Large numbers of winter ticks expected to impact moose population this winter

MAINE PUBLIC • December 9, 2024

Although last year saw low numbers of winter ticks on Maine's moose population, the state's moose biologist is expecting much higher numbers for the coming winter season. Lee Kantar said that's because the moose population has risen this year, and with more moose come more ticks. Trying to control the winter ticks is a challenge when there are so many variables biologists can't control. "We can put management practices into place like try to reduce the moose population, but at the same time, we had so much survival this past spring, of overwintering calves and probably better reproduction, that the moose population comes right back up," Kantar said.

Skowhegan’s Maine Grains eyes expansion with grants totaling $700,000

MORNING SENTINEL • December 9, 2024

Maine Grains has secured hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants this year to support its purchase of a new equipment line that the company says will build its production capacity and reuse byproducts. The grain manufacturer, which operates its grist mill at the former county jail on Court Street, has received funding from three grants this year that total $700,000, the company said Monday. All three sources of funding are expected to be used toward the purchase of a German-made “specialized cereal extrusion equipment line,” which will be housed in a new, adjacent 80,000-square-foot building.

Lyme cases set another record as ticks spread across Maine

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • December 9, 2024

Lyme disease cases again set a new record in Maine this year, as the tick-borne illness continues to spread and intensify, especially in the midcoast and Down East regions. Lyme rates in those regions are three times higher than the statewide average and have roughly tripled over the past decade. The number of Lyme infections statewide stood at 3,035 on Dec. 3. That exceeds the total for 2023, which was the highest year on record with 2,943 cases. More cases will be added to this year’s total.

Success of Maine’s snowmobile industry rides on the weather

KENNEBEC JOURNAL • December 9, 2024

Maine’s snowmobile industry and the businesses that depend on the tourists it brings to the state are bracing for the uncertain snow levels and potentially warmer temperatures brought by climate change. The National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center said Maine’s meteorological winter, which started Dec. 1 and runs until the end of February, will likely come with above-average temperatures and near-normal precipitation levels. But which kind of precipitation falls in those storms – and how much – can have significant impact on the state’s winter tourism industry, which last year attracted nearly 4.4 million visitors who snowmobiled, skied and fished as they spent more than $2 billion. Snowmobiling, which relies on natural snow, is particularly vulnerable.

L.L.Bean to lay off up to 75 Maine workers

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • December 9, 2024

L.L.Bean is laying off between 50 and 75 employees at its corporate headquarters, or about 2% to 3% of its Maine-based staff, the outdoor clothing and equipment retailer said. Spokesman Jason Sulham said the Freeport-based company “continues to evaluate the fluctuating retail landscape and adapt our organizational design to enable long-term growth.”

Seven land trusts receive L.L.Bean grant funding for priority conservation projects

TIMES RECORD • December 9, 2024

The Maine Coast Heritage Trust has announced the distribution of funds through the L.L.Bean Maine Land Trust Grant Program to tackle priority conservation projects for 2025, including:
• Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust, $10,000 to open public access at Hideaway Farm Preserve in Topsham.
• Kennebec Estuary Land Trust, $9,000 to rejuvenate Thorne Head Preserve in Bath.
• Androscoggin Land Trust, $8,000 for a Beyond Adaptive initiative at Camp Dustin.
• Falmouth Land Trust, $9,000 to reroute trails at Blackstrap Community Forest to address climate change impacts.
• Kennebunkport Conservation Trust, $10,000 to build a sensory garden at Kennebunk High School.
• Greater Lovell Land Trust, $10,000 for multi-use trail repairs at Kezar Corridor Lands.

DEP launches next round of well testing in wake of toxic foam spill in Brunswick

TIMES RECORD • December 9, 2024

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection will resume testing this week for toxic “forever chemicals,” as part of an effort to determine whether a disastrous firefighting foam spill at the Brunswick Executive Airport on Aug. 19 contaminated nearby private drinking water wells. This round of testing comes months after the first sample batch in September showed concerning levels of PFAS in many wells, though these results are unlikely a result of the spill, given the slow rate of ground water movement. The sampling from September and this month are just two of the several planned tests in the wake of Maine’s worst toxic chemical spill in 30 years, in which 1,450 gallons of PFAS-containing aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) mixed with 50,000 gallons of water were released. The chemical family of PFAS can be harmful to human health.

More than 125 miles of aging gas lines replaced in southern Maine

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • December 9, 2024

With the removal last month of a final piece of cast iron pipe installed in 1927, a $178 million, 14-year gas distribution replacement project in Portland and Westbrook came to an end. Swapping out 126 miles of cast iron and unprotected steel pipes with high-density plastic pipe and making other upgrades were among Unitil Corp.’s “largest and most aggressive capital improvement initiatives,” said the natural gas utility that owns and maintains the system. Some of the pipes were more than 100 years old. Fewer gas leaks and a drop in methane emissions are among the project’s benefits.

Maine could end a controversial experimental moose hunt

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • December 9, 2024

Maine’s experiment to reduce winter tick populations in the western half of Zone 4 has one year left, but likely won’t be extended beyond that, according to the state’s moose biologist. Winter ticks have in the past killed large numbers of moose calves. The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife decided to try reducing the herd in a small section of the state. But hunters and other moose enthusiasts have been critical of the state’s efforts, saying that bringing the herd down to low levels is dangerous and that the effort isn’t scientific enough.

