Richard Gurney of Rockwood maintains a bait pile on Brassua Lake that he allows local friends to use, whether they choose to hunt coyotes over it, or just sit and take photos of the scavenging animals that visit for a snack.

Last spring, I wrote about a project to prevent invasives from gaining access to Rainbow Lake. Rainbow Lake is one of just a dozen waters in Maine that holds native Arctic charr. In fact, Maine is the only state in the lower 48 to have any native Arctic charr. These fish are very sensitive to aberrations in the natural ecosystem.

America’s longest-serving conservation organization, the Appalachian Mountain Club, is teaming up with the country’s top ranked environmental nonprofit, The Conservation Fund, to protect nearly 27,000 acres of working forestland in Maine’s North Woods.

MONSON — Once upon a time many years ago, when horses pulled carts and carriages, winter transportation required sleighs to get around.

Four snowmobilers encountered thin ice on Sebec Lake early Saturday morning, Feb. 9. Shortly after midnight the four men encountered thin ice on the lake, Carignan and Smith escaped going in but Lynch and Taylor became completely submerged along with their snowmobiles. Both men managed to get out of the water and onto the ice. Taylor drove one of the two remaining snowmobiles to an unoccupied camp to find warmth.

Puritan Medical Products, a Guilford-based global manufacturer of single-use products will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2019. Puritan’s management team attributes “innovation, evolution, and authenticity” to the longevity of the organization, which originated from humble beginnings in 1919 as the Minto Toothpick & Specialty Company.

Piscataquis Community Elementary School kindergartener Abel Richardson thought he was attending a Winter Carnival kickoff assembly when he was called to the front of the cafeteria for a surprise presentation on Wednesday.

Three tiny bear cubs are resting peacefully in new dens after their original winter home was disturbed by a logging operation on Jan. 31, and their startled mother fled.

During a Feb. 5 meeting of the county commissioners, County Manager Tom Lizotte said the final Atkinson annual town meeting before deorganization would be held on the evening of Monday, Feb. 11. “I don’t anticipate any issues,” Lizotte said.

Brook trout are among the state’s most treasured natural gifts, and Maine is lucky to have more places to catch wild brookies than any other state in the lower 48. And according to a state fisheries biologist, anglers on the state’s largest lake have been hauling in some huge brookies of late.

Dexter Family Practice has joined Mayo Regional Hospital to become the hospital’s fifth rural health center in the region.

Gabrielle Heuttener and Susannah Heuttener of Monson, Tyler Libby of Parkman, Ingrid Halvorsen of Guilford, and Tyler Judd of Athens served as honorary pages in the Maine Senate on Jan. 31. They were visiting the Statehouse with the 4-H Youth Development Program and they met with Sen. Paul Davis, R-Sangerville.

Nikki Hamilton has always been an athlete. When she was a kid you’d likely see her exploring the woods, playing sports or riding her horse Blackjack. No sitting around indoors for her! One winter when she was 12 years old her dad, Kirk, encouraged her to consider ice racing.

The meeting schedule is still to be finalized -- last year the group met weekly from late February across four sessions leading up to a public hearing the last Wednesday in March -- but the 2019-20 Dover-Foxcroft budget advisory committee is in place with four positions set by the selectmen during a Jan. 28 meeting.

The 12th annual Moosehead Lake Togue Derby with Ricky Craven is in the books. The event is organized by the Natural Resource Education Center at Moosehead (NREC) to raise funds for programming. Anglers from all over made the trek north to Maine’s largest lake for the action. As would be expected, Mainers make up the vast majority of participants, but organizers also sold tickets to folks from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Quebec, and Florida

The Dover-Foxcroft Police Department did not have to look very far to fill the sergeant vacancy with the hiring of retired Maine State Police corporal and town resident Matt Grant.

Mayo Regional Hospital has announced the closing of its primary care office in Guilford. The official closure date for Guilford Medical Associates, which is housed via lease from the town at the C.H. Lightbody Medical Center on Park Street, will be Friday, April 5.

Kim Cavanagh, a local lawyer and Foxcroft Academy alum, was celebrated recently at the Center Theatre for the Performing Arts Board of Director's annual meeting. The meeting was Cavanagh's last after being on the Center Theatre board since 2012.