaneously. It is time we started learning from the ants. |
Researchers Hope to Stop Emerald Ash Borer before It Reaches Maine
Other - Friday, July 30, 2010
The emerald ash borer, which is now found in New York and the province of Quebec, is threatening Maine’s ash and thousands of forest-related jobs, including Native American basketmaking. In an effort to research this potentially devastating new invasive species and minimize its impact, basketmakers, tribal members, state and federal agencies, and University of Maine researchers have joined forces. |
New report eyes beach water quality
Times Record - Friday, July 30, 2010
According to a report released Wednesday by the Natural Resources Defense Council, Popham Beach ranks in the middle of the pack in terms of bacteria levels at Maine beaches. See related chart at the bottom of this article. The waters at Reid State Park, the report claims, are among the cleanest in the state. |
Letter: Giving away the water
Sun Journal - Friday, July 30, 2010
With all due respect to Nestle Corporation, I have to ask my fellow Mainers: Why are we giving our water away free to this multinational company? |
Editorial: It’s prime time to clear the Saco skyline
Journal Tribune - Friday, July 30, 2010
Taxpayers are now taking the brunt of the City of Saco’s decision to “go green,” as one of the city’s wind turbines stands idle in wait of repairs. Luckily, James Heath, former CEO of Entegrity Wind Systems, has expressed interest in buying the turbine back for the sum of $135,000. We say the city should take the money and run. |
Obama: Maine visit a rose in a month of thorns
Bangor Daily News - Thursday, July 29, 2010
In an interview on ABC's "The View," President Barack Obama talks about the hardships of the presidency — such as the BP oil spill and the H1N1 flu scare — and the roses among the thorns — such as his recent visit to Maine. "In the last month the rose has to be a couple of days we took in Maine with Michelle, Sasha and Malia," he said. The Obamas spent a weekend in Maine exploring Acadia National Park and sampling the dining on Mount Desert Island. |
Proposed Underwater Powerline Would Stretch from Searsport to Boston
Maine Public Broadcasting Network - Thursday, July 29, 2010
As Congress struggles to craft some form of energy bill, the developer of a proposed underwater transmission line from Searsport to Boston is pressing the need for the New England Region to tap the full wind power potential of Northern Maine. The so-called Greenline project would include the installation of a 140 mile undersea cable carrying electricity from Maine to high demand markets to the south. |
Accuracy a Casualty as Job Arguments Dominate Energy Debate on Hill
New York Times - Thursday, July 29, 2010
As the Senate rushes toward a vote on oil spill legislation, those seeking changes in the bill are loading their arguments with a potent political word: jobs. The oil and natural gas industry warns that aggressive regulation of oil drilling could kill jobs. Democrats, renewable energy sectors and environmental groups promote the potential for "green job" creation as one of the reasons passage of climate legislation is crucial. But economists warn that the jobs arguments is flawed. |
Leaders seek to 'make Maine work'
Kennebec Journal - Thursday, July 29, 2010
“Making Maine Work," a new report from the Maine Development Foundation and the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, recommends promoting a terminal for importing liquefied natural gas in Washington County, negotiating contracts with Canadian electricity suppliers and developing a new portfolio of energy sources, from biofuels to wind and tidal power. |
Letter: Pingree's phone meeting just early campaigning
Kennebec Journal - Thursday, July 29, 2010
Ring, ring. It's a Chellie Pingree Congressional Town Meeting, by phone! Early campaigning with the taxpayer picking up Pingree's bill. One question was from a young Portland woman: You're such a wonderful leader on green issues, how can we bring green jobs to Maine? And how do we move that wonderful climate-change legislation (Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade) you passed forward in the Senate? |
Letter: State policies on water
Portland Press Herald - Thursday, July 29, 2010
The state geologist has indicated that the clean drinkable water extracted from Maine by an international company (parent of Poland Spring) is negligible. If that's the case, why was there a $10 million bond referendum in May that would come out of Maine taxpayers' pockets for the purpose of cleaning Maine waters for Mainers' use? What's wrong with this picture? |
Back Cove trail link on state's back burner
Portland Press Herald - Thursday, July 29, 2010
It most likely will be 2012 before a pathway can be built allowing pedestrians to reach the Back Cove trail from the intersection of Franklin Street and Marginal Way. But the trail link that Bayside residents have been clamoring for may not happen. |
Obama says Maine was highlight of past month
Portland Press Herald - Thursday, July 29, 2010
President Barack Obama says his family vacation at Acadia National Park in Maine was "the rose" in his life among the "thorns" of his presidency during the past month. |
Energy, taxes, health care lead list of keys for future
Portland Press Herald - Thursday, July 29, 2010
Laurie Lachance, CEO of the Maine Development Foundation, and Dana Connors, president of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, presented "Making Maine Work" on Wednesday to state officials and business leaders in Augusta. The report outlines the Maine business community's priorities for the state's next governor and Legislature based on surveys of about 1,100 Maine businesses. Businesses believe health care and energy costs, high taxes and transportation issues are stifling economic development. |
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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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