Maine Environmental News

News Items

Meg Gray links library patrons to ‘serendipitous discovery’ of seed-sharing program
Maine Sunday Telegram - Sunday, April 1, 2018
Meg Gray is in charge of the science and technology desk at the Portland Public Library. We called her to learn more about the fledging seed saving/sharing program she’s running at the library and ended up learning about many other things (this often happens while talking to librarians), including a new backpack program for adults designed to give library patrons a leg up on stargazing, birding and hiking.

Fishermen flock to Maine to cross Arctic char off their bucket list
Maine Sunday Telegram - Sunday, April 1, 2018
Maine is the only state in the continental U.S. that has Arctic char, or blueback trout. It’s found in only 14 waters in the state. In recent years, word has spread. More fishermen who have had the wild fish on their bucket list have traveled here, said Frank Frost, the state’s fisheries biologist in northern Maine and its species expert.

‘Opening day’ remains a ritual, regardless of Easter – or the weather
Maine Sunday Telegram - Sunday, April 1, 2018
Because of new fishing laws in 2010, there no longer is a legal start to the open-water season – and fishermen can fish many waters year-round. Still, to many Maine fishermen April 1 remains the symbolic start of the open-water season, and they go out to fish regardless of the weather.

Letter: Outside investigation needed for power bills
Morning Sentinel - Sunday, April 1, 2018
Our power was partly sold out to Florida Light, then to Spain. Contracts were executed to guarantee corporate profits. It’s believed legislators and the PUC are “bedfellows” with the power company. It seems CMP and the PUC and legislators are the source of the problem, and none of them intend to be part of the solution. ~ Essie Golden, Bingham

Column: Arctic charr restored to Reed Pond
Sun Journal - Saturday, March 31, 2018
The American Fisheries Society recently presented the fisheries division of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife with a national award for cutting edge work in the restoration of the native Arctic charr to Big Reed Pond in Piscataquis County. ~ V. Paul Reynolds

Letter: Animal lives matter
Bangor Daily News - Saturday, March 31, 2018
As innocent American citizens continue to be murdered by disturbed men armed with military-style assault rifles and high-capacity magazines, three organized groups can be counted on to resist life-saving, common-sense gun control: the National Rifle Association, Safari Club and the so-called sportsmen’s clubs. There is a documented link between the abuse and killing of defenseless animals, among many mass murderers, that often precedes the killing of people. The continued, state-sanctioned sport killing of native wildlife sends a message to disturbed people that taking innocent life is acceptable behavior when it should not be any longer. All lives matter. ~ Robert Goldman, Portland

Letter: Cote’s environmental concern refreshing
Portland Press Herald - Saturday, March 31, 2018
Being in my 80s, and having served in many environmental and conservation positions – including as executive director of the Maine Audubon Society, commissioner of the Maine Department of Conservation, chair of the board of the Gulf of Maine Aquarium, member of the Maine Board of Environmental Protection and several others – I am writing today to endorse Adam Cote for our next governor. ~ Dick Anderson, Portland

Letter: Changes having negative impact on North Maine Woods
Fiddlehead Focus (St. John Valley, Aroostook County) - Saturday, March 31, 2018
Ah, the days of going deer hunting in the North Maine Woods. Heading out to Allagash, seeing all the deer hanging at the sporting camps was quite the sight. Things have changed in the last 5 years. The clearcutting and spraying of our natural forests doesn’t provide the shelter and food for our deer and other animals. How did it get to be like this? I blame our politicians, period. Thank God I can bring my grandchildren to Baxter State Park, Debouille Public Reserved Land, the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, and Acadia National Park. We are so lucky to have these parks. ~ Pat Labbe, Fort Kent

Provincial Pumas in the Northeast Urban/Wildlands Interface
Other - Friday, March 30, 2018
ecoRI News - The mountain lion is the most widespread of any large terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. European settlers eliminated them from most of their former territory in the East centuries ago. But in some parts of Canada they survived. Their descendants, found in New Brunswick and Quebec today, may be secretive but they aren’t ghosts, cases of mistaken identity or figments of our imaginations. Cougars are highly efficient predators that are well adapted to life in the densely settled Northeast. This is especially true along Maine’s mid-coast region, where most of the state’s citizens live. It’s also where most of the state’s whitetails are concentrated. That’s one reason why the Atlantic Coast is perfect habitat for cougars.

