Letter: Maine needs to expand its economy

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 11, 2025

We’ve lost most of our ship building, dairy farming, chicken farming, and fishing, and we’re increasingly dependent on “vacationland” for our income. If the economy goes down, “people from away” are going to stay away, and our former dairy farms, chicken farms, hay farms and mills. In short, nearly every stone in our economic foundation has been abandoned in dependence on money brought in from away. Isn’t it time to start expanding the base of our economic structure? ~ Dr. William Burgess Leavenworth, Searsmont

Stricter Lobster Fishing Rules Scrapped After Complaints from Fishermen

FOOD MANUFACTURING • February 10, 2025

Fishing industry regulators have decided to scrap stricter new lobster fishing standards off New England in the wake of months of protest from lobster fishermen that the rules were unnecessary and would bankrupt harvesters. The regulators were planning to institute new rules this summer that increased the minimum legal harvest size for lobsters in some of the most important fishing grounds in the world. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Council, which manages the fishery, said the changes were important to preserve the future of a lobster population that has shown recent signs of decline. Many commercial fishermen adamantly opposed the changes.

Harpswell has 44 of Maine’s 600 remaining overboard discharge systems

HARPSWELL ANCHOR • February 10, 2025

With no municipal sewer system, almost all of Harpswell’s homes and businesses rely on septic systems to handle their wastewater. But a few dozen properties that are too small or too rocky for conventional septic systems still use what are called overboard discharge systems, even as the state and town governments work to replace them. Overboard discharges, or OBDs, release treated wastewater, which could introduce bacteria and other pathogens, to surface water such as a river or the ocean. About 600 OBDs remain. Harpswell has 44 of those, the fifth most among Maine towns. Only Boothbay, Bristol, Georgetown and Southport have more. Maine has a grant program to help property owners pay for overboard discharge replacement, but there is a long waitlist for the limited funds available.

Letter: US moving backwards on climate change

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 10, 2025

Doug Burgum, the new secretary of the Interior Department, is another blatant example of the fact corporations have captured our democracy. This time the stakes are so much higher. The petroleum industry has never had the kind of influence they have now and they seem hellbent to burn every drop of their product. Wake up folks, our grandchildren are being sacrificed on the altar of greed. Demand and work for a transition to wind and solar now! ~ Tom Mikulka, Cape Elizabeth

New administration sparks uncertainty for Brunswick PFAS spill cleanup

TIMES RECORD • February 10, 2025

A slew of impactful executive orders coming from the new presidential administration is sparking uncertainty amid efforts to clean up a toxic chemical spill at Brunswick’s airport. Under the new administration’s Environmental Protection Agency, and with many federal funding programs facing uncertainty, local authorities are waiting for things to settle. They face the expensive task of cleaning up PFAS-laden aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) at Brunswick Executive Airport a malfunctioning fire suppression system dumped tens of thousands of gallons into the nearby environment in August. The cleanup costs and ongoing monitoring of private drinking wells near the airport, formerly Naval Air Station Brunswick, have amounted to over $781,000 as of the end of December.

This historic park off the Maine coast is a joy to visit, even in the dead of winter

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 10, 2025

Roosevelt Campobello International Park is on Campobello Island. The 2,800-acre park is jointly administered and funded by Canada and the United States. When signing the park agreement in 1964, President Lyndon Johnson said of U.S.-Canada relations: “I hope that Campobello Park will live eternally as a symbol of our friendship that cannot be shaken or diverted. President Roosevelt would want it this way.” While the park was an absolutely stunning place to visit in the winter, I’d like to return in the summer to see the planted gardens. Admission to the park and Roosevelt house is free.

