I have the best job at the BDN. Replace me.

By Julie Harris, Bangor Daily News Staff

Outdoors is a beat that almost no other paper in the country has. But that isn’t the only reason it is so special at Bangor Daily News. How we cover it is unique.

Our Outdoors journalist actually hunts and fishes and knows the lingo, but also is very familiar with other outdoor activities and their special languages. We know the issues around land access and use of public lands, maintaining and building trails for snowmobiling, ATVing, hiking and other activities, the increasing roles of registered Maine guides, conservation and its relationship to traditional uses, the role the state plays in managing wildlife and the outdoors experience and how law changes affect all of it. 

We are stewards of the places we write about and we approach issues with fairness and intelligence.

I will have worked for Bangor Daily News for 46 years, plus two days, by the time I retire on May 31. In all of that time, I have worked in my most interesting and beloved job there over the last two years as Outdoors senior editor/writer.

It’s a great job, and one I’m reluctant to give up. I have loved telling Mainers’ stories and keeping our audience informed and entertained. In addition to Outdoors, I have been editor of our Homestead stories, another iconic Maine topic.

Some of the most important stories I’ve encountered in Outdoors include the lack of state regulations for controlling floating camps, the removal of a dam that could restore a native salmon in Sebago Lake, which is Maine’s second largest body of water, the dangers of rubber worms and stories about Moosehead Lake — the state’s largest lake — from weeding out proliferating lake trout to the growing number of invasive bass to keeping voracious pike out.

But other stories got to the heart of who we are as a state. Numerous stories about people who hunted for and killed big deer, moose or bear, or caught big fish, children who accomplished grand slams (a turkey, deer, moose and bear in the same hunting season), years-long quests of stalking single animals, volunteers who struggled to restore snowmobile and ATV trails after epic storms all but destroyed them, my own first-time moose hunt that was more than 20 years in the making, a boat made out of a picnic table, lots of videos of animals doing funky things and so much more.

I occasionally took a stand too, like when South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem shot her hunting dog in a gravel pit because it didn’t perform the way she wanted it to in the field, and other issues that nagged at my ethics. I did an explainer on why more Maine hunters are using ARs, and wrote about how hunters saw a more restrictive gun law and what effect the mass shooting in Lewiston had on them.

I’ve had the privilege of being BDN’s first female Outdoors editor and have told more stories about women who hunt, fish, are registered Maine guides and recreate. 

Stepping into this legacy role was kind of daunting at first, with ghosts of people like Bud Leavitt and Tom Hennessey looming over me, but I soon realized modern outdoors life is more like mine than theirs.

I’ve also had the privilege of working with a gifted group of Contributors, who share their lives on various topics, from hiking to trail cameras to fishing and shooting sports. There’s a lot of room to expand that network into other outdoors topics. 

The next editor will have great tools and a base for growing a stronger BDN Outdoors section.

The bottom line is that Outdoors has to be your passion. It has been mine for a lifetime, and I look forward to enjoying it more fully in my retirement.