While it is a good idea to take preventive measures against ticks year-round, be extra vigilant in warmer months (April-September) when ticks are most active.

Avoid Direct Contact with Ticks

• Avoid wooded and bushy areas with high grass and leaf litter.
• Walk in the center of trails.

Repel Ticks with DEET or Permethrin

• Use repellents that contain 20% or more DEET (N, N-diethyl-m-toluamide) on the exposed skin for protection that lasts up to several hours. Always follow product instructions. Parents should apply this product to their children, avoiding hands, eyes, and mouth.
• Use products that contain permethrin on clothing. Treat clothing and gear, such as boots, pants, socks and tents. It remains protective through several washings. Pre-treated clothing is available and remains protective for up to 70 washings.
• Other repellents registered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may be found athttp://cfpub.epa.gov/oppref/insect/.

Find and Remove Ticks from Your Body

• Bathe or shower as soon as possible after coming indoors (preferably within two hours) to wash off and more easily find ticks that are crawling on you.
• Conduct a full-body tick check using a hand-held or full-length mirror to view all parts of your body upon return from tick-infested areas. Parents should check their children for ticks under the arms, in and around the ears, inside the belly button, behind the knees, between the legs, around the waist, and especially in their hair.
• Examine gear and pets. Ticks can ride into the home on clothing and pets, then attach to a person later, so carefully examine pets, coats, and day packs. Tumble clothes in a dryer on high heat for an hour to kill remaining ticks.

Preventing Ticks on Your Pets

Dogs are very susceptible to tick bites and tickborne diseases. Vaccines are not available for all the tickborne diseases that dogs can get, and they don’t keep the dogs from bringing ticks into your home. For these reasons, it’s important to use a tick preventive product on your dog.

Tick bites on dogs may be hard to detect. Signs of tickborne disease may not appear for 7-21 days or longer after a tick bite, so watch your dog closely for changes in behavior or appetite if you suspect that your pet has been bitten by a tick.

To reduce the chances that a tick will transmit disease to you or your pets:

• Check your pets for ticks daily, especially after they spend time outdoors.
• If you find a tick on your dog, remove it right away.
• Ask your veterinarian to conduct a tick check at each exam.
• Talk to your veterinarian about tickborne diseases in your area.
• Reduce tick habitat in your yard.
• Talk with your veterinarian about using tick preventives on your pet.

Note: Cats are extremely sensitive to a variety of chemicals. Do not apply any insect acaricides or repellents to your cats without first consulting your veterinarian!

Kill Ticks on Dogs

A pesticide product that kills ticks is known as an acaricide. Acaricides that can be used on dogs include dusts, impregnated collars, sprays, or topical treatments. Some acaricides kill the tick on contact. Others may be absorbed into the bloodstream of a dog and kill ticks that attach and feed.

Pros:

• Helps to reduce the number of ticks in the environment
• Prevents tickborne disease

Cons:

• Tick bites can cause a painful wound and may become infected.
• When bitten, a dog may become infected with a number of diseases. This depends on the type of tick, which diseases it is carrying (if any), and how quickly a product kills the feeding tick.

Examples of topically applied products (active ingredients):

• Fipronil
• Pyrethroids (permethrin, etc.)
• Amitraz

Repel Ticks on Dogs

A repellent product may prevent the tick from coming into contact with an animal at all or have anti-feeding effects once the tick comes into contact with the chemical, thus preventing a bite.

Pros:

• Prevents bite wounds and possible resulting infections
• Prevents tickborne disease

Cons:

• Will not reduce the number of ticks in the environment (doesn’t kill ticks)

Examples of topically applied products (active ingredients):

• Pyrethroids (permethrin, etc.)

Reference to any commercial entity or product or service on this page should not be construed as an endorsement by the Government of the company, its products, or its services.

Preventing Ticks in the Yard

Apply Pesticides Outdoors to Control Ticks

Pesticides for ticks, known as acaricides, can reduce the number of ticks in your yard. These benefits have been best-studied for Ixodes scapularis (the black-legged tick), and include:

• Consistent and timely pest control
• Easy to apply
• Relatively inexpensive
• Safe if applied according to the label

Only small amounts of acaricide applied at the right time of year are necessary. Application should focus on control of nymphal I. scapularis ticks, the stage most likely to transmit Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, and babesiosis, by spraying once in May or early June. An October application of acaricide may be used to control adult blacklegged ticks, however, they less commonly transmit disease. The use and timing of acaricides to control other ticks of public health concern is less well studied, but may still be helpful.

If you have health concerns about applying acaricides:

• Check with local health or agricultural officials about the best time to apply acaricide in your area.
• Identify rules and regulations related to pesticide application on residential properties (Environmental Protection Agency and your state determine the availability of pesticides).
• Consider using a professional pesticide company to apply pesticides at your home.

Create a Tick-safe Zone to Reduce Ticks in the Yard

The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station has developed a comprehensive Tick Management Handbook [PDF - 8.53 MB] for preventing tick bites. Here are some simple landscaping techniques that can help reduce tick populations:

• Remove leaf litter.
• Clear tall grasses and brush around homes and at the edge of lawns.
• Place a 3-ft wide barrier of wood chips or gravel between lawns and wooded areas to restrict tick migration into recreational areas.
• Mow the lawn frequently.
• Stack wood neatly and in a dry area (discourages rodents).
• Keep playground equipment, decks, and patios away from yard edges and trees.
• Discourage unwelcome animals (such as deer, raccoons, and stray dogs) from entering your yard by constructing fences.
• Remove old furniture, mattresses, or trash from the yard that may give ticks a place to hide.

