How Thanksgiving began is varied, all for reasons of being thankful. Today, Thanksgiving has become to most Americans, a time to gather as families, eat far too much food and perhaps even watch a little football.

I hope you will also take some time from your busy to schedule to reflect back on all the things you are thankful for. And, by the way, make sure to share at least one of the thanks with someone else.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tom Remington

*Attention: Note change of date from Dec. 16 to the 17th*

Wednesday, December 17, 2009
6:00 – 10:00 P.M.
At the Matterhorn Ski Bar – Sunday River

Suggested donation at the door:
$10.00 individual adult
$5.00 for children under age 12
RSVP by Friday, December 11
Call 207-824-6836 (Leave message with # of people)

Food, beverage, music; Live and Silent auctions.
Organizers are soliciting help with donations of food, beverages and items for the auctions.

Call Roger at 207-824-6836 or email rb@matterhornskibar.com

You can print out the form at this link, and mail it to the address listed on the form.

The second Marsh Island deer depredation hunt, an effort to assist the City of Old Town and the Town of Orono with nuisance deer problems and public safety concerns, took place over a three-week period in October and resulted in the harvest of 46 deer.

The depredation hunt occurred between Oct. 5 and Oct. 24, and utilized the Maine Bowhunters Association (MBA) and the Bowhunters Landowners Information Program (BLIP). This year, 22 BLIP archers harvested 46 deer: 35 in Old Town and 11 in Orono.

Of the 46 harvested, 39 were antlerless, including 28 adult does and 11 fawns, and seven were adult males. An additional four deer were not recovered. Extensive searches were made and included the use of tracking dogs in an attempt to recover these four deer. At least 31 of the 46 deer were donated by BLIP archers to various families and individuals.

As was the case last year, BLIP archers were not reimbursed for their expenses, which in some cases was considerable. Data was collected on all 46 deer using IF&W’s data form and a tooth taken for aging purposes. A review of the BLIP Reporting Card kept by archers indicated that as many as 334 deer were observed by the archers during the three-week hunt. Some of the sightings were certainly the same deer observed on more than one occasion.

This is the second year of this controlled hunt. Last year’s effort occurred during the first two weeks of December and took place on two city-owned parcels – the Airport and Penny roads. A total of 17 BLIP archers took part and harvested eight deer. After reviewing last year’s hunt results, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and MBA agreed to three major changes: moving the effort to October (pre-rut), adding a third week to the hunt, and include private lands with landowners’ permission.

With approval from the Orono Town Council and the Old Town City Council, IF&W proceeded with its rule-making process and the IF&W Advisory Council approved the hunt for 2009 and beyond.

To determine the private lands for this year’s harvest, IF&W and MBA met to review land ownership maps for Marsh Island and identified several parcels of land in hopes of obtaining landowner permission to allow BLIP archers to hunt. Letters were sent to these landowners seeking permission and several responded in support of our request. A total of 1,136 acres from 17 parcels were made available for the deer reduction effort. Of this, BLIP archers utilized nine parcels totaling 1,042 acres. Parcels not used were due to proximity to other residences or for other various reasons.

IF&W and MBA greatly appreciate the support of landowners who made their lands available to BLIP archers for this effort.

Some of the parcels hunted also were areas frequented by the general public for walking, jogging, and biking. BLIP archers were asked to keep track of the number of pedestrians observed while hunting. A total of 134 people were observed by the archers while hunting. Most people observed weren’t aware of the archer’s presence and passed by. There were some encounters on the ground but all were friendly and no issues arose. There were two instances where members of the public were (in the opinion of the archer) clearly looking for tree stands and included shining lights in the trees. There also was a situation were two individuals were apprehended by Game Wardens, Old Town Police, and University of Maine Campus Security while trying to steal a tree stand.

Additionally, during the pre-hunt scouting, an MBA BLIP archer, Game Warden, and Maine State Police K-9 Unit apprehended a poacher on an Orono parcel.

IF&W and the MBA greatly appreciate the assistance given to Game Wardens by University of Maine and Old Town police.

Overall, BLIP archers clearly showed that archers and the public at large can share the woods without incident or concern for safety. IF&W and MBA greatly appreciate the public support and positive feedback they received during the course of the three-week hunt. At this time, IF&W and MBA plan on a BLIP hunt on Marsh Island in 2010.

AUGUSTA – The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife is reminding hunters who harvest deer, caribou, elk or moose in another state or province to do their part to prevent the introduction of Chronic Wasting Disease in Maine.

