Maine

Mainers are feeling the impacts of climate change with warmer and wetter winters. With a 3-degree increase in average temperatures already, snowpacks are shallower and winter recreation seasons are shorter for those who have long cherished snowmobiling, ice fishing, skiing and snowboarding. Increased rainfall is having an impact on the state’s roads causing flooding, erosion, waterlogging homes and businesses, and leaving treasured fish populations like the Eastern Brook Trout vulnerable. This places a significant threat on Maine’s $3.3 billion outdoor recreation economy which supports an increasing 32,274 jobs. Warmer temperatures are also causing iconic moose populations to decline due to an increase in winter tick outbreaks killing an estimated 70% of moose calves in western Maine creating unknown impacts for hunters.