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The legislature’s Inland Fisheries and Wildlife tackles significant issues this week, starting at 9 am on Monday (January 23) morning with a presentation of the recommendations of a study group tasked with figuring out how to reverse Maine’s decline in nonresident hunters. (See my previous January 18 blog post for more information).

Following that presentation, the committee opens public hearings on three bills. LD 1613, An Act to Strengthen the Relationship Between Land Users and Landowners” is sponsored by Rep. Andre Cushing on behalf of the Small Woodland Owners Association of Maine. Harry Vanderweide and I contracted with SWOAM last year – using a grant from the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund – to create a new landowner relations program.

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The sense that we were in Italy overtook us shortly after we were seated at Amici’s Cuchina on Waterville’s Main Street. Well, perhaps with the exception that everyone was speaking English.

Mary and Angelo Carpinito have worked in the restaurant business for decades, but this is the first place they opened and operated on their own and they’ve hit a home run their first time up at the plate.

If you are looking for an authentic Italian dining experience, this is the place. We talked with two couples that night that have been to Italy several times and agreed with us on this.

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Will Maine ever regain the nonresident hunters it lost over the last decade? Realistically, probably not. But credit for trying goes to the members of a legislatively-authorized Nonresident Hunter Task Force whose report – including an extensive list of recommendations – will be presented on January 23 to the legislature’s Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee.

The presentation is scheduled soon after public hearings on three bills, scheduled for 10 am, are completed. You can listen to the presentation online at the legislature’s website. I am told that the report eventually may be posted on DIF&W’s website. I will be there to post a report on the presentation.

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Round Two.

When we last left them, the legislature’s Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry Committee was entertaining an ugly partisan free-for-all over proposed changes to the way Maine handles planning and governing in the state’s 10 million acres.

If you’ve been snoozing, here’s a quick synopsis of Round One.

Governor LePage proposed to abolish the Land Use Regulation Commission and give its responsibilities to counties. The legislature rejected that proposal and in its place, authorized a Study Commission to look at all of the issues and prepare recommendations.

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Next week could be a quiet one for legislative watchers, unless you are watching – or participating in – the live theater known as the Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry Committee’s consideration of a study group’s recommendations for the Land Use Regulation Commission.

Updating my previous two blog posts on this topic, Rep. Jeff McCabe was refused the opportunity to sit in and observe a meeting earlier this week at which two private individuals who participated on the LURC study commission met with the ACF’s legal analyst to draft a bill on behalf of the committee that incorporates all of the study group’s recommendations. That refusal apparently came from the ACF’s Senate Chair, Roger Sherman and was unprecedented – if not illegal.

Perhaps I should distribute my recent editorial page column on Civility. You can access that in the “Native Conservative” section of this website.

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Finally, we have snow! And when you get out there on your snowshoes to enjoy this abbreviated winter season, you’ll see lots of bird nests.

Avian Architecture will identify the birds that made those nests, and give you lots of fascinating insights about how those birds design, engineer, and build the nets.

And I’m not exaggerating when I use the word fascinating. I found this book, written by Peter Goodfellow and published by Princeton University Press in 2011, to be amazing.

First, the gorgeous photos will grab your attention, 300 gorgeous full-color shots. My mouth fell open when I turned to the introduction and saw the African Masked-Weaver, hanging upside down from its nest. Wow!

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Rangeley is well-known for its outstand recreational opportunities, but did you know about the community’s fabulous inns, restaurants, and shops?

Even though we central Mainers can reach the town in about an hour, we tend toward I-95 and longer trips north and south, even for an evening’s dinner.

Turn that vehicle west and you will find a warm and welcoming community offering everything that gives Maine bragging rights for its quality of life.

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