I have confirmed that Bill Beardsley will be presented Tuesday as Governor Paul LePage’s choice to serve as Commissioner of the Department of Conservation.

On November 30, I reported Beardsley as the likely choice, and consider this an exceptionally good appointment.

Thirty-five Mainers have been tapped to serve as a “Transition Advisory Team” for Governor-elect Paul LePage who presented the team at a November 23 press conference at the State House.

   

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My deer hunting had been going so well. I’d seen deer nearly every day. In fact I’d seen this particular buck twice.

The first time, he chased a doe right past my tree stand, literally passing right underneath me. My rifle and scope were useless, he was moving so fast. He whipped past me in seconds. I did notice a look of panic on the doe’s face, and I don’t think it was because she saw me. She didn’t want anything to do with that buck!

I have just learned that Governor-elect Paul LePage will present the team of people who will interview candidates for administration positions in state agencies at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, November 23, at the State Capitol.

As many as four dozen people may be involved in this process, with small groups assigned to specific agencies. They are expected to interview all candidates for commissioner positions and submit recommendations to LePage.

 

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They’re wild and fast, and unless you’re an ace with a shotgun, they’ll humble you.

During our annual North Dakota pheasant hunt in October, we saw hundreds of birds a day. How could it be so difficult to shoot my daily bag limit of three?

It was probably the best idea I had in my eighteen years as executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine.

Following another tough legislative session in which natural resource agencies and programs got clobbered again, I was fishing from camp at Sourdahunk Lake, pulling in some beautiful wild brook trout, but (unfortunately) still thinking about the legislature.

Here’s a book that could change your angling future. It should change the way you think about fish and fishing. It’s a “must-read” for all Maine anglers, fisheries biologists, and anyone who is concerned about the ways we manipulate our environment.

Anders Halverson, in his book An Entirely Synthetic Fish (Yale University Press 2010), explains “how rainbow trout beguiled America and overran the world.”

Animal rights activists have lost their latest battle to stop hunting and trapping in Maine. On October 20 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston affirmed a 2009 decision by Judge John Woodcock, Jr., dismissing the animal rights groups’ Canada lynx lawsuit.

This decision provides a very important national precedent. It’s been a long trail getting to this point, but here’s a quick summary:

The state’s primary vehicle for buying conservation lands and easements, the Land for Maine’s Future Fund, is broke. To make matters worse, federal conservation dollars that have fueled much of our state’s two decades of conservation projects are scheduled for significant reductions over the next several years.

That makes the decision of Maine’s voters on an LMF bond issue on the November 2 ballot particularly important.

They’re fishing in different pools, but sometimes they still catch the same fish.

The Maine League of Conservation Voters is the primary political action group for the state’s environmentalists, while the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine’s political action committee, SAM PAC, serves the same purpose for hunters, anglers, trappers, and gun enthusiasts.