NRCM Blog

Inside Interior Secretary Salazar's National Park Meeting

Posted by Cathy Johnson, NRCM's North Woods Project Director

Last Thursday was a big day for the future of Maine’s North Woods. 

In the afternoon, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Salazar addressed a crowd of about 300 at the high school auditorium in Millinocket. The topic was Roxanne Quimby’s proposal for a national park on the 70,000 acres she owns along the East Branch of the Penobscot River.  

Out in the parking lot, before the meeting, the park opponents were holding signs and passing out stickers.  They put on a real show of force.

In the auditorium, after Sec. Salazar arrived, the Millinocket Town officials, a local county commissioner and the local state senator continued the anti-park assault, with loud aggressive comments, including challenging Salazar with “Who invited you here?”  (I later heard someone refer to them as “the rude boys.”)

Sec. Salazar took it all in stride.  “I invited myself,” he said and proceeded to run a civilized discussion about the possibility of a feasibility study and a national park.  Alternating supporting and opposing speakers, he ensured that both perspectives were well represented.  After hearing from a number of folks supporting the feasibility study because they wanted more information about the impacts of the proposed park, he challenged the “rude boys” back:  “What is it about getting more information that you don’t like?”  

And to find out what the “silent majority” was thinking, at the end he called on three people who had not raised their hands to speak.

 The Katahdin Region Chamber of Commerce and the Millinocket Downtown Revitalization Committee have both supported a feasibility study.  Local business supporters had filled the first three rows with friendly faces, although only one business supporter spoke. 

 Coming out of that meeting, I thought, it was, perhaps, a draw between supporters and opponents, although the supporters definitely got the edge for civility.

 But the evening was only beginning. 

 The Medway Selectmen, who had already endorsed a feasibility study, had scheduled a town meeting and referendum vote on the issue by all the town residents for 7:00 pm.  Roxanne Quimby was present and the Moderator let both local residents and out-of-towners speak and ask questions.

The opponents to the park were again out in force; the local senator strode to the lectern to denounce the park idea and any feasibility study.

But many residents asked real questions and were apparently satisfied with the answers because when the question was called, supporters trounced the opponents 46 – 6.  There was a palpable sense of deflation from the opponents, who quickly packed up their stickers, signs and clipboards and slunk out the door.  Meanwhile, the supporters were pleased but trying to figure out what the next step is.

It is hard to overstate the importance of the Medway vote.  This is the first time residents in a northern Maine community have voted to support a feasibility study for a national park.  After decades during which the debate about a national park has been dominated and stifled by opponents, the supporters have finally made space for a reasoned discussion of the issue. 

A vote for a feasibility study is not an endorsement of a national park.  But it signals that, finally, the debate will take place based on facts, rather than fears and ideology.  Stay tuned. The conversation is just beginning!

Birds & Berries on LMF's Kennebunk Plains

by Allison Childs Wells, NRCM Senior Director of Public Affairs

Looking for a beautiful natural area to bring the family to this summer? Maine’s beaches are wonderful, and our mountains are spectacular. But how about some place you might not think of, some place unique and incredibly special, some place that also is a good reminder of why the Land for Maine’s Future program is such a treasure for all who love Maine?

In July, I visited one of my favorite Maine places, the Kennebunk Plains. This place is special to me for many reasons. For one, I have a long history with it. In the mid-80s, my husband spent many summers there first as a research assistant then as a Cornell Ph.D. candidate. When I wasn’t writing my own master’s thesis, chances were good that I was traipsing around the Plains, as it’s often called, helping out as a field assistant—spot-mapping, conducting point counts, and otherwise living and breathing the plants and animals of the Kennebunk Plains. Which brings me to another reason this place is so special.

The plants and animals that call it home. The Kennebunk Plains is a rare, and the largest, sand plain grassland in New England. This 3,200-acre area spans Route 99 and McGuire Road in Kennebunk and is host to rare flowers like the white-topped aster, upright bindweed, and, this time of year, the world’s largest stand of the extremely rare northern blazing star, which turns the vast acres purple. Along with these rare flowers come an abundance of butterflies and other fascinating insects—the beautiful metallic green tiger beetles and steely robber flies, and crickets and grasshoppers galore—and with those come birds, birds, birds.

