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.
The Senate held a rare Sunday session this weekend in hopes of finding a deal to end the government shutdown, which has lasted a record 40 days. (Mariam Zuhaib/Associated Press)
A group of moderate Democrats has a tentative deal to reopen the government if Republicans promise to hold a vote on expiring health care subsidies by December, a potential breakthrough as lawmakers seek to end the shutdown.
The group of three former governors — New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan and Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine — has a deal to pass three annual spending bills and extend the rest of government funding until late January, according to three people familiar with the agreement who requested anonymity until the deal is made public.
The deal was far from final, and final passage of the legislation could take several days. Republicans had not yet said whether they support the deal, and it was unclear whether there would be enough Democrats to support it absent their central demand through the now 40-day shutdown — an extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credits that expire Jan. 1.
After Democrats met for over two hours to discuss the proposal, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer emerged to say he would vote “no.” Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who caucuses with the Democrats, said as he walked into the meeting that it would be a “horrific mistake to cave in to Trump right now.”
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Republicans have been working with the group of moderates as the shutdown continued to disrupt flights nationwide, threaten food assistance for millions of Americans and leave federal workers without pay. But many Democrats have warned their colleagues against giving in, arguing that they can’t end the fight without an agreement to extend the health subsidies.
Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said earlier in the day that a potential deal was “coming together.” But he has not yet publicly endorsed it.
“We’ll see where the votes are,” Thune said.
Returning to the White House on Sunday evening after attending a football game, Trump did not say whether he endorsed the deal. But he said, “It looks like we’re getting close to the shutdown ending.”
Democrats have now voted 14 times not to reopen the government as they have demanded the extension of tax credits that make coverage more affordable for health plans offered under the Affordable Care Act. Republicans have refused to negotiate on the health care subsidies while the government is closed, but they have so far been supportive of the proposal from moderate Democrats as it emerged over the last several days.
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The contours of a deal
The agreement would fund parts of government — food aid, veterans programs and the legislative branch, among other things — and extend funding for everything else until the end of January. It would take up Republicans on their longstanding offer to hold a future vote on the health care subsidies, with that vote occurring by the middle of December, the people said.
The deal would reinstate federal workers who had received reduction in force, or layoff, notices and reimburses states that spent their own funds to keep federal programs running during the shutdown. It would also protect against future reductions in force through January, the people said, and guarantee all federal workers would be paid once the shutdown is over.
Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, home to millions of federal workers, said he would support the deal.
“I have long said that to earn my vote, we need to be on a path toward fixing Republicans’ health care mess and to protect the federal workforce,” Kaine said.
Alongside the funding fix, Republicans released final legislative text of three full-year spending bills Sunday. That legislation keeps a ban on pay raises for lawmakers but boosts their security by $203.5 million in response to increased threats. There’s also a provision championed by Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to prevent the sale of some hemp-based products.
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Democratic pushback expected
Republicans only need five votes from Democrats to reopen the government, so a handful of senators could end the shutdown with only the promise of a later vote on health care. Around 10 to 12 Democrats have been involved in the talks, and the three people familiar with the agreement said they had enough votes to join with Republicans and pass the deal.
Many of their Democratic colleagues are saying the emerging deal is not enough.
“I really wanted to get something on health care,” said Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin. “I’m going to hear about it right now, but it doesn’t look like it has something concrete.”
House Democrats were also chiming in against it. Texas Rep. Greg Casar, the chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said a deal that doesn’t reduce health care costs is a “betrayal” of millions of Americans who are counting on Democrats to fight.
“Accepting nothing but a pinky promise from Republicans isn’t a compromise — it’s capitulation,” Casar said in a post on X. “Millions of families would pay the price.”
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Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota posted that “if people believe this is a ‘deal,’ I have a bridge to sell you.”
Even if the Senate were to move forward with funding legislation, getting to a final vote could take several days if Democrats who oppose the deal object and draw out the process. The first vote, which could come as soon as Sunday evening, would be to proceed to consideration of the legislation.
