Maine
Maine’s lost wildlife: species that vanished or nearly disappeared
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.
The Maine Marine Patrol has launched the newest and largest patrol vessel in its fleet, the 57-foot P/V Allegiance, which will support safer and more effective offshore patrols, according to the Maine Marine Patrol, in a news release. The vessel was officially put into service on Thursday, June 11, during a christening event at Perry’s Lobster in Surry.
“Maine Marine Patrol routinely patrols commercial fishing activity offshore and hauls and inspects tens of thousands of lobster traps annually,” said Marine Patrol Colonel Matt Talbot, in the news release.
“While still capable of supporting Marine Patrol’s mission near shore, the new vessel will better position Marine Patrol to conduct offshore commercial fisheries enforcement, including the ability to safely haul and inspect large lobster trawls in federal waters,” said Colonel Talbot.
The vessel will also be used to respond to search and rescue incidents, monitor fisheries in addition to Lobster including scallop, Atlantic Herring, Menhaden, and Groundfish, and others.
The P/V Allegiance will be based in Boothbay Harbor and assigned to Marine Patrol Specialist Evan Whidden. It replaces the 29-year-old, 35-foot P/V Vigilant.
The P/V Allegiance was constructed and finished by Wesmac Custom Boats in Surry.
“This is the fifth patrol vessel built or refitted by Wesmac and we are once again very pleased with the quality of work and attention to detail by the Wesmac team,” said Colonel Talbot.
The P/V Allegiance is powered by a low-emission Tier 4 Man Diesel V-12 1450hp engine which can cruise in excess of 20 knots. It is equipped with state-of-the-art Furuno navigation electronics, and a heavy duty 17-inch hauler. It has significant deck space and an open stern which will allow Officers to safely handle and set back the larger offshore lobster trawls Marine Patrol Officers will be inspecting. The vessel is also equipped to carry a 15-foot Ribcraft Rigid Hull Inflatable boat on deck, which can be used for at-sea boardings to check vessels for compliance with marine resources laws.
PORTLAND (WGME) — Maine Governor Janet Mills has not yet decided whether the state will opt into a new federal tax credit program that would help fund private school tuition, tutoring and other educational services.
The program, called the Educational Choice for Children Act, would start next year. In states that opt in, individuals can receive up to $1,700 in tax credits for donations they make to scholarship-granting organizations, also known as SGOs. Those SGOs would then award grants to students to cover private school tuition, tutoring and other educational services.
Families earning up to 300 percent of the area median income can qualify for the scholarships in states that opt in.
Under the current framework, donors contribute to SGOs and receive federal tax credits, and SGOs use the funds to award scholarships for qualifying educational expenses, including tuition, fees, tutoring, curriculum materials and educational therapy for K-12 students. SGOs can also use donated money to award scholarships for educational expenses, including everything from private school tuition to special needs services and educational therapy.
Each state’s governor must opt in by filing IRS Form 15714. Once opted in, the state designates SGOs to operate within its borders and distribute EFTC scholarships to eligible families.
Republican State Senator James Libby of Cumberland, a member of the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee, says he is interested in bringing the program to Maine.
“What it really does is it takes dollars that would normally go to pay for taxes and put them directly into education,” Libby said. “The program itself allows for expenditures for other things besides school choice, so the states can set it up the nonprofit to have goals for whatever they want. There’s a lot of good parts to this legislation and I truly hope Maine will get involved.”
Democratic Rep. Kelly Murphy, who chairs the state’s education committee, says she believes the program would hurt Maine students.
“The Education Freedom Tax Credit favors families that already have the ability to pay for private schools at the expense of families with students enrolled in public schools,” Murphy said. “A decline in public school enrollment would result in a loss of state funding for local SAUs, as the costs for running schools continue to increase, putting additional pressure on property taxpayers to make up the gap. This program and others like it would hurt the majority of Maine students, especially those in small, rural schools across our state.”
The U.S. Department of the Treasury is in the process of finalizing rulemaking for the program. Currently, 30 states have opted into the program, and four states have opted out. In New England, New Hampshire is the only state that has opted in so far.
It is unclear if there is a hard deadline for states to opt in, but Mills is facing pressure to sign off this year so the Department of the Treasury can approve scholarship organizations before scholarships become available in January.
A 51-year-old man was fatally struck by an Amtrak train in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, on Thursday afternoon, and police believe alcohol was a factor.
Old Orchard Beach Police say they responded around 2:18 p.m. to the area of the railroad tracks located off from the roadway near 133 Temple Avenue. The victim, who had been struck by a train traveling northbound, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Information obtained from witnesses suggests the man was traveling alone and walking nearby the railroad tracks moments before being struck by the train, according to police, who didn’t say why they believe alcohol was a factor in the incident.
The victim’s name is being withheld pending further investigation and notification, with police saying only that he was from Old Orchard Beach.
Amtrak said in a statement obtained by NBC10 Boston affiliate News Center Maine that the individual was trespassing when he came into contact with the train.
Amtrak urged the public in its statement to stay off railroad property and use caution around railroad tracks and grade crossings, writing, “These incidents can affect everyone involved—those who are injured or die and their families, our train crews, and our passengers.”
There were no reported injuries among the 135 passengers and crew members abord the No. 683 train that was traveling from Boston to Brunswick until the incident happened on Thursday.
The added that preventing railroad incidents and fatalities is a priority for them. Amtrak is working with local authorities investigating this latest incident.
An investigation remains ongoing by the Old Orchard Beach Police Department, Amtrak Police and Saco Police Department, which responded to assist.
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