Being a lifelong birder, it’s the birds that I love best about the Kennebunk Plains. Although most have stopped singing by now in order to feed and raise their broods, you may still hear the “wolf whistle” of the Upland Sandpiper, a bird on Maine’s endangered species list, and if you’re lucky, maybe the “chip-chip bzzzzz” of the state-endangered Grasshopper Sparrow. Prairie Warbler, Boblink, Vesper and Savannah sparrows—these are just a few of the other species you can find here, and that doesn’t include rarities we’ve found there over the years, like Sandhill Crane (long before they began breeding in Maine), Western Meadowlark, Golden Eagle, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (at the adjoining Wells Barrens), and even a bird that typically spends its entire life at sea, Pomarine Jaeger! This year, a pair of Clay-colored Sparrows was confirmed breeding there—a bird that had for many years been a vagrant to Maine. The Plains is also one of few places where you can with some certainly find Whip-poor-wills singing in the evenings.

These highlights alone are worth a visit, but the list of the Kennebunk Plains’ special qualities goes on and on. Winding through the acres is a maze of dirt roads that make the area a nice place to walk, jog, ride bikes, or horseback ride (and in winter, bring your cross-country skies!)

If you decide to go this time of year, bring your binoculars, but also bring a few bowls with you, because the fields are sweet with delicious Maine blueberries. In fact, back when we were doing our research there, the Plains was owned and managed by a commercial blueberry company. Which brings me to perhaps the most important reason why this place is so special.

It could have been a golf course. Or yet another housing development. But it’s not. There was talk back then that the company was fielding offers from developers who saw this place as easy land to clear and develop, blind to the magnificent plants and animals found here. Thankfully, others valued what make it so special—the Kennebunk and Great Works land trusts; the Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, and Wells water districts, Town of Kennebunk, and other groups. They saw the tremendous ecological value of the Kennebunk Plains and stepped in. Thanks to their determination, the Kennebunk Plains was among the first projects to receive Land for Maine’s Future funds, the popular matching funds program that provides funding for lands important for the public good. The Natural Resources Council of Maine has, will continue to work, very hard for funding for this important program. The Kennebunk Plain is one example of why.

A friend of mine who lives in Kennebunk (and has been updating her Facebook page regularly with posts about her berry picking at the Plains) says the berries are still plentiful. So go, bring your bowls and binoculars, and enjoy this spectacular place!

(For more background about the Kennebunk Plains, including a short video of singing Whip-poor-wills, visit Allison's Mama Bird blog at MaineTodayMedia's website. Vist NRCM's Land for Maine's Future web pages at http://www.nrcm.org/issue_landprotection.asp.)

New Web Feature: Updates from the State House

With so much happening at the Legislature on bills that will affect Maine’s environment, we know that it’s hard to keep track of important developments. That’s why NRCM has   launched a new feature on our website that provides fresh updates and news. We encourage you to check out this new feature, which will report both the good news and bad news on our efforts to stop rollbacks of laws that protect Maine’s land, air, and water. 

Just yesterday, for example, the DEP Commissioner Darryl Brown testified in strong support of a bill that would dramatically weaken regulation of development. The bill was developed by the Maine Realtors and Developers Association (MEREDA), which gave an award last year to Darryl Brown. Also up yesterday was a bill that would undermine DEP’s regulation of “overboard discharge systems,” which pose a threat to coastal water quality and clam flats. The Maine Clammers Association slammed the bill as a threat to their ability to provide a living for their families. Further information like this is featured in the updates posted from yesterday.

This new State House Updates feature is a companion to our legislative tracking page, which provides a list of bills were working on, along with position memos describing NRCM’s views and links to testimony delivered by NRCM staff.