Mainers Brace For Trump's Expected Rollback Of Auto Emissions, Efficiency Standards
Maine Public - Friday, March 30, 2018
The Trump administration is expected to announce next week that it will relax greenhouse gas emissions and fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks that were last approved more than five years ago. Auto manufacturers are welcoming the move as a way to keep prices more affordable. Environmentalists, however, say the move will undo years of progress making cleaner cars and will result in more pollution, especially in a state like Maine. “I think this issue is going to get bogged down in the courts for a long time,” says Adam Lee, the chairman of the Lee Auto Group, one of the biggest car dealers in the state. Lee is an anomaly in the world of auto sales, a dealer who has long supported clean emissions and fuel economy standards because he thinks they’re better for the environment and for consumers, who save more money at the gas pump.

Emmy-winning Wildlife Conservationist and TV host Jeff Corwin to Deliver Unity College Commencement
Bangor Daily News - Friday, March 30, 2018
Internationally renowned wildlife conservationist and television personality Jeff Corwin, who has inspired a generation of the conservation-minded by sharing stories about the wild on shows including “Ocean Mysteries with Jeff Corwin” and CNN’s “Planet in Peril” with Anderson Cooper, will speak at Unity College’s 2018 commencement.

Wildlife Encounters
Maine Public - Friday, March 30, 2018
Guests: Maynard Stanley Jr., Critter Catcher wildlife control; Josh Sparks, Sparks’ Ark Animal Services; and Bob Cordes, Department of Inland Fisheries biologist.

Brewers' 'silent partner': Portland Water District honored for protecting Sebago watershed
Mainebiz - Friday, March 30, 2018
Maine Coast Heritage Trust, a statewide land conservation organization, named Portland Water District as the 2018 recipient of its annual Espy Land Heritage Award. "Portland Water District is tasked with providing clean water for 200,000 people in 11 Greater Portland communities and their goal was to do it without the use of expensive chemical filtration systems,"said MCHT President Tim Glidden, who presented the award to the district on March 22 at the 35th annual Maine Land Conservation Conference in Rockport. "To achieve their goals, they collaborated with local land trusts and towns within the watershed to secure local forestland and provide natural buffers to protect water sources."

Column: Project FeederWatch can turn you into a scientist
Bangor Daily News - Friday, March 30, 2018
Project FeederWatch is a citizen science survey where average citizens simply look at the bird feeder and occasionally count what they’re seeing. The survey happens in winter, when large flocks of birds are meandering all over the continent. The birds have to be somewhere. If they’re not at your house, they’re at somebody else’s, perhaps several states away. The Cornell Lab or Ornithology started Project FeederWatch as an easy way to track movements and trends. Based on thousands of reports from households all over the country, they can get a sense of where these winter wanderers are going. They can also detect if populations are growing or declining. ~ Bob Duchesne

Susan Gallo wins much deserved award
George Smith BDN Outdoor News Blog - Friday, March 30, 2018
Susan Gallo has been doing great things at Maine Audubon for Maine’s wildlife since 1998, so it was nice that her work was recognized this year with Source’s Conservation award from the Maine Sunday Telegram.

New 3D models of Baxter State Park to give visitors a new perspective
Bangor Daily News - Friday, March 30, 2018
This spring, new 3D terrain models of Baxter State Park will be installed throughout the park at visitor centers, campgrounds and ranger stations for the public to use while planning their backcountry adventures. Donated by Friends of Baxter State Park, these state-of-the-art displays were produced by Solid Terrain Modeling, the same company that makes terrain models for the National Geographic Explorers Hall and Smithsonian Institution. The donation consists of 10 models, which cost $65,000, making it the largest single donation Friends of Baxter State Park has ever made to the park.

Blog: Camp Directors Gather to Consider Diversity and Inclusion
Bangor Daily News - Thursday, February 15, 2018
When close to 80 Maine camp directors gathered Tuesday in Portland to discuss diversity and inclusion, they were challenged to consider the impact of differences and division, and to seek to “create balance in an unbalanced world.” ~ Kristine Snow Millard

Man gets prison time for illegally harvesting Virginia eels
Associated Press - Monday, November 6, 2017
A New York seafood dealer has been sentenced to 1 ½ years behind bars for illegally trafficking more than $150,000 worth of baby eels from Virginia. Tommy Zhou was sentenced Friday in a federal Virginia court after he pleaded guilty in April. Prosecutors say Zhou obtained a Maine elver dealer license in 2013 and then used it to cover his illegal operation.

