The Maine Principals’ Association is prepared to follow state mandates and new guidelines issued by the National Federation of State High School Associations to pave the way for a safe return to sports activities. The spring season was canceled in March by the MPA because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was to have been the last time many of Maine’s high school football standouts would ever put on a helmet and shoulder pads. Now, they won’t get the opportunity. John Hersom, the president of the Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl Clasic, has announced that the 31st annual senior all-star football game has been canceled because of complications caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Levi Ladd was the Maine Central Institute girls JV basketball coach in 2008. Now the Milo native is back at the Pittsfield school as the varsity coach.

The sweet of the year started today, May 17. The week of cold north winds did a 180-degree shift, and a south wind moved in where I live at Branch Lake. Overnight the hardwoods in the higher elevations turned from somber gray to a delightful lime green. The forsythia blossomed.  And the first black fly wave came calling. Ah, spring!

The woods near the SeDoMoCha School may be too swampy for construction, but a group motivated to enhance outdoor learning opportunities is rebuilding it as a living laboratory. Thanks in part to a $7,350 grant from the Piscataquis County Fund of the Maine Community Foundation, a nature trail developed at the Dover-Foxcroft site nearly a half-century ago in an effort led by former teacher Dorothy Warren is in line for a makeover.

For spring high school coaches and athletes, the COVID-19 pandemic has left a massive void. That is especially true for seniors who will never have the opportunity to complete their high school careers. The sports shutdown also has impacted for baseball and softball umpires, lacrosse referees and track and field officials.

With schools closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, spring sports canceled and the future uncertain, the Maine Principals’ Association has ventured into the virtual world for a new activity to sponsor. The organization, which regulates high school athletics in the state, is adding esports to its list of MPA extracurricular activities beginning in the fall through a partnership with PlayVS.

Maintaining your health is about more than just not contracting a deadly disease — even during the pandemic. But as the stay-at-home orders have dragged on, many of us have let our daily physical activity slide, which compromises our physical health in other ways. It’s time to change that.

The MPA Interscholastic Management Committee recently issued a memo outlining revisions to their policy in the upcoming months. They include pushing back the start of summer coach-athlete interactions and eliminating the normal August hands-off period. The MPA also instituted a contact period for remote workouts and instruction and temporarily suspended its minimum academic requirements.

Jokingly referred to as the “Maine State Bird,” black flies are one aspect of the Maine outdoors that most people would prefer didn’t exist. Dotting the air in early spring, these tiny bugs have an annoying habit of flying into people’s eyes and ears. And their bites can be especially itchy.

The Piscataquis County Committee of the Maine Community Foundation has awarded $40,850 in grants to several nonprofits.

In his 2016 book “Maine Sporting Camps,” George Smith writes, “In 1904 there were at least 300 sporting camps in operation in Maine. By 2007, this number had dwindled to fewer than 40. In his interview with the Maine Sporting Camp Heritage Association Smith also learned that these few remaining camps “face serious challenges to their survival.” 

The American Legion National Organization has canceled its 2020 baseball season for teenage players across the country. American Legion officials went a step further than the Little League organization, which also cited COVID-19 concerns in canceling its regional tournaments and World Series for various age groups.

According to a group representing sporting camps around Maine, Gov. Janet Mill’s rural reopening plan falls short of providing relief to commercial sporting camps, employees, guides and rural neighbors because it bans visits from non-residents. Non-resident fishing trips over the next six weeks generates almost 90% of the annual revenue for many of the camps operating across the state.

The MLB Network on Sirius radio has been airing games from different eras with the focus on some of the great play-by-play men in the history of baseball.

On Saturday's opening day of wild turkey season, I had no intention of waking up before dawn, waddling into the woods in the dark, and trying to find a wild turkey I wasn't sure would be there. No, my initial plan looked more like this: Wake up at the crack of nine, eat a little bit, gather up my gear, and then … maybe … waddle into the woods.

With so much confusion and uncertainty this spring about what you can or cannot do and stay within the law, there isn’t a trout or salmon angler in Maine or elsewhere who isn’t asking this question: “Will I be able to access the woods and go fishing?” North Maine Woods, a recreational land management group that controls access to thousands of acres of woodlands and fishing waters in northern Maine, has announced that it will open its gates, but with conditions.

The organization that represents landowners who control more than 3.5 million acres of Maine forest have reopened those lands to day use, and hopes to reopen primitive camping sites to Maine residents beginning June 1.