Together, these web features should help you stay up-to-date on the latest developments from Augusta – where the pace of activity is intense, and NRCM staff are at work every day trying to stop the rollbacks of Maine’s environmental laws.

Pete Didisheim
Advocacy Director 

 

Plum Creek update: our day in court

Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011, NRCM finally got its day in court on our appeal of the Land Use Regulation Commission's (LURC) approval of Plum Creek’s Concept Plan for three resorts including 2,000 house lots in the Moosehead Lake region. The hearing was held in the old courthouse in Portland. NRCM was represented by our wonderful and committed lawyer, Russ Pierce, of Norman, Hansen and DeTroy. FEN and RESTORE were represented by their lawyers Phil Worden and Lynn Williams.

Of course, there was a long line up of lawyers on the other side – the Assistant Attorney General, Jerry Reid, representing LURC, and lawyers representing Plum Creek, the Piscataquis County Economic Development Commission, The Nature Conservancy and Forest Society in Maine. Altogether, there were three lawyers on our side and seven on their side. 

The Judge, Justice Thomas Humphrey, was very well prepared. He clearly had read the briefs and LURC’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan and LURC’s procedural rules. He had lots of questions for the lawyers. 

While there are a number of issues included in the appeal and the briefs, the hearing focused primarily on two issues: 1) whether NRCM and FEN/Restore had “standing” to appeal, and 2) whether LURC had followed the right process in approving the Concept Plan.

The State had challenged NRCM’s standing (or legal right) to appeal in spite of the fact that LURC had granted us intervenor status and we had participated in every phase of the Plum Creek process. Frankly, we were outraged at the State’s challenge since the law on this issue is quite settled. The law says that if our members use and enjoy the region and will be harmed by the approval, NRCM has standing to appeal. We filed five affidavits from five members showing clearly that they use the region and will be harmed by the decision.  Fortunately, when the Judge started questioning the State’s lawyer, he quickly folded his cards, essentially abandoning his argument. I am very optimistic that the Judge will rule in our favor on this question.

On the question of whether LURC had followed the right procedure, the debate was more complicated. The Judge was trying to figure out whether the Plum Creek process was a rulemaking process or an “adjudicatory” process because different procedural rules apply to each. LURC had shifted gears after the public hearings and tried to transform what had started as an adjudicatory process into a “prospective planning” rulemaking process so that they could rewrite Plum Creek’s plan. 

After much back and forth, our lawyer Russ Pierce summed it up best. He said that it doesn’t matter what name you put on the process, the fact is that after following the written process (Chapter 5 process - used by LURC for 35 years to evaluate these types of applications) all the way through the public hearings, LURC abandoned that process and adopted a new, unwritten “ad hoc” process. The new “ad hoc” process deprived the public of the opportunity to fully explore the new proposals (paid for conservation, a new resort at Moose Bay, etc.) that then became part of the approved plan. 

When the State’s lawyer asserted that the whole proceeding was basically a prospective planning process allowing LURC to follow whatever process it wanted, our lawyers pointed out that prospective planning considers all the land in a region, not just the land of one owner.

The Judge made no decisions yesterday, but was clearly listening carefully, and I am cautiously hopeful. If he rules in our favor on both questions, LURC’s approval of Plum Creek’s plan would be vacated and the case would likely be sent back to LURC for further proceedings. If the Judge rules against us, we will strongly consider appealing to the Law Court. We could hear from the Judge any time in the next few months. Stay tuned!

- Cathy Johnson, NRCM North Woods Project Director and Senior Staff Attorney

To learn more about our work to protect the Moosehead Lake region, visit our website.

Winter Thoughts on the Recent Duck Season

By Nick Bennett, NRCM Staff Scientist & Watersheds Project Director  (and avid duck hunter!)

Duck season has been over for six weeks, and I am finally recovering from my post-season depression.  I think most hunters know what I am talking about.  For three months, I knew exactly what I would be doing with every second of free time, and even car trips for work or other tasks had an additional sense of purpose: scouting.  My eyes often wandered from the road looking for ducks and always hoping for a new spot to hunt (of course, I don’t recommend this method of scouting while driving, but I can’t help it).