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Tick Removal

If you find a tick attached to your skin, there’s no need to panic. There are several tick removal devices on the market, but a plain set of fine-tipped tweezers will remove a tick quite effectively.

How to remove a tick

1. Use fine-tipped tweezers to grasp the tick as close to the skin’s surface as possible.
2. Pull upward with steady, even pressure. Don’t twist or jerk the tick; this can cause the mouth-parts to break off and remain in the skin. If this happens, remove the mouth-parts with tweezers. If you are unable to remove the mouth easily with clean tweezers, leave it alone and let the skin heal.
3. After removing the tick, thoroughly clean the bite area and your hands with rubbing alcohol, an iodine scrub, or soap and water.

Avoid folklore remedies such as “painting” the tick with nail polish or petroleum jelly, or using heat to make the tick detach from the skin. Your goal is to remove the tick as quickly as possible–not waiting for it to detach.

Follow-up

If you develop a rash or fever within several weeks of removing a tick, see your doctor. Be sure to tell the doctor about your recent tick bite, when the bite occurred, and where you most likely acquired the tick.

Symptoms of Tickborne Illness

Many tickborne diseases can have similar signs and symptoms. If you have been bitten by a tick and develop the symptoms below within a few weeks, a health care provider should evaluate the following before deciding on a course of treatment:

• Your symptoms
• The geographic region in which you were bitten
• Diagnostic tests, if indicated by the symptoms and the region where you were bitten

The most common symptoms of tick-related illnesses are:

• Fever/chills: With all tickborne diseases, patients can experience fever at varying degrees and time of onset.
• Aches and pains: Tickborne disease symptoms include headache, fatigue, and muscle aches. With Lyme disease you may also experience joint pain. The severity and time of onset of these symptoms can depend on the disease and the patient’s personal tolerance level.
• Rash: Lyme disease, southern tick-associated rash illness (STARI), Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF), ehrlichiosis, and tularemiacan result in distinctive rashes:
  • In Lyme disease, the rash may appear within 3-30 days, typically before the onset of fever. The Lyme disease rash is the first sign of infection and is usually a circular rash called erythema migrans or EM. This rash occurs in approximately 70-80% of infected persons and begins at the site of a tick bite. It may be warm, but is not usually painful. Some patients develop additional EM lesions in other areas of the body several days later.
  • The rash of (STARI) is nearly identical to that of Lyme disease, with a red, expanding “bulls eye” lesion that develops around the site of a lone star tick bite. Unlike Lyme disease, STARI has not been linked to any arthritic or neurologic symptoms.
  • The rash seen with Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) varies greatly from person to person in appearance, location, and time of onset. About 10% of people with RMSF never develop a rash. Most often, the rash begins 2-5 days after the onset of fever as small, flat, pink, non-itchy spots (macules) on the wrists, forearms, and ankles and spreads to the trunk. It sometimes involves the palms and soles. The red to purple, spotted (petechial) rash of RMSF is usually not seen until the sixth day or later after onset of symptoms and occurs in 35-60% of patients with the infection.
  • In the most common form of tularemia, a skin ulcer appears at the site where the organism entered the body. The ulcer is accompanied by swelling of regional lymph glands, usually in the armpit or groin.
  • In about 30% of patients (and up to 60% of children), ehrlichiosis can cause a rash. The appearance of the rash ranges from macular to maculopapular to petechial, and may appear after the onset of fever.

Tickborne diseases can result in mild symptoms treatable at home to severe infections requiring hospitalization. Although easily treated with antibiotics, these diseases can be difficult for physicians to diagnose. However, early recognition and treatment of the infection decreases the risk of serious complications. So see your doctor immediately if you have been bitten by a tick and experience any of the symptoms described here.

“Target” lesion on patient with Lyme disease.

Patient with STARI.

1. Site of tick bite
2. Red, radial, expanding edge of rash
3. Central clearing

Photograph used with permission from the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

Late (petechial) rash on hand and forearm in patient with Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

An ulcer caused by tularemia.

Tick paralysis is a rare disease thought to be caused by a toxin in tick saliva. The symptoms include acute, ascending, flaccid paralysis that is often confused with other neurologic disorders or diseases (e.g., Guillain-Barré syndrome or botulism). Within 24 hours of removing the tick, the paralysis typically subsides.

Geographic Distribution

On this Page

• American dog tick
• Blacklegged tick
• Brown dog tick
• Gulf Coast tick

• Lone star tick
• Rocky Mountain wood tick
• Western blacklegged tick

While adult ticks are the easiest to identify by species, immature stages of ticks may also transmit some pathogens. In addition, male and female ticks of the same species may look different.

Of the many different tick species found throughout the world, only a select few bite and transmit disease to humans.

These maps provide general insight into the expected distribution of ticks that cause disease in the contiguous United States. Populations of ticks may be found outside noted areas. Naturally occurring populations of the ticks described below do not occur in Alaska, however, the brown dog tick is endemic in Hawaii.

