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Meeting Minutes
March 18, 2025 @ 9:30am
353 Water Street, 4th floor conference room
Augusta, ME
(and virtually via Microsoft Teams)
Attending:
Judy Camuso, Commissioner
Timothy Peabody, Deputy Commissioner
Christl Theriault, Assistant to the Commissioner
Mark Latti, Communications Director
Nate Webb, Wildlife Division Director
Liz Latti, Fisheries and Hatcheries Division Director
Jen Vashon, Game Research and Management Section Supervisor
Bob Cordes, Special Projects Coordinator
Lee Kantar, Moose Biologist
Kelsey Sullivan, Game Bird Biologist
Shevenell Webb, Furbearer Biologist
Becky Orff, Secretary/Recorder
COUNCIL MEMBERS
Shelby Rousseau (vice-Chair)
Eric Ward
Al Cowperthwaite
Roger Grant
Bob Duchesne - via Teams
Ed Pineau via Teams
Tony Liguori via Teams
John Neptune via Teams
Vacant Washington County seat
GUESTS
Claire Perry online
James Cote - online
I. Call to Order
Shelby Rousseau, Vice-Chair, called the meeting to order.
I-A. Pledge of Allegiance
II. Moment of Silence
III. Introductions
Introductions were made.
IV. Acceptance of Minutes of Previous Meeting
A motion was made by Mr. Ward to approve the minutes of the previous meeting and that was seconded by Mr. Cowperthwaite.
Vote: Unanimous in favor minutes approved.
V. Rulemaking
A. Step 3
There were no items under Step 3.
B. Step 2
1. 2025-26 Migratory Bird Seasons
Mr. Sullivan stated no written comments were received. A public hearing was held with seven people in attendance. Only one spoke on the record and was in support. There seemed to be general support across the board. There were no major changes, just date shifts for the calendar. There was one correction to the original proposal for the bag limits for pintails.
A motion was made by Mr. Ward and seconded by Mr. Cowperthwaite to move the item to Step 3 for final adoption.
Vote: Unanimous in favor move item to Step 3.
A motion was made by Mr. Ward to accept the proposal as amended and that was seconded by Mr. Cowperthwaite.
Vote: Unanimous in favor motion passed.
2. Gray Squirrel Hunting Season
Mrs. Vashon stated the proposal was to add one month to the gray squirrel season to end January 31st. It would not affect the daily bag or possession limits or the falconry season. A public hearing was held on March 6th with two people in attendance. One presented comments and we received 3 written comments in support. They were mostly identifying the increased opportunity as a way to introduce new hunters and expand opportunity outside the big game season into January. The rule also aligns with a lot of the northeastern states with their seasons ending in January or February.
A motion was made by Mr. Ward and seconded by Mr. Duchesne to move the item to Step 3 for final adoption. Vote: Unanimous in favor move item to Step 3.
A motion was made by Mr. Ward to accept the proposal as presented and that was seconded by Mr. Liguori.
Vote: Unanimous in favor motion passed.
C. Step 1
1. 2025 Moose Permit Allocations
Mr. Kantar stated we were recommending no moose permit changes. One of the biggest drivers was that in 2024 the legislative committee had asked the Department to put together a stakeholder group that met over several months and one of the biggest things that came out of the discussion was to have a professionally done survey, which was done by Responsive Management. The report was published and the Department met with the stakeholders to receive feedback. Discussions were ongoing. Over the next year or so the Department would be looking at the Big Game Management Plan again, so it was a good time to see how it all turned out before making any new changes.
Commissioner Camuso asked for an update on the tick collection from the fall and what Mr. Kantar had seen during the moose capture project.
Mr. Kantar stated we had two good mechanisms for predicting what winter ticks may or may not do to moose. One of those, we had been looking at winter ticks on the back of bull moose during the October seasons since 2006. Now that we had 18 years of data, and working with our research with GPS collared moose and looking at mortality over time, we compare the two data points together and make a prediction of whether the following spring we were going to lose a lot of calves or not. We knew after looking at the October tick counts on bull moose that this year was going to be a bad year. The exact severity of it was unknown but would probably be greater than 50% mortality. We recently hired a biometrician and had been working on taking our captured moose calves (70) and looking at their live weights at capture, and their tick counts and found with those two things we were able to make a prediction of how many would not survive. The probabilities were high this year for a lot of the calves not to make it to one year. 2024 was our best year for survival since beginning the work in 2014, we had 8% mortality and 92% survival. It was not cyclical. If there was a pattern, we were trying to understand the complexities of a good or bad tick year. We had been doing moose capture work since 2014, the capture in WMD 4 was to support the adaptive hunt and have good science behind it. 2026 would be the last year of capturing calves.