Republicans preview health care debate
There is no guarantee that the Affordable Care Act subsidies would be extended if Republicans agree to a future vote on health care. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has said he will not commit to a health vote.
Some Republicans have said they are open to extending the COVID-19-era tax credits as premiums could skyrocket for millions of people, but they also want new limits on who can receive the subsidies and argue that the tax dollars for the plans should be routed through individuals.
Other Republicans, including Trump, have used the debate to renew their yearslong criticism of the law and called for it to be scrapped or overhauled.
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“THE WORST HEALTHCARE FOR THE HIGHEST PRICE,” Trump said of the Affordable Care Act in a post Sunday.
Shutdown effects worsen
Meanwhile, the consequences of the shutdown were compounding. U.S. airlines canceled more than 2,000 flights on Sunday for the first time since the shutdown began, and there were more than 7,000 flight delays, according to FlightAware, a website that tracks air travel disruptions.
Treasury Secretary Sean Duffy said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that air travel ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday will be “reduced to a trickle” if the government doesn’t reopen.
At the same time, food aid was delayed for tens of millions of people as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits were caught up in legal battles related to the shutdown. More than two dozen states warned of “catastrophic operational disruptions” as Trump’s administration is demanding states “undo” benefits paid out under judges’ orders last week, now that the U.S. Supreme Court has stayed those rulings.
And in Washington, home to millions of federal workers who have gone unpaid, the Capital Area Food Bank said it is providing 8 million more meals than it had prepared to this budget year — a nearly 20% increase.
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Associated Press writers Stephen Groves and Kevin Freking contributed to this report.
As a young man, I read Hemingway and Steinbeck, Harrison and McGuane. Along the way, the fly-fishing raconteur Richard Brautigan brought tears to my eyes while the rabid environmentalist Edward Abbey had me raising my fists in outrage.
I took to heart the words of Gary Snyder, the acclaimed poet turned Buddhist, found in his thought-provoking book, “Practice of the Wild”:
“The wild requires… we learn the terrain, nod to all the plants and animals and birds, ford the streams and cross the ridges, and tell a good story when we get back home.”
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Over the years, I’ve tried to follow his advice, attempting from time to time to tell a good story when returning home from the Rangeley Lakes Region of western Maine. My wife and I have owned a camp there for more than 40 years.
This part of the Pine Tree State has not changed much. Logging roads have replaced some river routes that once carried timber to mills across the New Hampshire border. Grand hotels catering to wealthy sports may be gone. But the rivers, streams and ponds surrounding our cabin are much the same as Johnny Danforth and Fred Baker found them when they spent the winter of 1876 hunting and trapping above Parmachenee Lake.
This region is known for its brook trout, fish that have called these waters home since glaciers receded more than 10,000 years ago. They are not as large as they once were, but a 16-inch native brook trout is not uncommon and certain to make an angler’s heart flutter. Landlocked salmon, introduced in the late 1800s, are now as wild as the moose that sometimes plod down to the shoreline to muse over the mysteries of the conifer forest.
When Trish and I first arrived, I cast large streamers and weighted nymphs in a manic pursuit for ever-larger fish. I wore a vest with more fly boxes than Samuel Carter had little liver pills. My pack was heavy with reels spooled with lines that sank at different rates, along with extra clothing for northern New England’s constantly changing weather.
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Such angling requires time on the water, especially after the spring thaw, which in western Maine may not begin until mid-May.
This is when ice leaves the lakes and smelts, the region’s principal bait fish, enter the big rivers to spawn, with brook trout and landlocked salmon following closely behind.
By late September, trout and salmon swim up rivers like the Magalloway, Kennebago, Cupsuptic and Rapid on their own spawning runs. This provides a second opportunity to take fish measured in pounds rather than inches.
