King’s Bipartisan Push to Address National Parks Backlog and Fund LWCF Gains Momentum Senator King, the Ranking Member on the Senate Subcommittee on National Parks, is a lead sponsor of the Restore Our Parks Act and a steadfast supporter of the LWCF WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) joined a bipartisan group […]
A very important bill allowing expansion of the bear harvest died yesterday when the legislature abruptly adjourned. The bill, strongly supported by DIFW, would have been voted on today by the IFW Committee, and then gone to the House and Senate for action. DIFW says we have 45,000 bears, and thinks we need to reduce […]
Great news! A legislative committee has voted unanimously for a resolve to void CMP’s public lands lease for their destructive corridor through western Maine. The resolve also notes that Maine’s constitution requires approval by two-thirds of the legislature for public lands to be substantially altered. CMP claims it is not substantially changing our public lands, […]
The legislature’s IFW Committee had a long discussion about deer feeding, and received extensive reports from DIFW on these issues. The department recommended no changes to the existing laws, but did say they had plans to address all the issues and concerns. One handout I found interesting was wildlife biologist Nathan Bieber’s briefing paper on […]
Tom Doak of the Maine Woodland Owners Association was a member of the ATV task force and has written a good explanation of their recommendations, which are being considered by the legislature’s IFW Committee. Here is Tom’s column. ATV Task Force Submits Recommendations By Tom Doak As I have been discussing in the past several […]
The legislature’s Fish and Wildlife Committee worked yesterday on bills on deer baiting and biodegradable hooks and lures. The Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Department spent more than two hours briefing the committee on deer feeding issues and answering questions. I will report on that in more detail later. But essentially, the department asked for no […]
The legislature’s IFW Committee will work on LD 1804 today, a bill about deer baiting and feeding. DIFW has prepared a report and recommendations for the committee. Here is their report. A Report on the Applications and Impacts of White-tailed Deer Feeding with Recommendations for Maine Nathan R. Bieber Wildlife Biologist Maine Department of Inland […]
At a work session this morning, the legislature’s Fish and Wildlife Committee acted on 3 bills carried over from last year’s legislative session. Deputy game wardens The first bill, LD650, was designed to strengthen Maine’s landowner relations bill, by adding 5 new deputy game wardens to DIFW’s staff. But DIFW did not support the bill, […]
The legislature’s IFW committee voted today to postpone a decision on a bill to require biodegradable hooks and lures for freshwater fishing. The IFW department said they are concerned about the impact of these hooks and lures, and reported they’d organized a task force to address this issue. IFW said they’d examined the stomachs of […]
Senator Angus King has been a strong advocate for creating coins to honor George and Barbara Bush, a wonderful idea. You probably haven’t heard this because Angus works hard to get bipartisan support, behind the scenes, without fanfare. Senator Susan Collins was a cosponsor of the bill. The coins should be minted and distributed this […]