Letter: Right whales are losing the battle

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 10, 2025

Right whales, like other similar species, sequester copious amounts of carbon simply by existing and create entire ecosystems with their migratory feeding patterns. Fishing line entanglement and ship strikes are the leading causes of their mortality, despite what the oil industry and other propagandists would have the unwitting, unknowing individual believe about offshore wind turbines. Yet collectively we do nothing but watch their slow, painful journey to the end. Basic and completely reasonable regulations fall one after the next, forfeited because of a few whining lobstermen and a newly elected fear-mongering degenerate. Someday we will face what we have invited upon ourselves. Until then, we witness. ~ Sarah Perry, Falmouth

Opinion: There are no easy answers when it comes to forest fire

CENTRAL MAINE • February 10, 2025

According to an expert in the White House, the best way to prevent forest fires is to rake all the combustible materials from forest floors. That couldn’t be done before the Maine forest fire of 1947 and it can’t be done now. The forest floor is covered with vegetation as well as dead, dry plant material — including trees. To remove all of this would be an unsustainable cost in any budget. The devastating fires in the Los Angeles area were not solely the result of unkempt plant life. Drought and hurricane-force winds made any ignition source unstoppable. I guess we’ll have to get rid of the wilderness. This would be of particular concern in Maine, where so much of the economy depends on the regeneration of its woodlands and maintaining an environment that attracts those from away. ~ Doug Yohman, East Waterboro

Nick Dorian talks of "The Secret Life of Bees" in horticulture series, Feb. 11

PENOBSCOT BAY PILOT • February 9, 2025

Nick Dorian, Ph.D. ecologist and educator, talks about “The Secret Lives of Wild Bees,” presented by Camden Garden Club, in coordination with the Camden Public Library, Feb. 11, from 9:30 a.m. On Zoom, preregister.

Discover the Largest Whitetail Deer Ever Harvested in Maine

AZ ANIMALS • February 9, 2025

There are about 320,000 deer in Maine. According to the Boone and Crocket Club, in 1965 Ronnie Cox earned the record for the largest whitetail deer harvested in Maine’s history. His trophy scored 193-2/8. Then-teenager Hill Gould shot the non-typical whitetail deer more than a century ago, in 1910. His buck’s antlers earned a score of 259. Word spread pretty quickly about the deer’s impressive and usual rack, but it didn’t enter the Boone and Crockett record books officially until 1994.

A Maine border town finds itself on the front line of a looming trade war

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • February 9, 2025

For many who live in towns like Madawaska, the result isn’t two distinct worlds but one community. External forces are threatening to pull that world apart. Economists have warned that the impacts of President Donald Trump’s threatened tariffs would reverberate through the American and global economies in ways big and small. Maine’s border towns, whose fortunes are closely tied to sister communities in Canada, will feel the effects acutely. Tariffs won’t just make everyday goods more expensive on both sides of the border, but may also cost the town’s millworkers their jobs. Across the border, greater Edmundston is a bustling metropolis compared with Madawaska. Judy Paradis, who represented Madawaska in the Legislature for years, said, “Canada has been so good to us — they don’t deserve this.”

Maine public health experts worry about federal data removed from websites

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 8, 2025

Public health experts say they are worried about access to important federal health data after agencies removed information in the last few weeks. Rebecca Boulos, executive director of the Maine Public Health Association, said, “We rely on data sources to help us understand what’s going on in public health.” Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, spoke out against the cap Monday, saying the “poorly conceived” directive.

Trump has targeted EV charger funding. It leaves $4M for Maine in doubt.

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 8, 2025

The Trump administration is rescinding federal funding to build electric vehicle chargers, leaving in doubt $4 million for Maine to build out a network. Transportation is responsible for 49% of Maine’s carbon emissions from fossil fuels, making the sector one of the state’s largest opportunities to combat climate change. A group of Maine environmentalists and a youth organization have sued the state, accusing officials of failing to comply with targets for reduced greenhouse gas emissions by not adopting policies broadening EV use. President Donald Trump’s action against the chargers is part of a broader policy of favoring fossil fuel production and halting zero-carbon initiatives. An executive order he issued jeopardizes Maine’s efforts to develop an offshore wind.

