Maine looks different today than it did before Europeans arrived. Its wildlife has changed, with some species suffering heavily from hunting and habitat loss. In recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, let’s explore these changes.

A few changes happened naturally, but most resulted from cultural differences between immigrants who began arriving 600 years ago and Native Americans, who have lived here for millennia.

Native peoples coexisted with nature. European settlers saw things differently: nature was to be subdued and bent to the will of those who could profit from it. Wildlife existed to be harvested by humans, and woe to any predator that competed with that harvest.

Overharvesting of game species and the elimination of predators were inevitable, almost expected — a classic example of the “tragedy of the commons.” This economic principle was understood during European settlement and has been around since at least Aristotle, more than 300 years before Christ. It holds that if everyone has equal access to a finite resource, those who take the most will benefit the most — until the resource is gone.

Wolverines lived in Maine prior to statehood but disappeared soon after. A bounty was placed on wolves in 1838, and they were extirpated within five decades. Maine loggers prized caribou meat; the last one was shot on Katahdin in 1908. The last known eastern cougar was shot in 1938.

Birds had it especially tough.

The great auk was the largest member of the puffin family. Like unrelated penguins, it was flightless and thus easy to hunt. The last known pair was shot on an island off the coast of Iceland on July 3, 1844.

The same fate befell Atlantic puffins. By the end of the 19th century, there was only one pair of Atlantic puffins left in Maine, nesting on Matinicus Rock. Not until the late 1970s did restoration efforts begin to bring them back.

The Labrador duck was the first species unique to North America to go extinct. Never very common, the last Canadian bird was shot on Grand Manan in 1874. The last American bird was reported in Elmira, New York, in 1878. Supposedly, it didn’t taste very good. It disappeared anyway.

Common eiders nearly followed the same path. They were prized for their feathers, and their eggs were easy to harvest. They teetered on extinction off the New England and Maritime Canada coastlines but recovered somewhat after hunting limits were enacted in the early 20th century.

Heath hens were once among the most abundant game birds in eastern North America, but they were easy to hunt. Throughout colonization, these small, chicken-like birds were hunted so heavily that household servants demanded they not be served heath hens more than two or three times a week. By 1850, all of Maine’s heath hens were gone. Today, none remain on the planet.

Likewise, Maine’s original population of wild turkeys was eliminated by the 1870s.

Birds disappeared across the country for similar reasons. The passenger pigeon was the most abundant bird in North America, numbering in the billions. Market hunters could harvest an entire tree full of roosting birds and carry them off to be sold for dinner in Boston and New York. By the turn of the 20th century, they were extinct.

Ivory-billed woodpeckers were already scarce in the 19th century, which made them valuable to collectors. Heavy logging in the river bottomlands of the American Southeast devastated the rest. The last known nesting pairs were found in the Singer Tract in Louisiana, but despite conservation efforts to protect the land, the trees were cut down in 1944.

And so it went. Attractive birds, including puffins, became fashion accessories for adornment on hats. Waterfowl and shorebirds, which migrate in large groups, were harvested with punt guns — enormous shotguns mounted on boats that could reap 50 birds at a time.

Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Pennsylvania is famous for hawk migration along the ridgeline. Until the 1930s, hunters climbed the mountain to shoot raptors just for sport. At one point, there was even a $5 bounty for every goshawk killed. It was turned into a sanctuary in 1934.

Eventually, the wanton destruction of so much wildlife shocked Americans into action. Laws prohibited market hunting. Treaties protected migrating birds. In 1973, President Richard Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act.

History turned on its head: sportsmen and landowners became some of the strongest advocates for conservation.

Many of these protections are currently being rolled back in Washington. It seems we haven’t quite learned our lesson after all.

Jonathan Bush, the cousin of former President George W. Bush, announced this week he is running for governor in Maine.

Newsweek reached out to Bush’s campaign for comment via email.

Why It Matters

Bush’s campaign will be a key test as to whether there is still room for a more traditional version of conservatism in the Republican party, which has become increasingly dominated by President Donald Trump’s style of politics. In 2022, George P. Bush’s defeat in the Texas attorney general GOP primary was viewed as the potential end of the decades-long political dynasty, but Jonathan Bush’s campaign could give the family an opportunity to reboot its influence over the GOP.

Maine is a Democratic-leaning state that backed former Vice President Kamala Harris by about seven percentage points last November. But it does have an independent streak and has been willing to support moderate Republicans like Senator Susan Collins in the past.

What To Know

Bush, the co-founder of Athenahealth, who has been speculated to be considering a campaign, officially jumped into the race on Wednesday—joining many other Republicans and Democrats hoping to succeed incumbent Governor Janet Mills, a Democrat who cannot run for reelection due to term limits.

“Maine is the greatest place on earth to live and raise a family, but for many Mainers, it’s gotten too hard to achieve the American dream here. We’re paying too much to Augusta and getting too little,” he said in a campaign launch video. “Maine needs big change. I’ve made my career disrupting the status quo, creating jobs and helping people achieve their American dream.”

Bush touted support for auditing the state government, lowering taxes, investing in trade schools, and erasing regulations as ways he would advance Maine’s economy.

Bush has cast himself as a disruptor and problem solver in a state where Republicans typically need to be moderate to win a majority of voters. President Trump will likely loom over the primary and general election—candidates like Bush may need to walk a fine line to win support from Trump-aligned conservatives without alienating moderates in the general election.

