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.
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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.
Though long extirpated from Maine, wolverines once roamed the state’s wilderness. The Penobscot word for the animal, álaksohs, became “lunksoos” in local folklore — a mysterious creature that lived on in stories even after the real animal was gone. Credit: Creative Commons Zero, Public Domain Dedication
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.
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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.
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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.
A goshawk in flight, a reminder of the raptor species that once faced bounties but now soar freely over sanctuaries like Hawk Mountain in Pennsylvania. Credit: Bob Duchesne
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.
Keon Johnson had 21 points and 10 rebounds as the Maine Celtics defeated the Windy City Bulls 122-87 in an NBA G League game on Sunday afternoon at the Portland Expo.
Hason Ward scored 16 points and Jalen Bridges 14 for Maine (13-15), which had seven players score in double digits. Bridges drained four 3-pointers for the Celtics, who shot 13 for 28 (46.4%) from beyond the arc.
Max Shulga dished out 11 assists and scored nine points.
Maine led 33-18 after one quarter 72-36 at halftime.
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Keyshawn Bryant scored a game-high 25 points for Windy City (12-12).
AUGUSTA, Maine (WABI) – An emotional day from Fairfield to Augusta, but felt throughout Maine and beyond, as state officials, community members and loved ones honored the lives of two Department of Transportation workers who tragically died in the field.
Maine DOT Commissioner Dale Doughty described the accident as “the nightmare that commissioners worry about.”
While working on Interstate 95 in January, Maine DOT workers James “Jimmy” Brown, 60, and Dwayne Campbell, 51, died after a driver failed to brake at a stop sign and crashed into a tractor-trailer traveling on the highway.
To honor the men’s commitment to public service and their legacy as fathers, outdoorsmen and Mainers, a procession including DOT officials, family members and more traveled to the Augusta Civic Center Saturday for a memorial service.
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Among those in attendance was Gov. Janet Mills, who remarked on who Brown and Campbell were and their dedication to their profession.
“Jimmy, as you know, worked for the Maine Department of Transportation for 12 years. Dwayne for more than 23 years,” Mills described. “We could count on Jimmy and Dwayne just as we could count on the 1,600 Maine dot workers who keep our roads and bridges safe every day.”
Brown was known for his humor and love of fishing, cars and his children.
Campbell got his start in the DOT by following in his father’s footsteps. Mills said at the service that Campbell loved his daughters and time spent outdoors.
For Commissioner Doughty, losses like this hit hard because of the closely bonded “family business” that DOT is.
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That family expands past state lines, as departments of transportation from New Hampshire and Vermont were present to show their support.
New Hampshire DOT State Maintenance Engineer Alan Hanscom said he called Maine DOT just hours after hearing of the accident to see what his crews could do to help.
“My employees are impacted or subject to the same dangers that Maine and every other state is,” Hanscom said of the importance of his attendance. “I have an employee that was killed in a motor vehicle crash some years ago, so it kind of hits home.”
Saturday’s event served not only as a commemoration but also as a call to action. Despite DOT’s training, Doughty says it is rendered useless if motorists put right-of-way employees in danger through reckless or distracted driving.
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Hanscom expanded: “People don’t realize that this is our office. You’re driving through our office space. We’d like you to give us some consideration and slow down and be mindful of where we are. Give us a little respect.”
Doughty mentioned that these dangers extend beyond DOT workers to everyone who does roadside work. Because of this, he says, agencies must join forces to develop solutions.
“I really think it’s time, and we have a meeting coming up in April, where we pull all agencies and all companies that work in the right-of-way, contractors, utilities, everyone to start to talk about that message,” Doughty said.
On the podium, Doughty told audiences: “Please help us carry forward their memory, not only with tears, but with action.”
On Thursday, the Joint Standing Committee on Transportation authorized the Maine Turnpike Authority to conduct a pilot program for speed enforcement in work zones. The legislation is now headed to the House and Senate.
Despite retaliation from their employer, nurses affirm their commitment to their patients and their union
Over two years since Northern Maine Medical Center (NMMC) first formed their union and began bargaining in good faith for a first contract, nurses remain committed to the patients they serve, and to making their hospital the best place it can be for everyone. Union nurses at NMMC signed the letter they released today, which says in part:
“Over the past two years, you have no doubt heard about the conflict that has grown between the hospital and us.
We want you to know that we never asked for this fight. The initiative to organize our union was to protect ourselves and our patients, not to punish any individuals or the hospital as a whole.”
The nurses’ letter goes on to say that their immediate goals as a union include: winning safe staffing for nurses and patients, promoting transparency and accountability at NMMC, retaining our local providers and staff, and making their hospital sustainable for the long term.
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Terry Caron, RN and member of the nurses’ bargaining team said: “Two years ago, we decided to have a voice for ourselves and our patients by forming our union. The NMMC administration could have met us halfway, but it did not. It has only fought us and tried to punish us for speaking up. But we are as committed to our goals as ever. We will never stop fighting for our patients.”
NMMC nurses were joined today by Maine Senate President Mattie Daughtry, gubernatorial candidate Troy Jackson, and U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner. They echoed the nurses’ call for NMMC CEO Jeff Zewe to stop his retaliation against the nurses and to finalize the union contract for which the nurses have been bargaining for most of the past two years.
Maine State Nurses Association is part of National Nurses Organizing Committee, representing 4,000 nurses and other caregivers from Portland to Fort Kent. NNOC is an affiliate of National Nurses United, the largest and fastest-growing labor union of registered nurses in the United States with nearly 225,000 members nationwide.
