WOODS & WATERS
Protecting Maine’s
THE MAINE DEPARTMENT OF INLAND FISHERIES AND WILDLIFE’S ROLE IN MANAGING OUR CO-EXISTENCE WITH NATURE BY BOB DUCHESNE
62 / BANGOR METRO August 2022
IN THE NATURAL WORLD, human beings are an invasive species. Homo Sapiens tip the balance of nature their way wherever they go, often crowding out the creatures that once lived there. Science documents six mass extinction periods since life began on Earth. Five occurred due to natural phenomena. The most recent occurred 65 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period, when an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs. The current mass extinction time frame is called the Holocene Epoch, and nearly all of the extinctions are a direct result of human-related activities. Species are disappearing from the planet at a rate up to 80 times faster than normal. Extinction is natural. Around 98 percent of all species that have ever lived on Earth are now extinct. It’s today’s rapid rate of extinction that is both ominous and preventable. In Maine, the task of managing our co-existence with other creatures falls primarily to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. In one way or another, virtually every animal species in Maine is managed. Game management makes most of the headlines. Populations of Maine’s four big game species — deer, moose, bear and turkey — are monitored carefully. Wildlife biologists set harvest limits annually to ensure that hunting is sustainable. Likewise, seasons and bag limits regulate the sustainable hunting of small game, upland birds and waterfowl. Trapping is monitored closely in order to avoid harm to threatened species, such as Canada lynx. Nongame management often flies under the radar, but it shouldn’t. Everybody’s somebody’s lunch, and the entire food chain matters when managing human interactions with wildlife. Birds eat pests. Insects pollinate crops. Black fly larvae nourish brook trout. DIF&W produces one set of plans for game species, and another whole set of plans for managing nongame species. Scarce and vulnerable species get special attention. These include mammals such as New England cottontail rabbits, northern bog lemmings, and Maine’s six species of bats.
PHOTOS: PARILOV & PAUL/ADOBE STOCK
NATURAL RESOURCES