Bush is a nephew to former President George H.W. Bush, cousin to former President George W. Bush and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, and grandson to former U.S. Senator Prescott Bush. He has ties to Maine, with the Walker’s Point Estate in Kennebunkport serving as a summer retreat.

Maine politics experts told Newsweek in August that there could be Republicans in Maine who support the idea of a more moderate candidate—and that there could be a path to victory for Bush.

“There are still Republicans in Maine who have fond memories of the Bush family, and some who support an idea of moderate, or at least non-Trumpish, conservatism who could well be open to such a candidate, and there are Republicans who hope to follow Trump’s political path. I don’t think it’s been established yet which faction is stronger,” Ronald Schmidt, professor of political science at the University of Southern Maine, told Newsweek at the time.

Bush won’t be the only candidate whose family has political ties. Both the son of Senator Angus King, Angus King III, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, and Representative Chellie Pingree, a Democrat, are already in the race on the Democratic side.

Several other notable candidates are also running, including Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson on the Democratic side. Republican candidates include Robert Charles, former U.S. assistant secretary of state, and State Senator James Libby.

Forecasters give Democrats an advantage in the race—the Cook Political Report classifies it as Likely Democratic, and Sabato’s Crystal Ball views it as Lean Democratic.

What People Are Saying

GOP candidate Robert Charles wrote on X: “Our state faces unparalleled chaos thanks to Augusta Democrats, and now has the chance to elect a conservative Governor who will cut crime, cut taxes and end Augusta Democrats’ nonsense. We cannot waste this once-in-a-generation opportunity to fix Maine on a divisive, Never-Trump elitist whose entire political identity is built on a hatred for the leader who delivered record jobs, border security, and American First policies.”

Jonathan Bush told WGAN on Friday: “I think Maine’s biggest problem is its economic growth crisis. That it’s just accepted it’s going to be a shrinking pie, and a shrinking pie is no way to live. We’re going to make more pie in Maine, and that’s what I’m going to do as governor.”

What Happens Next

Maine’s primary election is set for June 9, 2026, and the general election for November 3, 2026. Candidates like Bush will spend the coming months making their cases to voters about why they are the best candidate to lead the state of Maine.

Town officials sought answers from Delta Ambulance on Tuesday about a new plan to start using EMTs instead of sending paramedics on every emergency call, at the same time the regional transport service’s fees are going up.

Leaders from China, Belgrade and Vassalboro discussed their concerns with Chris Mitchell, Delta’s executive director, at China’s town office. Mitchell announced earlier this month that Delta’s per capita fees for towns will rise from $35 to at least $55 in July 2026, raising the alarm for towns that rely on the service.

He also said Delta is switching its EMS license from a paramedic level to an EMT level, which will permit EMTs to go on calls with or without a paramedic and offer basic life support. Paramedics with advanced life support training will also be working and able to intercept EMT ambulances on the way to a hospital if more care is needed.

Town officials worry the change means a higher cost for a more limited service.

Ambulance dispatchers determine how serious a call is based on the information they receive from an emergency caller, but it isn’t always reliable. Becky Hapgood, China town manager, said she is concerned a paramedic will be left behind for an emergency that requires advanced life support.

Mitchell said the change in licensure is a way of addressing paramedic shortages across the region. Calls that previously would have gotten no Delta ambulance because all paramedics were occupied can now get a basic-level ambulance, which Mitchell said would cover 57% of the service’s calls.

Mitchell said that because the stakes are higher in rural areas, Delta will have conversations with each town about its need for paramedics, considering rural roads and distance from an emergency room.

Delta operated a paramedic intercept system with Waterville that Mitchell said was made easier because of the two local hospitals and a concentration of calls in the city. Waterville, which runs its own transport operation, has a mutual aid agreement with Delta but is not one of the communities the service contracts with.

“We had a fly car — a paramedic on a SUV — covering two non-medic ambulances,” Mitchell said. “And that system worked really well, because at no point was there a paramedic that was really far away from a call.”

He added: “That model doesn’t translate well to a 500-square mile coverage area.”

Winslow has a mutual aid agreement with Delta to transport for each other free of charge, but paramedic shortages have strained that relationship, Winslow fire Chief Mike Murphy said during an August interview. Winslow calls Delta for a paramedic intercept when the town’s crew of per diem paramedics are occupied with other calls.

From July 2024 to July 2025, Murphy said, the department requested a paramedic from Delta 50 times and Delta said no 37 times.

Those instances forced Winslow to call Waterville or Fairfield for a paramedic, Murphy said, delaying the time help arrived on scene, especially after the closure of the nearest emergency room at Northern Light Inland Hospital in Waterville. Murphy said he wants to set up new inter-town agreements that rely less on Delta.

“I’m just looking to find a quicker response time if I don’t have a medic,” Murphy said.

Mitchell said during an interview in August that Delta prioritizes resources for towns that do not “already have the ability to transport.”

“If we sacrifice our last unit to get Winslow a paramedic, now those other towns that don’t have an ambulance — now they have nobody,” Mitchell said.

The change in licensure will bring more flexibility to calls, Mitchell said Tuesday.

The new plan will not take paramedics off the road, it will instead disperse them among more vehicles. Delta has hired 24 new people — mostly basic EMTs — in the last few months, Mitchell said.

“We didn’t reduce the number of paramedics in the system,” Mitchell said. “We just moved them around a little bit.”