I have fished in rain and sleet, under snow squalls and blistering sun. I was buffeted by wind and harassed by black flies, mosquitoes and no-see-ums. Rapids threatened to take me under, and storms sent the occasional lightning bolt my way. All while I stripped streamers across dark pools and bounced nymphs over river bottoms from first light until after dark. I am addicted to the tug of fish measured in pounds rather than inches.
As the years passed, I discovered another type of fishing, one found on the many tannin-stained brooks that slip across the Canadian border. These streams twist through balsam and spruce for mile after mile. Some have no names, others form the headwaters of larger rivers where most anglers continue their search for trophy fish.
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Along these secret rills, I have learned to enjoy casting my flies to brook trout far smaller than those in the big rivers. A few are no longer than a finger, the largest fitting in the palm of a hand. In these narrow ribbons of water, hidden under shadows cast by a vast conifer forest, I have come to appreciate what Thoreau described as “…these jewels…these bright fluviatile flowers, made beautiful, the Lord only knows why, to swim there.”
Now, on the losing side of middle age, I seek waters too small to gather attention from other anglers — forgotten places where trout live under boulders, in shadows cast by conifer branches, along undercut banks, or hiding in plain sight in sunlit riffles. These are fish that have rarely heard a wading boot or the splash of an artificial fly.
This type of fishing requires an angler to heed the words of the legendary American naturalist John Muir, who wrote, “Only by going alone in silence, without baggage, can one truly get into the heart of the wilderness.”
No longer do I feel compelled to wing heavy flies past my ear or make 60-foot casts until my shoulder aches. I carry a single metal tin that fits in the pocket of my canvas shirt. Once holding cough drops, it now holds a handful of flies: pheasant-tail dry flies, patterns with parachute wings for casting upstream, a few elk hair caddis or black ants for summer and fixed-winged and soft-hackled hare’s ear wet flies for when I work downstream.
I leave my 8-foot fly rod constructed of space-age material at the cabin. Instead, I carry a 6-foot-6-inch rod, made of cane the color of maple syrup, the good stuff produced at the end of the season and once classified as grade B. I could never afford such a rod but bought this one secondhand. The cork base is stained from its prior owner.
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Seated on a lichen-covered boulder or fallen tree trunk, I sometimes wonder who might cast this little bit of fishing history after my time on this whirling orb ends.
When a 6-inch brook trout splashes through the surface, my mind is free to be in the moment. With less distraction, I enjoy the creatures along the edges of running water — the mink slinking around boulders on the opposite bank or the beaver slapping its tail so loud it sounds like a shotgun echo.
Sometimes it is simply the flash of a tiny warbler or the song of a secretive thrush. I catch myself smiling at the splash of a frog or staring into the eyes of a bashful toad no larger than a button.
Seated by the wood stove on a November evening, a mug of tea warm against my palms, the sound of hail pinging against the windows as it mixes with damp snow, I can retrieve these moments that, like a Basho haiku, remain frozen in time.
Tramping through western Maine’s fields and forest, casting a fly while kneeling on a mossy bank, holding my breath in anticipation of a rising fish, I escape the madding pace of modern life.
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As long as my legs allow, I will tread that trail less traveled — the one alongside a stream where brook trout play tag with a bit of feather and fur — and return to tell a tale or two.
In our world of day-to-day changes and challenges, it was a joy to read the Press Herald article “Maine students weigh in on first mock referendum election” (Oct. 29).
The article featured a mock election for Morse High School Students in Bath. However, mock elections also took place in 78 schools all across our state. Referendum 1 and Referendum 2 were on the students’ ballots. A third question was whether the voter believes in the Declaration of Independence and whether the voter thinks it is relevant to today.
Kudos to the Department of the Secretary of State for creating and overseeing this mock election program for students. The program encourages students to be excited about and familiar with the voting process. The program also provides a forum for discussion and critical thinking about current issues. What a pleasure it was to have read this exceptionally positive article.