American dog tick

(Dermacentor variabilis)

American dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis) is the most commonly identified species responsible for transmitting Rickettsia rickettsii, which causes Rocky Mountain spotted fever in humans. The American dog tick can also transmit tularemia. This tick is widely distributed east of the Rocky Mountains and also occurs in limited areas on the Pacific Coast. D. variabilis larvae and nymphs feed on small rodents. Dogs and medium-sized mammals are the preferred hosts of adult D. variabilis, although it feeds readily on other large mammals, including humans.

Approximate distribution of the American Dog tick. (Click for larger image)

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Blacklegged tick

(Ixodes scapularis)

The blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis), commonly known as a “deer tick”, can transmit the organisms responsible foranaplasmosis, babesiosis, and Lyme disease. This tick is widely distributed in the northeastern and upper midwestern United States. I. scapularis larvae and nymphs feed on small mammals and birds, while adults feed on larger mammals and will bite humans on occasion. It is important to note that the pathogen that causes Lyme disease is maintained by wild rodent and other small mammal reservoirs, and is not transmitted everywhere that the blacklegged tick lives. In some regions, particularly in the southern U.S., the tick has very different feeding habits that make it an unlikely vector in the spread of human disease.

Approximate distribution of the Blacklegged tick. (Click for larger image)

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Brown dog tick

(Rhipicephalus sanguineus)

The brown dog tick (Rhipicephalus sanguineus) has recently been identified as a reservoir of R. rickettsii, causing Rocky Mountain spotted fever, in the southwestern U.S. and along the U.S-Mexico border. Brown dog ticks are found throughout the U.S. and the world. Dogs are the primary host for the brown dog tick for each of its life stages, although the tick may also bite humans or other mammals.

Approximate distribution of the Brown Dog tick. (Click for larger image)

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Gulf Coast tick

(Amblyomma maculatum)

The Gulf Coast tick resides in coastal areas of the United States along the Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf Coast tick can transmit Rickettsia parkeri rickettsiosis, a form of spotted fever. A. maculatum larvae and nymphs feed on birds and small rodents, while adult ticks feed on deer and other wildlife. Adult ticks have been associated with transmission of R. parkeri to humans.

Approximate distribution of the Gulf Coast tick. (Click for larger image)

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Lone star tick

(Amblyomma americanum)

The lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum) transmits Ehrlichia chaffeensis and Ehrlichia ewingii, causing human ehrlichiosis,tularemia, and STARI. The lone star tick is primarily found in the southeastern and eastern United States. White-tailed deer are a major host of lone star ticks and appear to represent one natural reservoir for E. chaffeensis. A. americanum larvae and nymphs feed on birds and deer. Both nymphal and adult ticks may be associated with the transmission of pathogens to humans.

Approximate distribution of the Lone Star tick. (Click for larger image)

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Rocky Mountain wood tick

(Dermacentor andersoni)

Rocky Mountain wood tick (Dermacentor andersoni) can transmitRocky Mountain spotted fever and tularemia to humans. This tick is found in the Rocky Mountain states. Adult ticks feed primarily on large mammals. Larvae and nymphs feed on small rodents. Adult ticks are primarily associated with pathogen transmission to humans.

Approximate distribution of the Rocky Mountain Wood tick. (Click for larger image)

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Western blacklegged tick

(Ixodes pacificus)

The western blacklegged tick (Ixodes pacificus) can transmit the organisms responsible for causing anaplasmosis and Lyme disease in humans. Wild rodents and other mammals are likely reservoirs of these pathogens. This tick is distributed along the Pacific coast of the United States. Larvae and nymphs feed on birds and small rodents, while adult ticks feed on deer and other mammals. Adult ticks are primarily associated with pathogen transmission to humans.

Approximate distribution of the Western Blacklegged tick. (Click for larger image)

Life cycle of Hard Ticks that Spread Disease

On this Page

• How ticks survive
• How ticks find their hosts
• How ticks spread disease

How ticks survive

Most ticks go through four life stages: egg, six-legged larva, eight-legged nymph, and adult. After hatching from the eggs, ticks must eat blood at every stage to survive. Ticks that require this many hosts can take up to 3 years to complete their full life cycle, and most will die because they don’t find a host for their next feeding.

Relative sizes of several ticks at different life stages.

Ticks can feed on mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. Most ticks prefer to have a different host animal at each stage of their life, as shown below:

This diagram shows the life cycle of blacklegged ticks that can transmit anaplasmosis, babesiosis, and Lyme disease.

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How ticks find their hosts

Ticks find their hosts by detecting animals´ breath and body odors, or by sensing body heat, moisture, and vibrations. Some species can even recognize a shadow. In addition, ticks pick a place to wait by identifying well-used paths. Then they wait for a host, resting on the tips of grasses and shrubs. Ticks can’t fly or jump, but many tick species wait in a position known as “questing”.

While questing, ticks hold onto leaves and grass by their third and fourth pair of legs. They hold the first pair of legs outstretched, waiting to climb on to the host. When a host brushes the spot where a tick is waiting, it quickly climbs aboard. Some ticks will attach quickly and others will wander, looking for places like the ear, or other areas where the skin is thinner.

