Publications --The Loon '09

The Loon '09

Julia Flanders, editor

Shoppers News: Local Farmers Markets

Where will you buy your fresh fruit and vegetables while staying at camp this summer? Who’s your farmer?

There is nothing better than eating fresh lettuce, the first peas of the season, strawberries, and beet greens to go along with all those grilled goodies at camp. We are fortunate to have Stutzman’s in Sangerville for local produce and delicious baked goods, and many other roadside stands in the area. But if you are traveling farther away in Maine this summer, you might check out some of these Farmers Markets in our general area. They will all be open by mid June, some earlier as produce begins to ripen.

Bangor Farmers Market:
        Pickering Square downtown, Thursdays 2pm–6pm

Bangor European Farmers’ Market:
        Buck Street at Sunnyside Greenhouse, Saturdays 9am–1pm

Brewer Farmers Market:
        Wilson Street in front of the Brewer Auditorium, Tuesdays and Fridays from 8am–1pm, Saturdays 8am
        until sold out (3 pm)

Dexter Farmers’ Market:
        Parking lot at P&L Country Grocery on Rte 7, Fridays 9am–1pm

Newport Farmers & Artisans Market:
        Paris Farmers Union store parking lot Rte 2, Saturdays 9am–2pm

Orono Farmers’ Market:
        University Steam Plant Parking Lot on College Ave, Tuesdays 2pm–5:30pm and Saturdays 8am–1pm

Skowhegan Farmers’ Market:
        Rte 201 in the Skowhegan Savings Bank parking lot, Saturdays 9am–1pm

The ABC's of ATV's

It’s the beginning of a new ATV season in Maine, a good time to review safety rules and laws concerning the use of ATV’s. Our public access private roads in Tim’s Cove, Willimantic, are popular routes for camp owners with ATV’s, and the following Operation Guide is presented courtesy of the Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Department. For updated information we all should be aware of on rules relating to ATV’s, go to www.maine.gov/IFW/laws_rules. The IFW Warden is responsible for enforcement, so if you have any questions, call the Sheriffs Department in Dover-Foxcroft at 1-800-432-7372

ATV Operation Guide

Do
1. Always seek landowner permission before operating your ATV.
2. Respect private property you have permission to operate on and operate your ATV so as not to cause damage to the property.
3. Become a member of a local ATV club. If there is not a club in your area, help in the forming of one.
4. Take an ATV education course and then become a certified instructor so that you can help pass the education along to others.
5. Become involved and help in the creation of trails. Seeking and receiving landowner permission before a trail is developed is a must.
6. Stay on designated trails at all times. Straying from the trail can jeopardize landowner permission for the trail in the future.
7. Avoid operating an ATV when conditions are such that excessive damage will be done which in turn may lead to erosion problems. (Example: mud season Spring and Fall)

Don’t
1. Do not operate an ATV on a maintained snowmobile trail any time of the year except when landowner permission has been given or it is also a designated ATV trail.
2. Do not operate an ATV on a private road without landowner permission.
3. Do not operate an ATV on, along or adjacent to a railroad track or within the right of way of a railroad. Abandoned railroad right of ways that have had the tracks removed may be used if the use has been approved by the landowner.
4. Do not operate an ATV within 200 feet of any dwelling, hospital, nursing home, convalescent home or church.
5. Do not operate an ATV on any salt marsh, intertidal zone, marine sand beach, sand dunes, cemetery or burial place, alpine tundra or unfrozen freshwater bog or marsh.
6. Do not operate an ATV on any crop lands or pasture land or tree plantations.

Credit Where Credit is Due

A heartfelt thank you goes out to all those who paid road dues for 2008, with special thanks to those who are new to the Association, those who caught up on past dues, and those who paid extra!

