By Regional Wildlife Biologist Shawn Haskell A year ago, some meteorologists examined intercontinental atmospheric and oceanic trends and predicted another cold and snowy winter for northern New England. This was a few weeks after the 80-degree weather we had in early September of 2018. For Aroostook County at least, they nailed it. Our snow period […]
By Wildlife Biologist Carl Tugend There are about 150 species of waterfowl worldwide, with 34 of these species utilizing habitats in Maine, including dabbling ducks, diving ducks, sea ducks, and geese species. The species present in Maine provide opportunities for the state to help preserve unique waterfowl habitats and also allow for sport hunting of […]
By Wildlife Biologist Kelsey Sullivan As a result of recommendations in the recently completed Big Game Species Plan, the Department has been working to generate a data rich method of estimating the size of our wild turkey population to best inform hunting season regulations at the wildlife management district (WMD) level. To achieve this goal, […]
By Fisheries Biologist Kevin Gallant Having the ability to age a fish is a valuable tool for fishery managers. Stocked fish often have clipped fins that tell us what age they are (by knowing the year the certain fin was clipped). With wild fish (and unmarked hatchery fish), we have a few other options to […]
By Regional Wildlife Biologist Chuck Hulsey Over the next couple of weeks little puff-ball feathered creatures will heed their mother’s calls and leap from where they just hatched, to the world below. Wood ducks, hooded mergansers, and American goldeneye are the best known of Maine’s cavity-nesting waterfowl. Natural tree cavities near or over water are […]
By Fisheries Biologist Tim Obrey The Moosehead Lake Region, as designated by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, is big…some might say wicked big. It stretches from Dover-Foxcroft in the south to Allagash Lake in the north, Rainbow Lake to the east and the thriving metropolis of Skinner to the west. The land […]
By Wildlife Biologist Mark Caron Increasingly MDIFW Regional Wildlife Biologists have been conducting prescribed burns on some of the wildlife management areas (WMAs) found throughout the state. Also known as ‘controlled burns’, this habitat management option is yet another tool available to MDIFW land managers. Controlled burns are conducted under strict and specific conditions and […]
By Regional Fisheries Biologist Liz Thorndike Smelt dipping in Maine is a springtime tradition for many, and depending on where you go and the conditions, these smelt runs can be sparse, or if you are lucky, the brook can run black with smelts. One night a few years ago, I captured this video of rainbow […]
By Regional Fisheries Biologist Gregory Burr For years, many of the famed trophy lake trout (also known as “togue”) waters Downeast languished in small fish obscurity. Lakes like West Grand, West Musquash, Tunk, Branch and the current lake trout state record holder, Beech Hill Pond, all at one time in the 1950’s, 60’s, 70’s and […]
By Lands Management Biologist Eric Hoar Inland Fisheries and Wildlife manages for all wildlife, both game and non-game species. One of the tools the Lands Program employs to create or enhance wildlife habitat is timber harvesting. Among other things, harvesting can be used to create young forest for the benefit of species such as grouse, […]
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