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How ticks spread disease

Ticks transmit pathogens that cause disease through the process of feeding.

• Depending on the tick species and its stage of life, preparing to feed can take from 10 minutes to 2 hours. When the tick finds a feeding spot, it grasps the skin and cuts into the surface.
• The tick then inserts its feeding tube. Many species also secrete a cement-like substance that keeps them firmly attached during the meal. The feeding tube can have barbs which help keep the tick in place.
• Ticks also can secrete small amounts of saliva with anesthetic properties so that the animal or person can’t feel that the tick has attached itself. If the tick is in a sheltered spot, it can go unnoticed.
• A tick will suck the blood slowly for several days. If the host animal has a bloodborne infection, the tick will ingest the pathogens with the blood.
• Small amounts of saliva from the tick may also enter the skin of the host animal during the feeding process. If the tick contains a pathogen, the organism may be transmitted to the host animal in this way.
• After feeding, most ticks will drop off and prepare for the next life stage. At its next feeding, it can then transmit an acquired disease to the new host.

Tickborne Diseases of the U.S.

In the United States, some ticks carry pathogens that can cause human disease, including:

• Anaplasmosis is transmitted to humans by tick bites primarily from the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis) in the northeastern and upper midwestern U.S. and the western blacklegged tick (Ixodes pacificus) along the Pacific coast.
• Babesiosis is caused by microscopic parasites that infect red blood cells. Most human cases of babesiosis in the United States are caused by Babesia microti. Babesia microti is transmitted by the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis) and is found primarily in the Northeast and upper Midwest.
• Colorado Tick Fever Colorado tick fever is an acute viral infection spread by the bite of the Dermacentor andersoni wood tick.
• Ehrlichiosis is transmitted to humans by the lone star tick (Ambylomma americanum), found primarily in the southcentral and eastern U.S.
• Lyme disease is transmitted by the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis) in the northeastern U.S. and upper Midwestern U.S. and the western blacklegged tick (Ixodes pacificus) along the Pacific coast.
• Powassan encephalitis Powassan (POW) virus is transmitted to humans by infected ticks.
• Rickettsia parkeri Rickettsiosis is transmitted to humans by the Gulf Coast tick (Amblyomma maculatum).
• Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF) is transmitted by the American dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis), Rocky Mountain wood tick (Dermacentor andersoni), and the brown dog tick (Rhipicephalus sangunineus) in the U.S. The brown dog tick and other tick species are associated with RMSF in Central and South America.
• STARI (Southern Tick-Associated Rash Illness) is transmitted via bites from the lone star tick (Ambylomma americanum), found in the southeastern and eastern U.S.
• Tickborne relapsing fever (TBRF) is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected soft ticks. TBRF has been reported in 15 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming and is associated with sleeping in rustic cabins and vacation homes.
• Tularemia is transmitted to humans by the dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis), the wood tick (Dermacentor andersoni), and the lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum). Tularemia occurs throughout the U.S.
• 364D Rickettsiosis (Rickettsia phillipi, proposed) is transmitted to humans by the Pacific Coast tick (Dermacentor occidentalis ticks). This is a new disease that has been found in California.

Contact Us:

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  1600 Clifton Rd
  Atlanta, GA 30333
• 800-CDC-INFO
  (800-232-4636)
  TTY: (888) 232-6348
• New Hours of Operation
  8am-8pm ET/Monday-Friday
  Closed Holidays
• cdcinfo@cdc.gov

Resources

Curriculum for Teachers

Don’t Let the Ticks Bite Print-ready files, a limited number of curriculum materials, and tick ID cards are available free of charge from the California Department of Public Health.

Free Webinar CME course

Recognizing and Treating Tick-Borne Diseases
Sponsored by MO Dept of Health and Senior Services and DEET Education Program. Free registration required.

File Formats Help:

How do I view different file formats (PDF, DOC, PPT, MPEG) on this site?

Reader Supplied Approach to Tick Removal

NOTE: This is NOT an officially approved approach by the scientific community.

This might come in handy during tick season folks.
Sounds better than twisting, burning and pulling.

Tick removal

Summer is here and the ticks will soon be showing their heads. Here is a good way to get them off you, your children, or your pets. Give it a try.

Please forward to anyone with children…. or hunters or dogs, or anyone who even steps outside in summer!!

A School Nurse has written the info below — good enough to share — And it really works!

“I had a pediatrician tell me what she believes is the best way to remove a tick. This is great, because it works in those places where it’s some times difficult to get to with tweezers: between toes, in the middle of a head full of dark hair, etc.”

“Apply a blob of liquid soap to a cotton ball. Cover the tick with the soap-soaked cotton ball and swab it for a few seconds (15-20), the tick will come out on its own and be stuck to the cotton ball when you lift it away. This technique has worked every time I’ve used it (and that was frequently, and it’s much less traumatic for the patient and easier for me.” “Unless someone is allergic to soap, I can’t see that this would be damaging in any way.

I even had my doctor’s wife call me for advice because she had one stuck to her back and she couldn’t reach it with tweezers. She used this method and immediately called me back to say,
“It worked!”

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(photo courtesy of Mark LaRoche) Matt LaRoche, Allagash Wilderness Waterway superintendent, shows off a mess of brookies caught at his secret fishing location on the waterway.

