The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 3, 2025
Four owl species nest in Maine — great horned owl, barred owl, northern saw-whet owl and eastern screech-owl. Two species possibly nest here — short-eared owl and long-eared owl — but these two are rarely encountered in summer. Four species occasionally visit from the north in winter months — snowy owl, great gray owl, northern hawk-owl and (rarely) boreal owl.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 3, 2025
Caleb Merrill of Greenwood caught an 8-pound 27-inch brown trout on opening day Wednesday while ice fishing at Bryant Pond in Oxford County. He caught it in about 5 feet of water on small shiners. “It was the biggest fish I’ve ever seen come through the ice,” Merrill said on Thursday.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 2, 2025
In class at King Middle School we have been reading, learning, researching and debating about energy sources and climate change. I strongly believe Maine should use solar, wind and nuclear energy to become carbon neutral by 2040. Maine will strive to become carbon neutral by 2040 with wind, solar, and nuclear energy. ~ Nar’kaysia Foster, Portland
MAINE PUBLIC • January 2, 2025
Maine saw a record-breaking number of tick-borne disease cases in 2024 for a second year in a row. Between January and December, 3,218 cases of Lyme disease were reported, according to final figures the state released Thursday. Last year, 2,943 cases of that disease broke the previous record. Higher numbers of Lyme and other diseases carried by ticks are seen alongside increasing habitat ranges for ticks in recent years that’s making it more difficult to work or play outside as warmer, wetter winters in Maine are allowing the ticks to stay more active and reproduce longer.
TIMES RECORD • December 2, 2024
As Brunswick enters a new year, it’s starting a five-year countdown to the first milestone in the Climate Action Plan adopted last month. Brunswick’s plan, which town councilors passed in December, aims to reduce emissions 65% by 2030. The nearly 300-page document identifies seven community sectors — municipal, housing, transportation, energy, natural resources, community health and waste — as areas for improvement.
QUODDY TIDES • January , 22025
More and larger cruise ships, with passenger numbers that are more than three times the city’s population, are scheduled to arrive in Eastport this year. While the visits are spread out more than during this past year, with a few in July and August, some residents and business owners are now wondering whether the small island city is hosting too many ships with too many passengers.
MAINE PUBLIC • January 2, 2025
Maine's highest court is taking up a case that could decide whether municipal park rangers must be trained as law enforcement officers. The case stems from an incident when a Portland park ranger issued a summons to Marc Lesperance for walking through Baxter Woods with a dog that was off-leash. Lesperance is now appealing a District Court judgment against him. He is arguing that the park ranger had no authority to issue the summons or enforce a statute because the ranger was not a trained law enforcement officer. A provision in state law says that "constables shall be appointed in the same manner and with the same effect as special police officers." The Law Court has invited parties to file amicus briefs addressing whether a municipal constable must complete the basic training program offered by the Maine Criminal Justice Academy. The court is also asking for arguments on whether municipalities can appoint a person to enforce a local ordinance if that person is not a "constable" under Maine law.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 2, 2025
Smiling Hill Farm in Westbrook will no longer offer cross country skiing because of a lack of snow during winter months. The popular farm announced the change in a Facebook post on New Years Day and said it is selling its ski equipment. It will offer snowshoeing and rentals when snow conditions permit.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 2, 2025
The Maine Warden Service is warning people to check for thin ice after a man was rescued at a pond in Industry on New Years Day. A game warden and an ice fisherman averted tragedy when they teamed up to pull David Beaudoin, a 68-year-old Industry man, out of Clearwater Pond on Wednesday.