Using the ‘Magic’ of LiDAR to Map Maine’s Old-Growth Forests

INSIDE CLIMATE NEWS • February 8, 2025

In the remote northern half of Maine, forests dominate the landscape. While few people live in what’s known as “unorganized territory,” timber companies control vast swaths of land there and frequently harvest trees for housing, furniture, paper and more. But technology is revealing hidden gems in this part of the state. Dr. John Hagan, president of the nonprofit Our Climate Common, has recently begun using light detection and ranging, or LiDAR, to find patches of biodiverse old-growth forest. He said, “If you shoot LiDAR at the forest from an airplane, it gives you a three-dimensional signature of the forest. And it turns out, that can tell us exactly where the old forest is. About 4 percent of that 10 million acres is old-growth forest. So not very much percentage wise, but that’s about 400,000 acres that you didn’t know you had, and you don’t want to lose.”

Royal River Conservation Trust names new executive director

FORECASTER • February 7, 2025

The Royal River Conservation Trust has appointed Chris Franklin, an experienced land conservationist, as its new executive director. “I look at this as a great opportunity,” said Franklin, who is 57 and lives in North Yarmouth with his wife and three children. “I think the communities in the watershed really would like to see more open space preservation, more habitat protection, more working farms. Royal River (Conservation Trust) is really well positioned to be a catalyst for that.” Founded in 1988, the Yarmouth-based Royal River Conservation Trust works to conserve and steward 6,140 acres of land in the Royal River watershed across the municipalities Yarmouth, North Yarmouth, Auburn, Durham, Gray, New Gloucester and Pownal.

Maine DEP: $50M sludge bond would preserve landfill space

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 7, 2025

The state Department of Environmental Protection is proposing a $50 million bond to help wastewater treatment facilities buy the costly equipment needed to reduce the volume of sewage sludge headed to the state-owned landfill before it runs out of room by 2040. The proposal to bond funding for grants to help local sewer districts tackle the statewide sludge-disposal problem needs approval by a legislative committee and two-thirds of the House and Senate before it could be sent to voters in November.

Judge allows Maine lobstermen’s lawsuit over ‘red listing’ to advance

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 7, 2025

After almost two years in limbo, a defamation lawsuit Maine lobstering groups filed against a California aquarium can move forward, a federal judge ruled Friday. The Maine Lobsterman’s Association, the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association and three lobster businesses sued the Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation in 2023 after the organization’s Seafood Watch program put lobster on a “red list” of seafood consumers should avoid. The Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation argued that it has a right to make its rating based on Maine’s free speech laws. But Maine lobstermen have said that the red listing not only is false but also has caused significant economic harm to them and the Maine lobster brand.

Donald Trump Jr. accused of shooting protected rare duck in Venice Lagoon

CNN • February 7, 2025

An Italian lawmaker has filed a legal complaint for hunting without a license against Donald Trump Jr. and his hunting party. The president’s son is accused of shooting a protected rare duck in the Venice Lagoon. It comes after video surfaced showing him surrounded by dead birds he and his group allegedly shot in a protected conservation area. The dead birds appear to include an orange-brown ruddy shelduck, which is protected under Italian law. A spokesperson for Trump Jr. said the president’s son had the necessary authorizations to hunt.

Husson University to launch two new degree programs in the fall

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 7, 2025

Husson University will launch two new bachelor of science degrees in fall 2025, expanding the opportunities available to students in Maine and nationally. The BS in wildlife biology and conservation program will launch as both an online degree and an on-campus degree, while the bachelor of science in professional health sciences program will join the university’s popular online degree programs.

Column: Rural Monroe worth visit for scenic beauty and great hiking trails

KENNEBEC JOURNAL • February 7, 2025

Monroe’s 39 square miles are home to a wealth of natural beauty, from woods and wetlands to farms and fields, all nestled amid low, rolling hills. That’s reason enough to make the pleasant drive, but when you discover there are great hiking trails to be enjoyed, as I did recently thanks to a tip from a friend, you consult your Gazetteer and go. Northern Pond Natural Area is considered “the jewel of Monroe” by many in the area. ~ Carey Kish