Maine Environmental News

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Everything you need to know to enjoy wild mushrooms
George Smith BDN Outdoor News Blog - Wednesday, April 25, 2018
Linda and I love wild mushrooms, focusing on chanterelles and black trumpets. Last year we picked 8 pounds of chanterelles. Now, you’ve got a chance to do this too, thanks to my friend Tom Seymour and his new guide, Foraging Mushrooms in Maine, a Falcon Guide published by Rowan and Littlefield.

Blog: Pete McCloskey speaks out on Earth Day
Bangor Daily News - Wednesday, April 25, 2018
The founder of Earth Day in 1970 was a Democrat, Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin. He wanted Earth Day, set for April 22nd, to be a bipartisan and bicameral effort, and I was honored when he asked me to be his Republican Co-Chairman. There was bi-partisan support for landmark legislation for Clean Air, Clean Water, protection of wildlife habitat, coastal zones and national forests. That lasted for 24 years, but ended with the election of Newt Gingrich as Speaker in 1994. Now, in 2018, the environmental protections of those earlier years are being dismantled by a President and a Republican Congress who think that even basic environmental protections are unnecessary. A pox on these new Republicans. Let’s vote them out and save the Earth. ~ Pete McCloskey, Co-Chair, Earth Day, 1970

Unusual spring weather leaves Maine maple syrup in short supply
Bangor Daily News - Wednesday, April 25, 2018
Maple trees release the prized, clear sap that producers around the state turn into thick, amber syrup, when temperatures fall below freezing at night and warm up during the day. Typically, the season — and the sap — runs February into April, depending on geography and weather. But this year producers fears the season in northern Maine may be over before it even really began because the sap never ran at full speed like in a typical year.

Sign ban’s end spurs cautious optimism for Katahdin monument supporters
Bangor Daily News - Wednesday, April 25, 2018
Its largest advocacy group hopes to get on with developing Maine’s national monument now that Gov. Paul LePage has allowed state officials to post monument signs on state roads. “We are so glad that he is come around,” said Andrew Bossie, executive director of Friends of Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. “From a friends group perspective, the more this cloud lifts, the more people are likely to invest in the monument and the communities that surround it.”

With hard work and a good idea, two cousins launched a fast-growing business
Portland Press Herald - Wednesday, April 25, 2018
A new book details how Cousins Maine Lobster grew from one food truck in one city to many food trucks, and more, around the country.

Editorial: Climate change policy: Pretend it doesn’t exist
Portland Press Herald - Wednesday, April 25, 2018
Two separate reports released in January found that the Trump administration scrubbed hundreds of website pages connected to state and local climate remediation programs, as if refusing to acknowledge climate change makes it any less real. This kind of absurd denial should not be a surprise. Trump has as his administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Scott Pruitt, who had spent a career opposed to the agency’s central mission of protecting natural resources. dumps. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has taken much the same tack. That goes against the science, which says that our continued reliance on oil, gas and coal is making us sick, and hurting the planet in innumerable ways.

Letter: Conscientious consumers can reduce plastic waste in our oceans
Portland Press Herald - Wednesday, April 25, 2018
Nearly 9 million tons of plastic waste enter the ocean from coastlines every year, scientists say, or a truckload per minute. Marine life and birds consume it as microplastics, and in turn so do we; and they consume it whole and are killed. On land, plastic trash litters our roads and fields and fills up landfills, while overwhelming amounts of some plastic recyclables are turned away because too few recyclers, including China, are willing to buy it. We all can make a difference by remembering “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.” Manufacturers can make a difference by changing back to nonplastic packaging. Straws, milk cartons, cereal box liners and yogurt cups used to be made of paper, so they could be again. ~ Julie Stockpile, Thomaston

Letter: Trash dilemma
Bangor Daily News - Wednesday, April 25, 2018
As someone who has had to think about trash for more than 40 years, I was appalled to read that tons of garbage from area towns will be landfilled, possibly for the next 12 to 18 months. Why were no contingency plans made on the assumption that Fiberight may not open on schedule? Why is the Municipal Review Committee not suing Fiberight for breach of contract, for failing to open on time? Did no one consider that winter weather might cause delays? When I cautioned Hampden town officials about this project, I feared it was too good to be true. We were sold a bill of goods, and now the worst case scenario — landfilling tons of garbage — will be occurring. ~ Kathy W. Walker, Hampden