The Allagash Wilderness Waterway (AWW) is the largest watershed inMainewhere the Eastern brook trout is still the top predator fish in the ecosystem. From Telos Dam toAllagashFalls, big brookies rule the lakes and river that makeup the 92-mile-long wilderness waterway.

Springtime — May and June — is when brook trout are most active and feed ravenously. They are fairly easy to catch when they are on a feeding frenzy and will hit almost anything. As fishermen, we just need to find that special place where the fish congregate at the right time.

These special places abound in the waterway and are too numerous to list. It seems that the spring fishing groups that return to the waterway year after year at the same time have found their special places.

I’m not going to tell you exactly where to go, but a good bet is anywhere that water runs into a lake or dead water. Go find that spot that you will never forget and come back to every year.

My brother Mark and I were fishing one spring at one of our favorite spots just outside of the AWW. We decided to go check out this spot that we just knew lunker trout would be lurking. It was a long walk through pristine woods to that place where we just knew big, hungry trout would be holed up waiting to take the first fly that was drifted over them. When we got there, we were disappointed to find the water too high to even give the spot a good try.

We made the long hike back to where we left our canoe a little disappointed with ourselves for not anticipating that the water would be so high. On the way back, we came upon a mother partridge and her brood of chicks. She tried the wing-dragging routine and acting like she was injured to draw us away from her chicks. It was quite a show!

When we finally got back to our canoe, we were famished. So I built a fire at the campsite and sliced some Spam for lunch. We grilled the famous canned meat on sticks — like you would a hotdog. Hot, grilled Spam on bread with mustard –something you might turn your nose up to at home never tasted so good! There is just something about lunch cooked over an open fire when you’re really hungry.

Spring fishing can be excellent when you hit it right. There are many variables to contend with; water levels, weather, insect hatches, and water temperature, just to name a few. When it all comes together, you will be rewarded with the fishing of a lifetime! One thing is sure — if you don’t go, you won’t hit the good fishing.

I suggest that you come up to the waterway, set up on a campsite for as many days as you can get off and make forays to different spots in the Allagash. You just might find that special spot that you will return to year after year.

For information on the AWW, go to: www.maine.gov/doc/parks/ or call 207-941-4014, email heidi.j.johnson@maine.gov or write to the Bureau of Parks & Lands,106 Hogan Road,Bangor,ME04401

Waterway notes: The new management plan for the AWW should be coming out for public review and comment very soon. Check the website above to view the plan. We would like to hear feedback from you regarding the plan that will guide management of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway over the next 15 years.

The ice should be out by the time this article goes to press. Call Heidi at the number above for current conditions on the waterway.

Check out Matt’s new blog spot: http://theallagash.wordpress.com/

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Researchers find that harmful methane leaks into the air at twice the amounts estimated by the EPA.

(Christian Lagerek /Shutterstock)
From Pacific Standard Magazine

By Paul Tullis

The recent boom in U.S. natural gas production has been hailed as thecure to all America’s ills. Gas, its boosters say, can reduce household heating expenses, enhance energy security, create jobs, and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

That last part is crucial to winning over environmentalists. “Over its full cycle of production, distribution, and use, natural gas emits just over half as many greenhouse gas emissions as coal for equivalent energy output,” the green group Worldwatch Institute reported last August. But all of that may amount to a lot of hot air if researchers from Cornell University and the Environmental Defense Fund are right. Thanks to the little-known problem of methane leakage, in the short term at least, natural gas may be worse for the climate than other fossil fuels.

Natural gas is mostly methane, which is itself a heat-trapping greenhouse gas. And it leaks into the air at every point of the process of getting and using the fuel. The technology exists to capture the leaking gas at hydraulic fracturing – aka fracking – sites, but industry officials say it’s not worth the cost. With the price of natural gas having dropped 90 percent since 2005, that attitude is not likely to change soon.

Ramon Alvarez, a physical chemist who works at the Environmental Defense Fund, co-authored a study, published in April in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, that compares the impacts of natural gas with gasoline, diesel, and coal on the climate. His conclusion: “The amount of methane released can affect whether or not natural gas is a better fuel for the climate than other fuels.”

In February, researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration analyzed air samples from a region of Colorado where a lot of gas is being extracted through fracking. They found the air contained twice as much methane as the EPA had estimated there would be, suggesting a lot more methane than previously thought was leaking during extraction.

NOAA’s findings lent support to an earlier study, by Cornell researchersRobert Howarth and Anthony Ingraffea, who found natural gas to be no cleaner than coal when you factor in methane leakage. But that study was heavily criticized by the gas industry and other Cornell researchers, who contended the estimates of methane leakage were too high. The EPA stepped into the debate in April when it issued air pollution standards that will force producers to reduce methane leakage caused by fracking by 25 percent.

Figuring out the net effect on climate change of natural gas, and how that compares to other fuel sources, is complicated. Methane is more effective at trapping heat than carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas most prevalent in the burning of coal and liquid transport fuels. But the methane doesn’t persist in the atmosphere as long.

That means, according to Alvarez, the methane emitted from powering a fleet of natural gas driven vehicles, for example, only presents a climate benefit over a gasoline-powered fleet after about 40 years. By his calculations, methane leakage would have to be cut by at least twice as much as the new EPA mandate for natural gas to become less harmful to the climate than gas or diesel in the short term. Compared to coal, though, he found climate benefits are immediate and increase over time.