This week, 18 caribou harvested in Canada were transported over the border into Maine as carcasses that had not been fully prepared for transportation into the state in accordance with state law. The caribou reportedly were harvested by nine Maine hunters who intended to prepare the animals in Maine. The Maine Warden Service is investigating the incident.

Chronic Wasting Disease is one of a group of diseases known as Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs). It is known to occur in mule deer, elk, and white-tailed deer, although other cervids such as red deer, fallow deer, sika deer as well as moose, and caribou may also be susceptible.

CWD is thought to be caused by an infectious protein called a prion that upon entering the body; causes the host’s normal proteins to take on a diseased form. These prions accumulate in the brain and spinal cords, as well as lymph nodes, spleen, eye tissues, bone marrow, saliva, feces and urine in diseased deer.

CWD causes irreversible damage to brain tissues in affected animals and ultimately leads to death.

State laws make it illegal for hunters who hunt and kill a deer, caribou, elk or moose in another state or province to transport any carcass parts that pose a risk of containing CWD prions back into Maine. Hunters may return to Maine only with boned-out meat, hardened antlers (with or without skull caps), hides without the head portion, and finished taxidermy mounts. If still attached, skull caps must be cleaned free of brain and other tissues.

It is legal for individuals to transport cervid carcasses or parts through the state of Maine if they are destined for other states, provinces, and countries. Transportation is to occur without undue delay and must use the most reasonably direct route through Maine to the final destination. Cervid carcasses or parts must be transported in a manner that is both leak-proof and that prevents their exposure to the environment.

The laws are a result of the fact that no state or province can claim to be free of CWD.

If it emerges in Maine, CWD could seriously reduce infected deer populations by lowering adult survival and de-stabilizing populations. Monitoring and control of CWD is extremely costly and would divert already scarce funding and staff resources away from other much-needed programs.

If you plan to hunt deer, caribou, moose or elk in a state/province known or suspected to harbor CWD there are some commonsense precautions you should take to avoid handling, transporting, or consuming potentially CWD-infected specimens.

The precautions include:

· Do not eat the eyes, brain, spinal cord, spleen, tonsils, or lymph nodes of any deer.

· Do not eat any part of a deer that appeared sick.

· If your out-of-state deer is sampled for CWD testing, wait for the test results before eating the meat.

Field dressing:

· Wear rubber or latex gloves while handling the carcass.

· Minimize contact with the brain, spinal cord, spleen, and lymph nodes (lumps of tissue next to organs or in fat and membranes) as you work.

· Use a hunting knife, not knives used at the dinner table.

· Remove all internal organs for proper disposal by burial, or other means that prevents contact by live deer.

· Clean knives and equipment of residue and disinfect in a 50/50 solution of household chlorine bleach and water for 1 hour.

Currently, there is a high demand for CWD testing in states known to harbor CWD. Unfortunately, existing laboratory tests for CWD are expensive, time-consuming, and they can only be performed at a small number of federally approved labs. Although our system in Maine can accommodate enough samples (less than 1,000) from farm-raised and wild deer to scientifically monitor for CWD, we are not able to routinely test hunter-killed deer in Maine at this time.

Are Urine-Based Deer Lures Safe? Until more is known about whether commercial deer lures pose a realistic risk of spreading CWD, we recommend that hunters use caution in spreading urine-based lures in the environment, and avoid placing the lures on their clothing or skin.

GRAY – The Maine Wildlife Park in Gray, owned and operated by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, played host to more than 102,200 visitors this year, up 9 percent from 2008, despite the rainy summer.

The Maine Wildlife Park seeks to provide education and information about Maine’s native wildlife, as well as the programs and projects being undertaken by IF&W to manage and conserve wildlife as an essential resource of the state.

The increase in visitors translated into a 24 percent increase in revenue, attributable to a small admission fee increase in 2009 and sales from the park’s Nature Store.

Per Legislative mandate, all revenues generated by the Maine Wildlife Park are dedicated specifically and only to the Maine Wildlife Park, from which all annual operating expenses are withdrawn.

By conducting periodic surveys of Maine Wildlife Park visitors throughout the season, we have found that as many as 45 percent of our peak season (mid to late summer) visitors are from out of state, and visitors from around the globe constitute close to 5 percent of overall attendance. Visitors repeatedly stated that they heard about the Maine Wildlife Park from friends and family, and the Maine Wildlife Park’s website consistently is in the top 5-10 pages viewed on IF&W’s website.

Several special events this season had record-breaking attendance; including the annual “Honor the Animals” Native American Pow Wow with close to 5,000 visitors for the 2-day event; our popular ‘HalloweenFest’ with 1,200 visitors, most in costume, for the 3-hour evening event; and more than 1,000 people for the 2nd Annual Rick Charette concert. The busiest non-event day on record with close to 1,500 people on the Friday of April school vacation!