Energy Efficiency Is Working in New England
Other - Tuesday, April 24, 2018
Over the past few years, electric consumption has been declining in New England even as the population and economy have grown. This is due in large part to energy efficiency gains, which have dramatically reduced the amount of electricity consumed in the region and are projected to do so even more in the future. For the first time ever, ISO New England (the region’s electric grid operator) is predicting a decline in peak demand over the next ten years, mostly due to projected gains in energy efficiency and on-site solar generation.

How Maine’s Red Spruce Forests are Fighting for Survival
Bowdoin (College) Orient - Tuesday, April 24, 2018
Philip Kiefer ’18, a member of the podcasting student team that produces The Bowdoin Commons, has made an audio story about the honors project of Hanna Baldecchi ’18, who is researching the Eastern dwarf mistletoe. This mistletoe is a tiny parasitic plant that lives on the branches of spruce trees, stealing nutrients from and slowly killing its hosts. Kiefer accompanied biology major Hanna Baldecchi ’18 on one of her data-collecting trips to the Maine island of Isleboro. Driving up the coast and walking through the woods, Baldecchi explained her research into the mystery of why the mistletoe is affecting red and white spruces differently. The red spruce appears to be better at protecting itself from the mistletoe’s threat, but scientists are not sure why.

Corporate support raises Portland's recycling game
Forecaster - Tuesday, April 24, 2018
Several regional businesses are pitching in to help boost the city’s recycling efforts. In a partnership announced April 19, donations from L.L. Bean, Sappi North America and Catalyst, in collaboration with the Recycling Partnership, will pay for 18 new, high-tech bins to collect recyclables.

Portland institute's seafood bash all about local fisheries, species
Forecaster - Tuesday, April 24, 2018
Encouraging people to support local fisheries and eat sustainably harvested seafood are just two of the goals behind the annual Maine Seafood Celebration. The other goal of the event is to introduce people to species such as hake or mackerel that don’t have as strong a following as more familiar fish like cod or haddock but are abundant in local waters. This is the fifth year the Gulf of Maine Research Institute has held the celebration of Maine seafood, which takes place 5:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 26.

Farmington considers plan to remove dam endangering salmon
Kennebec Journal - Tuesday, April 24, 2018
Farmington Selectmen on Tuesday reviewed a $1.2 million proposal from the Atlantic Salmon Federation for removal of the Walton’s Mill Dam and upgrades to a surrounding public park that would include new restrooms, a pavilion and event space. The proposal, which is expected to be considered by voters in a November referendum, offers an alternative to leaving the dam in place and building fish passageways at an estimated cost to the town of $750,000. The cost of the group’s proposal would be covered entirely by the organization but has been met with opposition from proponents of keeping the dam. “Either way the town has to make a decision, because right now we’re in violation of the Endangered Species Act,” Town Manager Richard Davis said.

Scott Pruitt’s Political Patron Now Questions the E.P.A. Chief’s Ethics
New York Times - Tuesday, April 24, 2018
Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, may be losing support even from his staunchest allies. His longtime political patron, Senator James Inhofe, said Tuesday that he would like to see an investigation into the ethical allegations against his protégé. If any prove true, he said, they could “have an effect” on Mr. Pruitt’s job.

Three Rivers Kiwanis to hold grand opening for Milo/Brownville and Points North Visitor Center
Bangor Daily News - Tuesday, April 24, 2018
The Greater Milo/Brownville Area and Points North Visitor Center was officially gifted to the Milo/Brownville Three Rivers Kiwanis on April 9, 2018. It is the fifth building that Tom and Nancy Harrigan have built and donated to the Milo/Brownville Three Rivers Kiwanis. One of the most significant motivations for the new Center is to better promote the Greater Milo/Brownville area and areas further north for tourism.