Waterfowl hunting provides me with so many ways to enjoy the glory of Maine, from the warm, September days of early goose season ponds in Central Maine through bitter, dark December mornings in Casco Bay.  There is nothing quite like the power of life that duck hunting allows me to see.  One early morning in October, I got up around 4 am to pouring rain and wind, not the most fun to hunt in, and at least in my experience, not great weather for ducks (many say the snottier the weather, the better the hunting, but I wonder about this).  I went to a small pond near where I live in Hallowell, and my partner for the morning, who rarely if ever hunts in the rain, didn’t show.  His loss.

When first light came, the rain stopped, the wind picked up, and the sky filled with ducks.  This particular pond is very small, less than a mile long and half a mile wide.  It’s just a guess, but I think there were four hundred ducks over the pond, and they stayed there a long time.  I had many hurtling into my decoys.  I shot worse than any other day last season, getting only one duck for 30 rounds of Hevishot shells. (Duck hunters must use non-toxic shot.  Many use steel, but I prefer Hevishot, which is a tungsten-iron mixture and denser than steel, making it more effective.  It’s also expensive at $2-3 per round!) I think that the ducks — swarming almost like hornets from a disturbed nest — had me completely in awe and totally flummoxed.  They fly in large flocks to distract avian predators, and it works on the human kind as well.  Needless to say, my lab, Percy, was not happy with me and was flummoxed himself as to why so much noise resulted in so few opportunities for him to retrieve.

Seeing ducks is always great, and there is nothing like watching these aerobatic natural fighter jets scream towards you and set their wings.  But even more impressive is the duck swarm — when hundreds of ducks fly in ever rising circles like angry hornets or bees.  Although we all see ducks so commonly that they barely catch our attention, I doubt many have seen the swarm.  I only saw this twice last season, first at the small pond near my house, and then in December on a flat calm, warm day in Maquoit Bay near Brunswick. 

“Flat, calm, and warm” are definitely not good words for duck hunters to hear.  Ducks often move when they need to feed, which they need to do more when it’s cold, or when they want to get out of the wind.  “Flat, calm and warm” means ducks are happy where they are and don’t fly toward hunters’ decoys.  On this particular day, most observers would conclude there were, in fact, very few ducks in Maquoit Bay at all.  I knew differently, and a boat that traversed the far shore from my blind proved the point.  As the boat went by, the ducks swarmed. 

This time, there were thousands of birds in the swarm, slowly circling and filling the sky.  Many had come in the past few days, which had been very cold and finally froze up inland ponds and streams.  Some will still be in Maine waters now and others will have long since flown south.  I was lucky to glimpse a big piece of this huge annual migration.  I wonder how many people around Maquoit Bay get to see the duck swarm and are aware of the massive scale of the migration happening right under their noses.  Not many, I suspect, and most are probably duck hunters.

As I think about last season and readjust to life without duck hunting, I worry a bit about the future.  How many of the ducks I saw this year will be affected by the BP oil spill?  Here in Maine, there are proposals in the Legislature that could harm duck habitat and hunters’ ability to hunt.  One proposal would reduce the shoreland zone from 250 feet to 75 feet along lakes, rivers, wetlands, and the coast.  Other proposals would reduce the buffer around vernal pools, which Wood Ducks use for nesting, and around areas that Inland Fisheries and Wildlife considers especially important habitat for waterfowl. This will allow more development to encroach on places where ducks nest and roost, potentially reducing duck numbers.  Most duck hunting is done from shore and to hunt legally, one must be 300 feet from houses.  If development is pushed closer to the shores of our waters and wetlands, there will be fewer and fewer places for duck hunters to hunt. 