It appears that the Maine Wildlife Park has become a destination and/or a ‘staycation’ for both residents and out-of-state visitorsl. Although people enjoy all of our resident wildlife, clearly the most popular species is the moose. As the wildlife park continues to make annual improvements in the exhibits for wildlife, as well as for visitors, we look forward to seeing new and returning visitors in 2010.

For more information about the Maine Wildlife Park, please visit our website at: www.mainewildlifepark.com or become a fan on Facebook! Just search “Maine Wildlife Park.”

The Court denies the Plaintiffs’ request for permanent injunction against the state of Maine’s current trapping regulations because it finds that the Plaintiffs have failed to prove the Canada lynx as a species will suffer irreparable harm if the injunction is not granted.

A victory, perhaps only temporary, for trappers in Maine and all across the United States, actually. For simplicity, may I refer to this case simply as the Maine Lynx Lawsuit? Thanks. The entire 32-page ruling by Judge John A. Woodcock, Jr. can be viewed by clicking this link.

I have read through the entire ruling at least a couple of times and have a few conclusions I have come up with that I would like to share. Please bear in mind I am not a lawyer nor do I wish to pretend to be one. It is however important that we learn as much as we can from such cases, which can mean listening to the conclusions drawn by other people. I welcome yours.

When the Animal Welfare Institute and the Wildlife Alliance of Maine decided to sue the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife seeking a “permanent injunction” against Maine’s trapping laws, its claims where to protect the Canada lynx, a federally protected species, living in Maine. The court spelled out for us quite clearly that the onus or the burden of proving to the court the need for the injunction fell in the lap of AWI and WAM. They failed in that category.

Before I get into what specifically the Plaintiffs failed to persuade the court of, let’s first address what could prove to be a very important, if not the most important part of this ruling. Judge John A. Woodcock, Jr. wrote the ruling and in that he determined an interesting finding.

The Court reiterates its view that the proper test for determining irreparable harm is effect on the species as a whole, not on individual members of the species, unless the take of an individual member has been demonstrated to affect the species as a whole.

This has not always been the view of some courts. It has been contended for some time that the intent of the Endangered Species Act was to preserve a species as a whole and not in my back yard, when the species may be thriving in many other widespread areas. Personally, I find this ruling encouraging.

We should however take to heart everything that Judge Woodcock served to us in his ruling. He contends and I concur, that the Plaintiffs failed to persuade him that the events taking place in Maine and concerning its trapping laws are putting the lynx species as a whole in any harm. While I agree with him, it doesn’t mean a better prepared group of plaintiffs couldn’t persuade him to change his mind.

Woodcock lays the ground rules as to what would force him into issuing a permanent injunction.

To issue a permanent injunction, the Court must find that:
(1) plaintiffs prevail on the merits; (2) plaintiffs would suffer irreparable injury in the absence of injunctive relief; (3) the harm to plaintiffs would outweigh the harm the defendant would suffer from the imposition of an injunction; and, (4) the public interest would not be adversely affected by an injunction.

But the biggest burden of proof that sunk the Plaintiffs was their attempt at convincing the court that “irreparable” harm, the result of the current scheme of trapping regulations, would result in the destruction of the lynx; that incidental “taking” of the lynx was putting the species as a whole in danger. The court examined the major aspects of these trapping regulations, the equipment being used and expert testimony to make his determination as to whether “irreparable harm” was being put on the lynx species as a whole.

The Court found that the Plaintiffs’ arguments focused on criticism of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s statistics and findings, while offering no expert testimony to refute such findings. The Court was also unimpressed with the Plaintiffs’ reference to studies that would require a stretch of the imagination to consider them relevant to this case. (My words not those of the Court.)

In an earlier post, I shared with readers about the Plaintiffs’ attempt at convincing Judge Woodcock that the stress placed on a lynx by merely being captured in a trap could easily result in death. The Plaintiffs referred to this stress as “capture myopathy”.

Something that came out in the ruling I found very interesting; that is if I am understanding the Court properly. Many have argued that the MDIFW has been at fault for not applying for an “Incidental Take Permit” from the federal government. Such a permit, if granted, would release some of the legal responsibilities should Canada lynx, a protected species, be incidentally trapped in traps not intended for lynx capture.