Those figures, however, are based on the EPA’s official estimate that 2.4 percent of natural gas leaks out during production. When Alvarez and his co-authors ran their model using the median estimate from the Cornell study, 7 percent, natural gas for vehicle transport offers no benefits for at least 100 years. Compared to coal, natural gas would take 30 to 60 years to offer a benefit.

All of that may still seem to give natural gas the advantage. Not so, says James E. Hansen, the physicist who heads NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and is one of the earliest and most credible authorities to sound the alarm over global warming.

“If we reduce carbon dioxide emissions six percent a year starting in 2015,” he says, “we’ll level out at 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in about 2100.” Hansen and others believe 350 parts per million is the maximum amount of carbon dioxide the atmosphere can sustain for long periods without warming a disastrous 2º Celsius. The last time the planet was that warm—three million years ago—primates left Europe, alligators moved in, and the ocean was 25 meters above current levels–which would put Calcutta, Miami, and much of New York and Tokyo under water.

But even if we start bringing carbon dioxide levels down in the coming years, we may find ourselves in even worse shape if we accomplish it by switching wholesale to natural gas and releasing huge amounts of methane in the process. In the fight against climate change, Hansen maintains, time is one thing we don’t have.

More like this: Environment
Tags: Climate Change, Fracking, Methane, Natural Gas

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Thoreau’s North Woods:

The Natural Resources Council of Maine, 3 Wade Street, Augusta

Free and open to the public, refreshments provided.

RSVP to Todd Martin 430-0115, todd@nrcm.org

Are you curious what a national park in the North Woods could mean for Maine? How Maine’s new mining law could affect our North Woods? How this year’s legislature has changed planning and management for the North Woods?

“Thoreau’s North Woods: Opportunities, Threats, & the Beauty of the Place” offers an opportunity to discuss these issues, and connect with Maine’s North Woods through stunning photography, on Tuesday, May 22 4:30-6:00 p.m. at the Natural Resources Council of Maine, 3 Wade Street in Augusta.

Dan Tobyne, nature photographer and author will present spectacular photographs published in his book, Thoreau’s Maine Woods.  Cathy Johnson, North Woods project director for NRCM, will talk about about ongoing work to protect Maine’s treasured North Woods. Dan will also sign copies of his book, available for sale at the presentation with a portion of the proceeds donated to NRCM.

This free event is open to the public, and light refreshments will be served.  Please RSVP online or contact Todd Martin 430-0115, todd@nrcm.org. FMI about this and other NRCM events visit www.nrcm.org.

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Piping Plovers are an endangered shorebird species that nest on white sand beaches where nesting success is a constant struggle against weather, beachgoers, pets, and predators. They were listed on the state’s Endangered Species List in 1997, and were federally listed as Threatened Species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1986.

Piping Plovers are small, pale shorebirds whose sandy brown and white colorings act as camouflage to protect it from predators. Unfortunately, because their camouflage works so well, many people and their pets do not see them or their sand-colored eggs. Subsequently, nests and eggs can be easily and inadvertently destroyed.

Piping Plovers are approximately 7.5 inches high and weigh up to 2.5 ounces. They have yellow legs, short necks, and a broken brown or black necklace band on their chest.

In 2011, 33 pairs of Piping Plovers nesting on 16 beaches successfully fledged over 70 young, making the 2011 Piping Plover season the most productive since 1995! Given the early start this year, biologists and plover enthusiasts are hoping 2012 nesting season will be another record setting season. Currently Piping Plovers have been observed on Ogunquit Beach, Wells Beach, Parsons Beach, Goose Rocks Beach, Fortunes Rocks Beach, Goose Fare Brook, Scarborough Beach, Higgins Beach, Seawall Beach, and Popham Beach State Park. Nesting areas are identified with signage and stake and twine fencing.

“From a Piping Plover’s point of view, people and dogs are predators,” according to MDIF&W Wildlife Biologist Lindsay Tudor. “Plovers do not understand leashes and dogs under voice control, and they do not recognize dogs that would never touch a bird. If beachgoers or their dogs are too close to Piping Plovers and their chicks, the adults will attempt to draw away the danger. Unfortunately, chicks left alone are easy prey for crows and gulls lurking nearby.”

To retain this bird in Maine protecting every nest and chick is vital. The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Maine Audubon, Bureau of Parks and Lands, Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, the Nature Conservancy, Bates College, Towns of Wells, Ogunquit, Old Orchard Beach, Scarborough, and many private landowners have a long standing collaboration regarding managing piping plovers. We urge beachgoers and pet owners to give nesting Piping Plovers space!

To protect our last few endangered Piping Plovers, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, along with its partner, Maine Audubon, are urging beachcombers to:

• Avoid taking their dogs to beaches that currently have nesting Piping Plovers.

• Be on the lookout for the tiny Piping Plover chicks. Once they hatch, they leave the nest (designated with signs and stake-and-twine fencing), and are extremely vulnerable to a host of predators. Chicks are flightless for 25-35 days, feeding themselves in the company of their parents.

• Stay away from the stake-and-twine fencing identifying protective nesting areas. If you want to observe the Piping Plovers, do so from a great distance with high-powered binoculars.