Duck hunting is my true outdoor passion, and a huge part of what makes Maine a wonderful place for me to live.  I don’t want that to change, and I hope there are many other duck hunters out there to help make this point loud and clear to legislators who want to role back protection of the places ducks live and hunters hunt. To stay informed about this legislation and actions you can take to protect Maine's environment, join the Natural Resources Council of Maine's Action Network http://supporters.nrcm.org/Action_Network.

 

The Joys of a Maine Winter!

These cold January days have not deterred me from enjoying Maine’s outdoors. Those of us who love to fish in Maine can’t stay idle waiting for spring to wet our fly lines. Instead, we bundle up and explore Maine’s lakes and rivers—through the ice.

Last weekend, I finally got a chance to get out on the ice with my dad and some friends. Out on Cobbossee, we drilled our holes and baited our traps and hunkered down on the ice to enjoy the crisp, clear morning. With little action, we decided to fire up the grill for some lunch (the flags are sure to fly up once the grill is on). Sure enough, FLAG!! Eagerly, I looked up to see whose trap was the lucky one, and it was mine. Racing out to the trap, with my gang in tow, I got to the hole and saw the reel spinning fast. Fish on! Anxiously, I pulled the trap out of the water and set the hook. Hand over hand, I pulled in my fish. As its head filled the hole, I saw it was a pike. My disappointment that it wasn’t a trout was muted by the fact that it was my first fish of the year. Although the rest of the day was slow, being out on the ice with good company, and the excitement of the first catch of the year, tickled my fishing itch, which I hadn’t felt since I put away my fly rod in the fall. I just had to get out for more.

The following Friday night, with NRCM co-workers Steve Tatko and Nick Bennett, I made my way down to the Kennebec for some smelting. Feeling confident, I brought along some cornmeal and a frying pan to enjoy our catch for dinner on the frozen river. And I wasn’t disappointed. We barely had all our lines baited and we were catching smelts! As you may know, smelt fishing is a very social affair—and not just because you are in a six by eight foot shack with four other people for six hours. It is also an opportunity to listen to the chatter coming from your neighboring shacks. We had a great time (and the smelts were delicious!).

The following morning, I drove over to Livermore for more action. Once again, I happily settled in for a day of ice fishing with friends. Just as we were sitting down for some brunch on the ice (including the freshly caught smelts from the night before), I had a flag. Racing out to my trap, I was eager to meet my fish. As I set the hook, I had no idea that I would soon be pulling out a beautiful 20” brown trout!! Although I usually stick with catch and release, this was a fish worth keeping. While I enjoyed it for supper on Sunday with my parents, I couldn’t help but worry about the mercury content in the fish, which was being passed on to me. It is a shame that Maine sportsmen need to think twice about eating the fish coming from our own waters. It made me appreciate all the work NRCM has done to reduce air pollution and it made me eager to get back to work on Monday morning cleaning up Maine’s energy mix.

-Emmie Theberge, NRCM Clean Energy Outreach Coordinator

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Maine People and the Environment: Report from the Roundtable

More than 500 citizens from across the state poured into the Augusta Civic Center on January 20th to participate in the first public meeting with Governor LePage about the importance of environmental protection to Maine's economic and public health. A panel of 28 businesses, sportsmen, health professionals, religious leaders, and youth discussed how the laws that have cleaned up once heavily polluted rivers, have kept Maine's woods and fish stocks intact, have kept our landscapes protected and relatively pristine, and have cleaned up our air - and saved us money -- by conserving energy, are necessary and welcome to those who have chosen to set up businesses in Maine, have worked the land for generations, or visit here to enjoy our quality of life.

NRCM is proud to have sponsored this event with numerous partner organizations and to have seen so many members from the NRCM family across the state in attendance. We have shown once again that the people of Maine are deeply committed to environmental protections and are willing to stand up and fight for them. Please see the extensive news coverage here: http://www.nrcm.org/news.asp

We will soon be posting the remarks of the panelists, as well as video of the event, but today's snow slowed us down a bit. Check our website next week (www.nrcm.org) for more from the Roundtable.