In the Court’s ruling, it appears to me that MDIFW opted not to apply for that permit because they believed that the Endangered Species Act is designed to protect the species as a whole and not the incidental taking of an individual member of that species. They further believed that under the latest rules governing trapping, any incidental takings of lynx caused no harm to the individual animal and certainly posed no threat to the lynx species as a whole. From this perspective, MDIFW felt they were not in violation of the Endangered Species Act and therefore did not need an Incidental Take Permit. It appears that Judge Woodcock agreed.

IF&W argues that “proving a violation of the ESA, whether procedural or substantive, does not obviate the need to prove irreparable harm.” Id. at 15. For support of this argument IF&W cites a number of cases involving “ongoing procedural violations of the ESA” which still required evidence of harm……………………………
IF&W suggests that “only a procedural violation is at issue here. IF&W is permitting trapping without having obtained an Incidental Take Permit but without any evidence that a listed species is being harmed.”

If the MDIFW foresaw that applying for an Incidental Take Permit, was an act of admission that the Maine trapping regulations were harming the lynx species, then this is an act of brilliance and appears to have played an important role in the Court’s ruling. If they stumbled into it, we’ll take it.

We all should go away from this case happy that Judge Woodcock possesses common sense in reaching decisions while at the same time adhering to the laws. As I said before, we also must learn from this experience, walking away knowing full well that a better funded, better prepared group of plaintiffs could just as easily convince the court that Maine’s trapping regulations are putting the Canada lynx in jeopardy.

On a bit of a side note, I thought it worth a laugh when Judge Woodcock described the testimonies of Dr. Paul Paquet and Camilla Fox as mostly educated opinions and went as far as to refer to Ms. Fox’s testimony as “an educated advocate”.

Tom Remington

AUGUSTA – Two Maine Warden Service sergeants were promoted to the rank of lieutenant during a brief ceremony today at the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

Kevin S. Adam of Dexter and Thomas D. Ward of Masardis were sworn in by Commissioner Roland “Danny” Martin. The oath was witnessed by MWS Colonel Joel Wilkinson and Major Gregory Sanborn.

“The people of Maine and the officers of the Maine Warden Service will be in good, safe hands because of the strong commitment to duty and solid work ethic held by Lt. Adam and Lt. Ward,” according to Commissioner Martin. “I congratulate them for their well-deserved promotions

Lt. Adam will supervise approximately 35 sergeants and game wardens in the Central Division, which encompasses Piscataquis and Somerset counties and portions of Hancock, Kennebec, Penobscot, Waldo and Washington counties, and is based in Greenville.

Lt. Ward will supervise approximately 35 sergeants and game wardens in the Northeastern Division, which encompasses Aroostook County and most of Washington County, and is based in Ashland.

“Lts. Adam and Ward are dedicated individuals who believe in the mission, vision and values of the Maine Warden Service,” said Col. Wilkinson. “We’re confident they’re going to do great things. When faced with making a tough decision, they’ll make the right decision for the public as a whole and the Maine Warden Service.”

Both will report to Major Sanborn, director of field operations, and join two other lieutenants in the ranks. Today’s promotions fill slots vacated by the retirements of Lt. Doug Tibbetts and Lt. Patrick Dorian, each who served in the Maine Warden Service for more than 37 years.

“Although the Maine Warden Service lost over 74 years of experience with the recent retirements, the promotion of Lts. Adam and Ward leaves the respective divisions with experienced leadership,” according to Major Sanborn. “I look forward to working with these lieutenants.”

Lt. Adam’s exemplary and distinguished career began in 1986 as Deputy Game Warden, and in 1992 he was named District Game Warden in the Dexter area. He was promoted to sergeant in 2007. In 2002, Lt. Adam received the distinction of “Warden of the Year.” He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in conservation law enforcement from Unity College. Lt. Adam also manages the organization’s search and rescue operations, and serves as liaison at the Maine Emergency Management Agency.

Lt. Adam and his wife, Bobbie Jean, have two daughters, Gabrielle and Isabella.

Lt. Ward’s exemplary and distinguished career began in 1985 as a Deputy Game Warden. From 1987-1996, he served the Daaquam, Rockwood and Greenville areas as a District Game Warden, and was promoted to the rank of sergeant in 1996. He received the distinction of “Warden of the Year” in 1994. Lt. Ward also manages Homeland Security operations, working closely with national and Canada security agencies on border issues. He holds an Associate of Science degree in forest management technology from the University of Maine and studied criminal justice at Southern Maine Technical College, Eastern Maine Technical College, and the University of Maine at Augusta.

Lt. Ward and his wife, Shari, have three sons, Isaac, Caleb and Amos. His father, Allyn, also attended the ceremony.