Ticks & Lyme: What is the outlook for vector-borne disease this year?
Maine Public - Tuesday, April 24, 2018
Maine Calling guests: Rob Smith, Director & Co-Founder of the Vector-Borne Disease Laboratory as well as Director of the Division of Infectious Disease at Maine Medical Center; Chuck Lubelczyk, Field Biologist with the Vector-Borne Disease Laboratory at Maine Medical Center.

Companies Can Stave off Forest Tipping Points
Other - Tuesday, April 24, 2018
Conservation Finance Network - What started as a dinner-party conversation between Apple leaders has turned into a forest-management investment initiative in the United States and China that goes beyond existing responsible sourcing practices. Apple started with a donation of 32,400 acres of conservation easements in Maine and over 3,600 acres in North Carolina. Moving past this goal involved looking into where the sourcing originates and seeing how these decisions could improve forest management.

EPA Chief Scott Pruitt: Delete Decades Of Science In The Name Of 'Transparency'
Other - Tuesday, April 24, 2018
Forbes - Scott Pruitt, the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Administrator, has systematically removed science from environmental decisions and regulations in the United States. Now, he's working on yet another rule that would eliminate decades of scientific studies from being considered when writing regulatory standards.nNearly 1,000 scientists signed and sent a letter to Scott Pruitt urging him not to move forward with his proposed rule.

State Reports Nearly 100 Wildfires and Many Acres Burned
Associated Press - Tuesday, April 24, 2018
The Maine Forest Service says the number of wildfires in the state is approaching 100 and that more than 60 acres have burned so far this year.

Nimble deer dodges death, floats down Maine river on ice sheet
Bangor Daily News - Tuesday, April 24, 2018
When the Allagash and St. John rivers finally begin moving after spending five months frozen over, it can be a spectator sport for local residents. On Monday, many of those residents got more than they bargained for as a young deer floated past on an ice floe. Video showed that the ice under the deer began to break apart, and the deer scrambled back toward more solid footing. The deer surfed its way downriver at least two miles before cheating death. [video]

Pruitt wades into a fraught science debate, declaring biomass burning ‘carbon neutral’
Washington Post - Tuesday, April 24, 2018
Scott Pruitt’s Environmental Protection Agency said Monday that the burning of biomass, such as trees, for energy in many cases will be considered “carbon neutral” by the agency. But the consideration of biomass as carbon neutral is contentious among scientists, who fear that forests, once cleared so that their wood can be used for energy, may not grow back as planned. “The big problem is you’re cutting old growth forests and expecting them to regrow,” said William Schlesinger, president emeritus of the Cary Institute for Ecosystem Studies and an EPA Science Advisory Board member. “That’s totally unrealistic in 20 years and not guaranteed over 100 years.”

A Sense of Wonder: Hog Island, Maine
Yankee Magazine - Tuesday, April 24, 2018
On a small island in Maine, explorers of all ages find a wide-open window into the natural world.

How to protect your dog from tick-borne diseases
Bangor Daily News - Tuesday, April 24, 2018
As disease-ridden ticks become more numerous and widespread in Maine, many veterinarians are suggesting that dog owners invest in both a canine Lyme vaccine and some form of tick preventative treatment year round. In recent years, these anti-tick treatments have been refined and improved, offering dogs better protection against tick-borne infections that can cause serious complications and even death. Lyme disease, which can be transmitted to dogs through the bite of a black-legged tick (also known as a deer tick), is now a chief concern for pet owners in Maine.

Deep current of record-breaking warm water causes concerns for the Gulf of Maine
Portland Press Herald - Tuesday, April 24, 2018
The deep current entering the gulf via the Northeast Channel – a deep passage between the Georges and Browns banks – normally consists of chillingly cold water originating off Labrador and Greenland, and contributes to Maine’s unusually productive ocean waters. But this month researchers recorded temperatures exceeding 57 degrees at depths of 150 to 450 feet – nearly 11 degrees above normal for this time of year and the highest seen in 15 years of surveys, prompting concerns about effects on marine life.

Growing population will add to Gorham’s tax bill
Portland Press Herald - Tuesday, April 24, 2018
The town, which added 1,000 residents between 2010 and 2016, could see a tax rate increase of 10.5 percent that is largely tied to the cost of serving new students and a decrease in state funding.

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