LOVELL — It’s official, for now — North America’s tallest known American chestnut tree is growing in a protected forest in Lovell. Officials from The American Chestnut Foundation came all the way from Asheville, N.C., to be present for the official measuring ceremony in a media event on Wednesday. They found the tree to be 115 […]
Maine Forest Service
Posted inRiver Valley
Wildfire season underway in Maine
RUMFORD — Wildfire season has arrived in Western Maine and fire officials are getting the word out. State forest rangers responded this week to wildfires in Porter and Newfield in southwest Maine, and in Deer Isle off the midcoast. On Thursday afternoon, rangers were sent to a wildfire in Gouldsboro in Hancock County. On Tuesday, the National Weather […]
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Posted inMaine, sj-web
LePage appoints new Maine Forest Service head
AUGUSTA — Republican Gov. Paul LePage has appointed the head of the Maine Forest Service to manage forestry activities on state-owned lands. The Portland Press Herald reports that Doug Denico’s appointment to the post is drawing concern from environmental groups opposed to LePage’s efforts to boost timber harvesting on public lands. The former director of […]
Posted inConnections
Stream-crossing workshop offered
LEWISTON — A Stream-Smart Road Crossing workshop will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 26, at the Ramada Conference Center, 490 Pleasant St., Lewiston. Registration/check-in begins at 8 a.m. The workshop will cover road-stream crossing projects from site assessment to permitting and installation. The emphasis will be on maintaining and […]
Posted inLetters
N. Bernard: Forest Service deserves full funding
I am concerned about proposed budget cuts to the Maine Forest Service that would cut the number of forest rangers by 36 percent, strips rangers from their current responsibility of enforcing forestry laws and proposes to replace 48 rangers with just seven natural resource officers. That is a 91 percent reduction in workforce, including cuts […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
LePage’s budget proposal aims to overhaul forest service
Eight months after vetoing a bill that would have armed Maine forest rangers, Gov. Paul LePage, in his budget proposal, is seeking to overhaul the Maine Forest Service by creating a new class of natural resources law enforcement officers under the Bureau of Forestry and removing the police powers of existing rangers. The budget plan […]
Posted inRiver Valley
Wet weather, fungi combo proving deadly for Maine state tree
BETHEL — Maine’s state tree, the Eastern white pine, is looking rather ragged across Western Maine this month. The trees are primarily suffering from overwatering by Mother Nature for the past eight years. That’s allowed a suite of fungi to flourish and attack. The white pine needle disease epidemic, as it’s called, is turning the […]
Posted inFranklin
Pandora’s Box: Waging war on invasive plants
FARMINGTON — Living next to a cemetery isn’t a great place to be unless you happen to be an invasive plants and trees educator like Patty Cormier. Her yard beside Riverside Cemetery on Route 2 in Farmington is a veritable Pandora’s box of invasive plants and trees. Birds and the prior owner of their property, […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Property owner decries illegal stump-dumping in Monmouth
MONMOUTH — Upon his return home from volunteering with the Monmouth Lions Club on Saturday, Guy Piper thought something looked amiss on his property. While he was gone, someone had dumped 11 large stumps just beyond the woods line and left Piper with the mess. Piper’s land is across from Monmouth Academy and is clearly […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Maine Forest Service warns of high danger for wildfires
The Maine Forest Service says the danger of wildfires is high for the inland part of the state — from York County to Piscataquis County. The Kennebec Journal reports that the service responded to nearly a dozen spot fires in southern Maine this past weekend. The paper reported about a half-dozen brush fire reports were […]