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Analysis of data and observations indicate the turkey population in the WMD is healthy and will support a hunting season like neighboring districts 10 and 14.

The season in WMD 9 will open ½ hour before sunrise on May 5th. All the rules and regulations involved in turkey hunting will apply, including having a valid spring Wild Turkey Permit and a valid hunting license.

For more information please check our website at: www.mefishwildlife.com

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Groups seek to make manufacturers responsible for collecting and recycling products

TODAY, Forty-two years after the recycling movement began on the first Earth Day, a new coalition has been launched to “bring recycling into the 21^st century” by working for polices that make manufacturers responsible for collecting and recycling their products and packaging.

The Natural Resources Council of Maine serves on the steering committee for the CRADLE² Coalition, which includes more than 30 organizations from around the country concerned about the squandering of natural resources, the impacts on climate change, the potential for pollution, and the loss of jobs from wasting valuable, recyclable materials in landfills and incinerators.

“We’ve come together because we’re concerned about the impact on people and our environment from toxic and problematic items in the waste stream,” said Abby King, Policy Advocate with the Natural Resources Council of Maine. “We know that better products can be designed with people and the planet in mind.  Better systems for recovering, reusing and recycling products will protect our health and environment, revitalize our economy and create jobs in communities nation-wide.”

CRADLE² was founded to transform the U.S. economy from one where consumer products and packaging are designed to be thrown away, to an economy where manufacturers design their products and packaging to use less and safer material, be reusable, and be conveniently recycled at the end of its useful life. This cycle would turn what was formerly “waste” into the raw materials for industry and the next generation of products.

The name of the coalition, CRADLE², comes from the groups’ vision of an economy where products and packaging are managed from “cradle to cradle” instead of “cradle to grave.”

Ideally, manufacturers would provide and finance collection programs, ensuring that every consumer product and its packaging gets reused or recycled, providing American jobs as well as using resources responsibly.

This policy concept, known as extended producer responsibility (EPR), or product stewardship, has become dominant in the production and solid waste in the European Union, Canada and Japan, with laws around the world now directing manufacturers to set up and finance collection and recycling programs for consumer products and packaging.  In the United States, there are more than 80 producer responsibility laws in 33 states, covering 10 different product categories, from used paint to unwanted electronics to leftover carpet and more.

CRADLE² believes in the power of product stewardship to grow American jobs.  The group points to a new report that asserts that getting US recycling rates up – to levels achieved in much of Europe and many American cities – can lead to millions of new US jobs.  According to the Tellus Institute, boosting recycling from our current national rate of 34% to 75% of municipal solid waste, will result in 1.5 million new jobs and result in greenhouse gas and pollution reduction benefits.

“When we throw away newspaper or a soda can, we are actually throwing away US jobs,” said King “To increase recycling rates that will, in turn, create millions of new jobs, we need to build infrastructure, encourage entrepreneurship and provide residents with incentives and convenient recycling.  Producer responsibility is the critical missing element that will close the loop from production to consumption back to production.”

Over the next several years, CRADLE² will work towards incentives for safer, better products and less waste.  The groups believe that product stewardship is the most effective and efficient way to conserve energy and natural resources; providing a high quality of living while significantly reducing our impact on the planet.

“Creating products that we use and enjoy does not need to result in wasting natural resources and spewing unnecessary pollution into our environment. Through product stewardship we can allow the next generation to thrive, and provide them with a safe, healthy planet,” said King.  “We owe it to our children and grandchildren to take care of the planet they’ll inherit by using and reusing resources efficiently, in ways that are healthy and sustainable.”

CRADLE² Steering Committee: Clean Water Action Rhode Island • Clean Water Action Massachusetts • Natural Resources Council of Maine • New York Public Interest Research Group • Product Policy Institute • Sierra Club California Texas Campaign for the Environment • Vermont Public Interest Research Group • Zero Waste WA

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To this end, the Maine Legislature established the Boating Facilities Fund in 1963, administered by the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands (BPL), and funded with the state tax on gasoline used by recreational motor boats. BPL uses these funds to acquire, develop and renovate recreational boat access sites and to place and maintain navigational buoys on nearly 50 inland lakes and ponds.

The Bureau’s philosophy is that boating access sites are more efficiently managed on the local level, so it accomplishes most of its mission of providing boat access through a grant process, according to George Powell, Boating Facilities Division director.

The Bureau is please to announce that it is seeking grant proposals that will result in improved recreational boating access to the waters of the State ofMainefor fiscal year 2013, which begins July 1, 2012 and ends June 30, 2013.  The Bureau expects to have as much as $500,000 for the grant program, Powell said.

Projects are expected to be in the $30,000 to $250,000 range and must be completed by June 30, 2014.  A 50-percent cash or in-kind match is required. Project proposals are due June 26, 2012.  A pre-application inspection by BPL staff must be completed before an application is submitted. Pre-application inspections must be scheduled no later than May 18. 2012.

For more information call 287-4952 or see the Bureau’s Boating Grant website: http://www.state.me.us/doc/parks/programs/boating/grants.html

For more information about the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands, go to: http://www.parksandlands.com

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The shores of Sebago Lake

AUGUSTA,Maine– Sebago Lake State Park Campground –Maine’s most popular and largest state campground – will open Friday for the season and Patriot’s Day Weekend, April 14-16.