        Adams, Bobby & Isolde                          Hyvonen, Jon & Rebecca
        Anderson, Dickinson                              Inglehart, Dave & Donna
        Aten, Edward M                                   Jackman, Steve & Karla
        Barry, Marie                                        Jacobson, Ed & Diane
        Belmain, Paul & Carolyn                          Jellison, Charlie & Phyllis
        Bennet, Clay and & Judy                      Kamys, Devora
        Bergeron, Dan & Dawn                         Larrabee, Dr. Roland & Kathie
        Bergerson, Steven                                Lowe, John & Nancy
        Blanchard, Mac & Dot                          MacKinney, Gordon & Judy
        Bonsey, Earnest & Diane                      Martell, Joseph
        Bonsey, Margerite                             Means, Rachel
        Canfield, Mark & Andrea                       Nicholas, Robert/Pod Susan
        Casali Jr., Albert & Marie Ann                Noble, Ralph & Maureen
        Casciotta, James & Jacqueline               Orcutt, Amos (UMO Foundation)
        Clark, Susan                                       Page, Don & Elaine
        Coggeshal, Michael                              Penikis, Rick & Paula
        Coll, Henry & Deanna Lewis                     Plaia, Charles & Kathleen
        Cookson, Steve                                   Rathbun, Larry & Jeanette
        Cote, Ken                                            Rathbun, Robert
        Crepeau, Tom                                    Ring, Greg & Kathy
        Curtin, Kevin & Sharon                          Rollins, Stephen & Wanda
        Dennison, William & Judith                       Rush, Don
        Dever, Ben & Janine                           Rukzinis, Clair
        Drury, Anthony & Mary Anne                   Schweizer, Hubert & Priscilla
        Dumas, Robert & Alicia                        Scott, Janet
        Ehrlich, Paul                                         Shaffner, Thomas
        Erbe, Kurt                                            Shields, James & Donna
        Erbe, Bob & Andrea                                Sikkes, James
        Fairbrother, Hoyt                                   Simpson, Jeff
        Fisher, George & Margaret                      Simpson, Robert & Donna
        Flanders, Dale & Julia                            Smith, David & Kathleen
        Freeman, Arlan & Bonita                         Smith, Vinal & Carol
        Goodell, Barry & Jody                           Snyder, Gene & Elizabeth
        Goodwin, Harold & Jean                       St. Germain, Reginald
        Greenlaw, John & Marlene                       Condon, Bob & Margery
        Gronberg, Barbara                                 Therriault, Bill & Mary Ellen
        Gronberg, Chris                             Vicari, Ken
        Guyotte, Joe & Bonnie                          Waterman, Jan
        Hale, Don & Catherine                          Weston, Don & Barbara
        Harris, Carolyn
        Hewitt, Vandy
        Hill, Dorothy
        Hilton, Scott

Road Dues for 2009 are $150.00 as voted at the 2008 Annual Meeting. The number of property owners who pay their dues continues to increase. Thank you to all those who have participated in pot hole filling and brush cutting, and thanks to everyone who drives slowly, and pulls over for outgoing traffic. We like to see those waves hello, too!

PLEASE MAKE DUES CHECKS PAYABLE TO:

TIM’S COVE PROPERTY OWNERS ASSOCIATION

Mail checks to: BEN DEVER
109 ANDERSON RD.
DOVER-FOXCROFT, ME 04426

Loons on the Rise

Maine Audubon Society 2008 LOON COUNT – Report from Falmouth, Maine January 2009

After two consecutive years of declining numbers, findings from the 2008 Maine Audubon Loon Count show that the state’s adult loon population is rebounding.

Over 1000 citizen-scientist volunteers (a record turnout) helped conduct the 25th annual count in July. Surveying 332 lakes and ponds across Maine one morning, the group recorded 2,083 adult loons and 184 chicks. This is an increase over counts in 2007 and 2006.

Susan Gallo is the wildlife biologist and director of the Maine Loon Project. She said, “We were worried that there would be a drop in the adult population for an unprecedented third year in a row. The bounce back is a relief and puts the population back on a healthy track.”

The chick population count for 2008 showed a drop in numbers. Swings in the chick population are typical from year to year, and the population has remained stable over time. But consistent rains in the weeks after May of 2008 may have had a negative impact on chick survival rates. With enough heavy rain, lake levels can rise enough to flood nests, which are built on shore at the water’s edge.

Maine Auduban’s loon count is the centerpiece of the Maine Loon Project. It is the biggest citizen-science-wildlife monitoring project in New England. Through the project, Maine Audubon actively engages people in conservation, educates the public about loon biology, and collects scientific data needed to advocate for legislation that benefits the loons.

Volunteers are needed for the 2009 count, which is scheduled for July 18th. Sebec Lake has no representative for the loon count. If you are interested in volunteering, and for more information, please contact Susan Gallo at 207-781-2330, or email her at sgallo@maineaudubon.org

Fireside Chat

One of the joys of being at camp is having a fire in the wood stove in the evenings, to take off the dampness or warm up after a swim in the lake. What kind of wood do you burn? Here is a little fireside lore to consider when looking for wood to burn:

Hickory makes the hottest coals in stoves when winter's bleak,

Apple wood, like incense, burning through the hall makes fragrant reek,

Elm wood fires have little smoke and warm both serf and lord,

Oak logs, split and dried this year, make good next winter's hoard,

Beech burns bright and fills the room with warm and dancing light,

Maple sweet, not white or red, will burn throughout the night,

Birch logs cut need ne'er be stored; they blaze, then heat the pot,

Ash, straight grained and eas'ly split, the kettle sings and stove is hot,

Poplar logs must need be dried lest sooty smoke ensue,

Pine and fir midst showers of sparks burn fast and line the blackened flue.