MAINE PUBLIC • January 2, 2025
The New England cottontail was once a common rabbit in southern and coastal Maine, ranging from Kittery to Belfast. But the population has declined dramatically over the years due to habitat loss, as old fields reverted into forests and shrubland was developed into residential areas. Maine stopped issuing licenses to hunt New England cottontails in 2004, and added it to the endangered species list in 2007. The rabbits' numbers have dropped to dangerously low levels in other New England states too. Now, the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife is asking the public to report sightings of the cottontail through an online portal on its website.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 2, 2025
A long-running lawsuit involving claims that Poland Spring water has been falsely labeled and deceptively marketed will continue after a Connecticut judge this week denied the parent company’s latest request to throw out the case. In a detailed and often technical 61-page ruling issued Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey Alker Meyer rejected some claims in the class action suit originally brought by 11 plaintiffs in August 2017. But Meyer said the issue of whether Poland Spring qualifies as “spring water” under laws in several states, including Maine, remains unsettled.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 2, 2025
Thank you for the report of the disposal of toxic foam from Brunswick in incinerators in poor neighborhoods far from here. I totally understand the woman, living near one, who said, “Clean up your own mess. Don’t send it here.” Especially since we now know that the manufacturers of PFAS have known for decades of its dangers. It reminds me of the “precautionary principle” that should guide the production of these chemicals: They should be proven to be safe before being introduced into our lives, not investigated after their destructive effects have been demonstrated. In view of the efforts to reintroduce nuclear power, will we hold out for proof that safe disposal of nuclear waste is possible before going down that road? ~ Barbara West, Bath
SUN JOURNAL • January 1, 2025
I congratulate the Auburn City Council and Mayor Jeff Harmon for voting to support the construction of a bike/pedestrian trail on the unused Berlin Subdivision rail line between Portland and Danville Junction. If built, this trail could then link with the proposed Auburn Gateway to allow off-road, safe travel from Portland into Lewiston/Auburn. This trail would make an important positive statement about what our community values and would serve as an attractive asset for tourists, families and businesses to consider Auburn. ~ Joseph Pelliccia, Auburn
USA TODAY • December 31, 2024
As the clock ticks down the final moments of the year, 2024 is expected to wind up as the world's hottest year on modern record, surpassing the previous record for the second year in a row. Even though global average temperatures dropped below 2023 records at times during the second half of the year, air and ocean temperatures were still warmer than average overall, based on charts by the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer. While scientists aren't as certain that a new U.S. annual record will be set, the first 11 months of the year were the warmest on record in the contiguous U.S.
MAINE PUBLIC • January 2, 2025
For the first time in more than a decade, North Atlantic right whales returned in larger numbers this year to the eastern Gulf of Maine. Scientists believe their return may be due to colder deep water temperatures in the Gulf of Maine this past Spring. Scientists collected the data from buoys placed in the Gulf of Maine, and observed that deep water temperatures were noticeably colder than in recent years. More research is needed, and it's unclear how long the pattern will hold. But deep water temperatures collected each spring could serve as a useful predicter for where members of the critically endangered species might go later on.
MAINE PUBLIC • December 31, 2024
Instead of dragging their browning Christmas tree to the transfer station, Georgetown Island residents can put them to work repairing dunes at Reid State Park. Fierce coastal storms almost a year ago battered the park beaches. Friends of Reid State Park hope arranging discarded trees will catch sand and help rebuild lost dunes. It’s a technique that’s had some success at Popham Beach, said the group’s president James Peavey. Trees will be placed to rebuild dunes on either end of Mile Beach Peavey said. The area is important nesting habitat for least terns, a seabird that is endangered in Maine.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • December 31, 2024
My name is Eliana. I attend King Middle School in Portland, Maine. We have been reading, debating, and learning about energy sources. I believe Nuclear power is the leading option for a sustainable energy source that Maine should use to reduce our carbon footprint. If we can rewire people’s brains to understand that nuclear energy is not as dangerous as it seems we can move to a carbon-neutral future. ~ Eliana Kleiman, Portland
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • December 31, 2024
Wind, solar, and nuclear energy are crucial for achieving a sustainable, carbon-neutral future. We must urgently transition from fossil fuels to these energy sources to combat climate change and protect our environment. ~ Cole Reisinger, Portland
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • December 31, 2024
Now that federal funding for offshore wind has collapsed, and the president-elect has pledged to kill further development, it is time for Gov. Janet Mills to consider a visionary new future for Sears Island, as a migratory bird sanctuary, an uncut forest for carbon sequestration, and a zone of human respect and wonder at the raw undeveloped beauty of the Penobscot watershed and the mid-Maine coast. Instead of headlong environmental destruction, her legacy can be the rescue and preservation of an island revered and beloved by the Maine people, Indigenous and newcomers alike. ~ Bill Carpenter, Stockton Springs
TIMES RECORD • December 30, 2024
Outdoor enthusiasts with disabilities are pushing to explore nature using Architectural Barriers Act-compliant paths. Land trusts, including Damariscotta’s Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust, are working to make this a reality.