Here are some of the remarks from the panelists, who we thank so much for participating in this event:

William Bennett, Pres. & CEO, of Oakhurst: "After all the cows that produce Oakhurst milk literally eat drink and breathe the Maine environment so it's in everyone's best interest to keep Maine's environment clean, safe and healthy."

Unity College student Deirdre Birbeck also had a chance to speak directly to the Governor. "It seems to me that my generation's future jobs will depend on careful stewarding of our natural resources."
 
“If our coastal waters are not clean, it is impossible for all commercial fishermen, not just clammers, to market the Maine brand,” said Chad Coffin, president of the Maine Clammers Association.

“Regulations aren’t perfect, and some may need fixing,” said Harry Dwyer, a licensed forester and logger who owns Ghost Dance Forestry in Fayette. “But regulations are not the enemy. They are an important tool” to protect resources for future generations.

Horace “Hoddy” Hildreth, a former Republican state senator who is chairman of Diversified Communications, a company with 200 employees, said many of the laws protecting Maine’s air, land and water were enacted by Republican-controlled legislatures responding to the industrial abuses of the 1960s and 1970s.

“Their implementation has from time to time caused frustration and even outrage,” Hildreth said. “But I submit to you that working on the regulations to make sure they are responsive to the plain intent of the statutes is a better way to go than gutting or repealing the laws.”

Corky Ellis, founder and Chairman of Kepware, a software company in Portland, says they could have moved to North Carolina or Texas with lower taxes and minimal environmental regulations, but they wanted to live in Maine. "Please bear in mind that many businesses like ours are here in Maine precisely because of the protected beauty and the conservation efforts of the past."

And MPBN's news story quoted Ernie Hilton, former chair of the Maine Board of Environmental Protection (read and listen to the full MPBN news story here):

Ernie Hilton is a lifelong Republican, an attorney and civil engineer from Madison who previously chaired Maine's Board of Environmental Protection, and whose wife chairs the Land Use Regulation Commission, or LURC.

Hilton says he's worried Maine's quality of place may be threatened as the new administration and Legislature look to relax environmental permitting and reuglations and do away with agencies such as LURC, which governs zoning and planning in Maine's North Woods.

"I'm concerned when I see, as I did yesterday, a list of some of the statutes which are pending before the Legislature dealing with shoreland zoning and with LURC, and it strikes me as being a race to the bottom approach to our environment," Hilton said.

Hilton says it's not environmental rules or regulations that are the biggest impediments to job creation in Maine but rather the high cost of health care. He points out that over the last eight years more than 10,000 permits by rule were issued for small projects, and $5 billion dollars worth of major projects permitted by the Department of Environmental Protection alone.

 
 

Governor-elect Excludes Enviros from Recent Forum

Did you see this front-page story on 12/1/10’s Portland Press Herald and other newspapers?

“Business Leaders Target Red Tape: Advocates for the environment, consumers, public health take no part in meeting”

http://www.kjonline.com/news/businessleaderstargetred-tape_2010-11-30.html

The piece describes how Gov.-elect Paul LePage is asking businesses and industry groups to help him reduce the regulations they believe hinder economic development. Twenty-eight representatives of these groups met with LePage and listed regulations they described as burdensome—issues related to the environment, civil rights, public health, child labor laws and tax policy. Unfortunately, environmental groups, public health advocates, and consumer advocates were not invited to the forum. NRCM Advocacy Director Pete Didisheim was interviewed for the story. "There are many voices that need to be he heard," said Didisheim. "This is not a balanced and fair approach to the policy process."

It does, however, provide insight into the direction the LePage Administration is likely headed regarded his view of protections put in place to protect Maine families and the state’s natural resource-based economy. You can read the full article here.

To stay informed about issues like these that put Maine’s environment at risk, and to hear about ways you can help make a difference, join NRCM’s Action Network.