The new Maine Legislature is finally changing how it operates

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • December 9, 2024

Democrats and Republicans said they are confident in the prospects of changing how the Maine Legislature operates in order to crack down on vague placeholder bills, prolonged meetings. There is support for publicizing legislation and amendments at least 24 hours before a committee meeting and other State House norms that have hindered public participation. Tweaking the ways the Legislature operates in Augusta has proven difficult in an institution ruled by decades of precedent and 11th-hour decisions.

As climate focus shifts to states, East Coast partnership offers multi-state collaboration model

MAINE MORNING STAR • December 8, 2024

A trailblazing regional greenhouse gas partnership on the East Coast is considering possible changes or expansion that would allow it to keep building on its success – and the stakes grew higher last month with the reelection of Donald Trump. The 11-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, established in 2005, is the country’s first regional cap-and-invest system for reducing carbon emissions from power generation. The role of such programs is more crucial as Trump’s pledges to roll back federal climate action leaves it up to cities, states, and the private sector to maintain the country’s momentum on clean energy over the next four years. In RGGI, as the regional initiative is known, states have a potential model for scaling their impact through collaboration.

Biden adds to the nation’s list of national monuments during his term. There’s an appetite for more

ASSOCIATED PRESS • December 8, 2024

All but three presidents have used their authority under the Antiquities Act act to protect unique landscapes and cultural resources. President Joe Biden has created six monuments and either restored, enlarged or modified boundaries for a handful of others. Native American tribes and conservation groups are pressing for more designations before he leaves office, including a homestead in Maine that belonged to the family of Frances Perkins, the nation’s first female cabinet member.

Does technology blur the lines of ethical hunting?

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • December 8, 2024

Ethical hunting is following the laws on the books, but much is left up to personal choices. Do I shoot the doe that has fawns she raised this summer? Do I push legal shooting time on either end of sunrise and sunset as that beautiful buck whizzes past me? Do I use gadgetry to help me find where the deer are or do I look for bedding areas, tracks and other signs of their presence? Do I pass on the younger bucks to let them mature? Other questions hunters face in the woods are about the sophistication of our guns or bows we use, or whether we employ game cameras or scout with drones. I like some hunters’ suggestions of training and licensing recovery drone operators or requiring a warden’s presence when using that equipment to find a dead or wounded animal. That approach doesn’t seem to violate hunting ethics or fair chase. It could be Maine’s future.

To combat an invasive plant, a Peaks Island woman has persuaded her neighbors to adopt endangered trees

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • December 8, 2024

The Asiatic (or oriental) bittersweet vine is highly invasive and a grave threat to native trees, shrubs and entire ecosystems. Thaea Lloyd, a retired landscape architect, lives on Peaks Island, where she is founder, organizer and force of nature behind an unusual adopt-a-tree-in-perpetuity program aimed at saving island trees from this same deadly vine. She launched the program in May with 16 volunteers. Seven months later, she has nearly 115 volunteers with almost 400 trees under their care. She calls the effort “tree-age – urgent care for the trees.”

Editorial: Failure of Lion electric school buses is – at the very least – twofold

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • December 8, 2024

Defective electric school buses provided to eight Maine school districts by Lion Electric, a now cash-strapped Canadian manufacturer, have wreaked havoc throughout the state. It is deeply unfortunate that Maine’s first interaction with the Clean School Bus Program, a rebate initiative managed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has panned out this way. By 2035, the agency wants 75% of all new American public school buses to be electric. What should have been a bold and encouraging step in the right direction, one funded by the federal government to the tune of $5 billion nationally, has stirred disillusionment and doubt in our communities. Not only, then, do we not have safe and dependable fleets of school buses, we have a vexing breach of public faith and trust that will take some recovering from.

Largest White Marlin Satellite Tagging Mission

ALL OUTDOORS • December 6, 2024

The Billfish Foundation (TBF) has announced the 2024 launch of its latest conservation initiative, The Skillie Project. A new project with the goal of better understanding and advancing the conservation of the understudied Northeastern Atlantic White Marlin (Tetrapturus albidus) population. Named for the local name of the billfish “Skillies”, this project is partnered up with the University of Maine, local captains, fishery pioneers, and the greater fishing community of southeastern New England. Additionally, cutting-edge satellite tagging tech is being used as well to better understand the migratory patterns of the White Marlin.

Electric bus maker facing complaints from Maine school districts is strapped for cash

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • December 7, 2024

The Canadian manufacturer of electric buses drawing complaints from several Maine school districts about mechanical and service problems is financially struggling and negotiating with creditors for more time to come up with cash. Winthrop, Vinalhaven and Yarmouth are among the districts reporting problems with electric school buses. The Maine Department of Education advised that Lion Electric Co. buses be parked until further inspections.

UNE students put sustainability lessons to work locally

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • December 7, 2024

A half-dozen University of New England students put their classroom knowledge to work last summer helping local partners tackle sustainability challenges such as how to reduce extreme heat, lay hiking trails through wetlands, and help businesses reduce their carbon footprints. The students were UNE’s first sustainability fellows, each paid a $6,800 stipend to work full time over 10 weeks to address real-world sustainability challenges identified by local community partners, such as Climatework Maine, The Ecology School and Nonantum Resort. Cameron Wake, the director of UNE’s Center for North Atlantic Studies, hopes the program he launched will train the next generation of sustainability leaders, aid community partners seeking help on specific sustainability challenges, and build an official sustainability network in southern Maine.