Mrs. Rousseau asked what regions were having more issues with ticks.
Mr. Kantar stated with winter tick it was everywhere.
Mr. Ward asked about winter/spring conditions, there had to be a reason that drove the tick counts down.
Mr. Kantar stated what was difficult about winter tick was it had a 1-year life cycle and many of those months it was just egg masses on the landscape, then you had larvae, nymph and adult. The adult stage, they were living on the moose and not much impacted them unless the moose scratched them off. If you thought of the egg masses during the summer and breaking out into larvae and getting on the bushes, you could have a catastrophic weather event in one day that changed the direction of the ticks. The egg masses were like a ball, the outside protected the inside. It was very complicated. We had been working with others and had climate and weather stations out to collect data.
Mr. Ward asked about the proposed spruce budworm spray and if that would have any effect on ticks.
Mr. Webb stated the chemical they were planning to use to spray for spruce budworm was specific to butterflies so it would not have any effect on ticks.
Mrs. Rousseau asked about complaints with the number of moose permits.
Mr. Kantar stated our number of moose permits had always been very conservative. We had more bull permits than anything and that didn't impact population growth or decline. Our cow harvest was conservative. We worked hard to get the best scientific data we could to support our decision making. People may be uncomfortable with the permit levels or the ramifications, but you had to lean back on the science.
Mr. Pineau asked about the calf mortality predicted for the coming year.
Mr. Kantar stated it would likely be between 50-70%.
Mr. Ward asked if we had any proposed studies to zero in on where the biggest tick problems were occurring, such as type of forest cover, etc.
Mr. Kantar stated that was what we were proposing for a next step. We were hoping to get higher fix rated collars. The collars we were currently using were meant to assess survival, so we only got two fixes per day. The habitat experts would say we needed to have many more locations per day to hone down where the moose were. For a higher fix rate we were looking at 10 or more per day. On an adult cow we would know where she was in the spring and analyze that for the type of habitat and timber harvest. In the fall we could do winter tick surveys to tease out the abundance and where the moose were picking up the most with the hope you could find differences.
Commissioner Camuso asked if there was any correlation between the changes in the forest products pact and when we stopped having larger clear cuts and having smaller cuts?
Mr. Kantar stated it was possible. The drivers were the fact that winter had shrunk so much. The longer fall stayed mild.
Mr. Ward asked about the season dates.
Mr. Kantar stated the season dates would shift a day or so based on the calendar.
Mr. Webb discussed the bull seasons, every seven years there was a two-week gap and there had been discussions about adjusting the 2nd bull week so there was always a 1-week gap. We had heard sporting camps, etc. would like to receive a lot of notice before we did that. We may consider proposing something next year.
Mr. Cowperthwaite asked if this was the last year for the adaptive hunt.
Mr. Kantar stated the adaptive hunt was slated for 2021 2025. After this fall we would take all the information and get feedback and go from there. It was originally slated for 5 years.
There were no further comments or questions.
VI. Other Business
Commissioner Camuso stated the Departments budget had passed out of the IFW Committee and was now with the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee. The budget included a $5 fee increase for a resident fishing license and a higher increase for a non-resident fishing license. The increase would fund fisheries research within the regions. There was also a bill to move the Maine Natural Areas Program (MNAP) to IFW. MNAP oversaw plants and mapping plans for plants. This would move plants and animals within the same agency and would increase efficiencies. Commissioner Camuso discussed a letter she had sent in her capacity as President of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies to state directors regarding federal monies that were constitutionally protected and concerns with money getting to the states and having enough to front grants. She also discussed that other states were exploring the option of commercial take of excess species such as geese and in some instances deer to meet harvest goals.
VII. Councilor Reports
Councilors gave reports.
VIII. Public Comments & Questions
There were no public questions or comments.
IX. Agenda Items & Schedule Date for Next Meeting
The next Advisory Council meeting was scheduled for Tuesday, April 29, 2025 at 9:30 a.m. at IFW, Augusta.
X. Adjournment
A motion was made by Mr. Ward and that was seconded by Mr. Cowperthwaite to adjourn the meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 10:50 a.m.