Offshore Wind Farms See Promise in Platforms That Float
New York Times - Thursday, September 29, 2016
The University of Maine is undertaking an elaborate physics experiment meant to simulate conditions that full-scale floating wind turbines could face at an installation being planned about 10 miles off the Maine coast in up to 360 feet of water near tiny Monhegan Island. For nearly 18 months in 2013 and 2014, an operating version of the apparatus — one-eighth of scale — sat in the waters off Castine sending electricity to the grid. That proved the technology fundamentally worked and guided refinements to the design. Now, the UMaine team is using the data collected at the lab to confirm the final form, a crucial next step in bringing the technology to market.

Blog: Singing is an act of territorialism for birds
Bangor Daily News - Thursday, April 7, 2016
Birds don’t think about much, mostly just food and sex. Despite the simplicity of such a life, bird communication can be quite complex. Birds are renowned for their vocal abilities, but they use lots of visual cues, too. Perhaps nothing is more obvious than the crests sported by many species. ~ Bob Duchesne

Marco Rubio Finds Common Ground With Armed Militia In Oregon
Climate Progress - Thursday, January 7, 2016
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R) doesn’t like that militants are currently occupying a federal wildlife facility in Oregon. But he does like the militia’s main idea: Seizing and selling off America’s public lands. Rubio explained his position on the controversial occupation at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, now entering its fifth day. Rubio said that while he doesn’t support “lawless” activity, he does agree with the militia on its main point that federal public lands should be transferred to private ownership for activities like logging, coal mining, oil drilling, and farming. Rubio’s plan would essentially cause a free-for-all, where states can devastate national forests, parks, and other important wildlife and plantlife zones for temporary economic gain.

Editorial: Conflict over land preservation confirms where the public stands
Portland Press Herald - Wednesday, December 16, 2015
If Gov. Paul LePage’s yearslong barricade of Land for Maine’s Future has proven anything, it’s how popular the conservation program is among a broad cross-section of the state. When the governor held hostage the voter-approved bonds that fund the program, residents from across the political divide responded with one voice, united in their support for an initiative that has protected more than 550,000 acres for a variety of economic and recreational uses. That response should make it clear that the focus should be on strengthening and tightening the program, not obstructing or trying to dismantle it, as LePage has done for most of his time in office. The governor, not corruption or mismanagement, is the program’s true problem.

Opinion: This is Bar Harbor’s chance to become a solar success and example
Bangor Daily News - Tuesday, May 19, 2015
On June 2, Bar Harbor voters have an exciting opportunity to take a step toward putting the brakes on climate change. Article T on the town meeting agenda authorizes leasing town land and roofs as part of Community Solar Farms and Power Purchase Agreements for the purpose of providing power to the municipality. The change starts here and now. With our prominence as a popular tourist destination, Bar Harbor has an outsize influence on the rest of the state and the nation. By voting for this article we are saying that we care, that we can make a collective difference. ~ Gary Friedmann, Bar Harbor Town Council

Opinion: A new set of bold predictions
Maine Sunday Telegram - Sunday, January 4, 2015
In 2015, LePage will reduce the size of state government by 5 percent, he will succeed in further reducing municipal revenue sharing and he will change state law to permit municipalities to tax nonprofits. The Legislature will pass major welfare reform and reduce energy costs by welcoming in more natural gas and hydro. ~ Phil Harriman

Letter: Give deer the food they need and they will flourish
Kennebec Journal - Monday, April 28, 2014
I read with interest the April 13 article about whitetail deer, “In northern Maine, deer herd shrinks despite efforts to rebuild it.” Anyone can look at Google satellite maps and know that very little of the Maine woods is untouched. The deer are being squeezed out of their natural habitat searching for food. They are vulnerable to predators and starvation because of the condition of the forest. The state cannot save the deer herd by pumping money into various programs. We just need to let some of the forest grow back, and the animals will survive on their own. ~ Betsy Laney, West Gardiner

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