Making a difference in the Gulf

I received an email a few weeks ago from the librarian at Nobleboro Central School. The fifth grade students there spent the year selling items that range from pencil erasers to bubbles to "locker buddies" and more in their school store. Now that the school year is over, they got to choose where to donate their profits. This year, the class chose to donate their money to the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) in order to help with their clean up of wildlife, like sea turtles and pelicans, affected by the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Since the Natural Resources Council of Maine is the state's affiliate of NWF, we were asked if someone from NRCM could come accept the check from the students and thank them for their donation.

I was delighted to be able to go to Nobleboro on Tuesday morning to thank the students, read an award of appreciation and letter from NWF, and accept their giant $300 check (I came back to NRCM to ask our bookkeeper if she could start paying me my salary on a giant check...it seemed much more fun and exciting than a regular payroll stub!).

The students were very attentive while I talked about NRCM and the work we do to protect Maine's air, water, forests, and public health. They were all sitting at their desks doing work on their laptops, so I talked briefly about Maine's e-waste law and our work to protect Mainers from toxics in various toys and other household items. One boy in the front row raised his hand and asked if I had heard about the "McDonald's cups." I said that I had...that 12 million Shrek glasses had to be recalled because of toxic chemicals found in them. It was so great to see young students so aware of current events related to the environment!

I thanked them for their decision to use their money to help wildlife in the Gulf. We talked about how it's important to help your friends and neighbors (and even your brothers and sisters...though that is sometimes harder!) nearby, but it is also important to help others (people and animals) around the country and around the world. We talked about how their gift was going to make a big difference to the wildlife clean up efforts along the Gulf Coast.

These students should be commended for their hard work and dedication to helping others. In years past, their school store funds have gone to local food pantries, animal shelters, and toward home heating assistance programs. This year, they decided to do what they can to help wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico. Way to go Nobleboro Central School! You are making a difference - here in Maine, and far away. I hope others are inspired by your good deeds and do all they can to help those affected by the disaster in the Gulf.

- Beth Dimond
NRCM Public Affairs Coordinator

Crows and otters and turkeys, oh my!

I spent a lot of this weekend on the road - traveling to Orono to do some Christmas caroling with friends, then to my father's house to drop off Christmas presents early, and then I enjoyed some quiet time at home yesterday morning.  During all of this activity, I simply wanted to get into the holiday spirit and get all of my holiday cards, wrapping of gifts, etc. done in the process. But, in looking back over the weekend, I had some interesting wildlife "encounters" that I wanted to share with you.

The first occurred on my way to Orono. While driving up the interstate, just passing the first Waterville exit, I was stunned by the number (in the hundreds, if not more) of crows I saw flying over the road and perching in the trees. There must have been 100 crows in one tree alone just off the highway.  As I got further down the road, toward the bridge over the river, I saw a huge line of crows flying across the clear blue sky, all headed toward those same trees that were now behind me.  I talked to my boss, Allison, about this and she said she will explain this phenomenon to me later today - so I will be able to then share that information with all of you.  Have any of you seen these birds?  I have seen crows before, of course, by not in these numbers in such a small area. 

Then on Saturday, when I arrived at my father's house in Sabattus, he said to grab the binoculars and look down into the stream behind his house - it is a small outlet from Sabattus Lake that runs through town and behind my dad's yard.  I was so excited to see three otters - three fairly large otters - frolicking in the water and chasing each other over and around logs that were in the water.  I am not sure I have ever seen an otter in the wild - and it was a great way to spend the afternoon.  What do you see for wildlife in your backyard?

And speaking of wildlife in your/my yard - I woke up Sunday morning and looked out across the yard and counted 32 wild turkeys!  I know wild turkeys aren't much of a rarity to see in Maine anymore, but these birds had been around last winter and I hadn't seen them in months, so I was thrilled to see them again.

While talking about wildlife, I also want to remind folks that the cold weather and even some snow has arrived, so please don't forget about your birds - I bought suet and more birdseed yesterday because I was out, and knew that the birds would be looking for food, especially now in the cold and snow.

Have a wonderful holiday season and let me know what wildlife you see in your yard or your travels during this time of year.

Beth