The collapse of Maine’s dairy industry is a calamity for more than our dairy farming families. It is a disaster for all of us.

This summer’s rain wiped out hay, corn, and alfalfa crops vital to dairy farms, forcing farmers to purchase costly grain and feeds. “Everything is just devastated,” Dr. Rick Kersbergen of the Waldo County Cooperative Extension told Bangor Daily News reporter Sharon Kiley Mack.

The rules that govern recreational fishing in Maine are complex, discouraging all but the most committed angler from participating in this enjoyable outdoor activity. Even experienced anglers have difficulty finding their favorite waters and applicable rules in the rulebook issued by the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (IF&W).

You know about the birds and the bees. Start thinking about the birds and the beer.

Maine has cleverly packaged its birding and beering opportunities into two trails for tourists and residents alike. State Representative Bob Duchesne (D-Hudson) has focused his binoculars on an exciting economic opportunity, leading the drive to establish Maine’s very own birding trail.

They are beautiful animals, particularly those spotted fawns, and many people enjoy seeing them. But as deer populations in southern and coastal Maine climbed to historic levels in the past twenty years, people have come to see white-tailed deer as disease-bearing, vegetable-eating, road hazards.

If your life depended on moving upstream, you’d care more about culverts.

Poorly constructed road culverts have been devastating for many creatures, from tiny aquatic organisms to big Atlantic salmon, and for my favorite fish, officially designated by the legislature as a Maine Heritage Fish, our wild and native brook trout.

The Maine legislature killed a proposal to create a free saltwater angler registry in the final week of this year’s legislative session. Federal officials will now establish a fee-based registry. Maine saltwater anglers will have to register with the feds beginning January 1, 2010.

The legislature considered two bills: LD 1331, creating a saltwater fishing license and fee, and LD 1432, creating a free saltwater angler registry.

The license bill never had a chance. But the registry did until political maneuvering killed it.

If you have a private swim area in Maine, it’s time to haul in the swim line. The Maine Legislature decided roped-off, private swim areas on waters owned by the public should not be permitted. Some exceptions are granted for licensed camps and government entities.

Actually, they’ve never been lawful. But few people knew it and roped-off swim areas are common on many lakes and ponds.