The campground opening is about four weeks earlier than usual, according to officials with the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands, under the Maine Department of Conservation.

“Conditions are such that we have been able to turn on the campground water and get the bathrooms ready earlier than normal,” Ron Hunt, BPL regional manager, said Thursday. “We are looking forward to a full and busy season.”

With 125 sites, including RV hook-ups, the Witch Cove section of the campground will be opened, Hunt said. Off-season camping fees will be in effect and posted at the entrance station, he said.

Campground sites will be available on a first-come, first-served basis, Hunt said. No site reservations will be valid until May 21.

Campers are likely not to find reception staff at the campground booth, the regional manager said, adding that campers will have to confirm their own site use. Campers will calculate their own fees and then put the fee amount in the metal receptacle known as the “Iron Ranger,” Hunt said.

Park staff will be monitoring the campsites, Hunt said. A ranger and assistant ranger will confirm site use on a daily basis, he said.

The popular park has a new manager, Matt McGuire, who now is on duty along with other staff, Hunt said. McGuire is an experienced park manager who managed previously atCobscookBayandRangeley Lakestate parks.

For more information about SebagoLakeState Park, call the park at: (207) 693-6231. Callers can leave a voice message which will be answered.

Or go to: http://www.maine.gov/cgi-bin/online/doc/parksearch/search_name.pl?state_park=26&historic_site=&public_reserved_land=&shared_use_trails=&option=search

For more information about Mainestate parks, go to: http://www.parksandlands.com

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No reservations are needed except for group use; programs are free with park admission. Admission is $1 for ages 5-11, $3 forMaineresidents ages 12-64; $4.50 for non residents ages 12 – 64; $1.50 for non residents 65 and older; persons under 5 andMaineresidents 65 and older are free.  For more information or to arrange for group visits, please call 865-4465.

For more information about Wolfe’s NeckWoodsState Parkand Mainestate parks, go to: http://www.parksandlands.com

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Allagash Falls

By Matthew LaRoche, Superintendent
Allagash Wilderness Waterway

Would you like to canoe the Allagash Wilderness Waterway (AWW)? If your answer to this question is yes, but you don’t have the time to spend an entire week canoeing from Chamberlain Lake to Allagash Village, I want you to know that you have other options.

There are several opportunities for shorter Allagash adventures without canoeing the entire 92-mile-long waterway.

One of my personal favorites is the Allagash Lake to Chamberlain Bridge trip. This route takes you through the wildest section of the waterway. One of the nice things about this trip is that if you are accessing the AWW from the south or east, you will be driving right past your takeout location on your way to Allagash Lake. The closest vehicle access point to Allagash Lake is actually at Johnson Pond, page 55 of Delorme’s “Maine Atlas and Gazetteer.”

If you do decide to make the Allagash Lake to Chamberlain Bridget trip, there are a few “must- see” places you should checkout along the way. The ice caves at the northwest corner of Allagash Lake by the inlet are an extraordinary geological feature. A climb up the fire tower on Allagash Mountain will afford you fantastic views of the Maine Woods from the Canadian border to Mt.Katahdin. Little Allagash Falls is one of the most beautiful and remote locations on the waterway. If you can arrange your itinerary to stay here overnight, you won’t be disappointed.

At normal water levels, it is a lively 6-mile trip down Allagash Stream to Chamberlain Lake. You should call for current water conditions in Allagash Stream. The stream can be a raging torrent at high water or a drag at low water.

Once you enter Chamberlain Lake, you should take a short detour to the northeast corner of the lake and visit the Tramway Historic District, which includes the tramway and trains.

On your way down Chamberlain Lake, you have the option of staying overnight at Nugent’s Camps, about 10 miles down the lake on the east shore. For information on Nugent’s Camps, visit:www.nugentscamps.com

Another 5 miles down the lake will bring you to Chamberlain Bridge, where you left a vehicle on the way to AllagashLake.

You should plan on spending four nights on the waterway to make this trip and visit the sites that I have mentioned. Don’t forget to give yourself plenty of travel time to reach Johnson Pond. Wrong turns are common for first-time visitors, and the logging roads are notorious for flat tires!

Another three- or four-night trip that is slightly easier and no less spectacular is the Umsaskis to Allagash Village trip. This route starts where the American Realty Road crosses the waterway between Umsaskis and Long lakes. There is a nice vehicle access canoe launch and parking lot at this location. You can just launch your canoe and start paddling north. The campsites and scenery are beautiful along this section of the waterway.

At the outlet of  Harvey Pond, you will come to the remnants of Long Lake Dam. This was once 700 feet long and held back a 15-foot head of water. It is now a very nice campsite. The fishing can be excellent below the old dam in the spring and fall when the water is cool.

It is 10 miles of moderately flowing river to Round Pond — a pretty spot on the trip where the river takes a break before heading toward the St. John River.

Below Round Pond is a 2-mile-long stretch of Class 1 rapids know as Round Pond Rips. These rapids are easy for an intermediate canoeist, but they will provide some fun for those who like fast-moving water.

About 13 miles below Round Pond, you will see a campsite on river right called Cunliffe Depot. If you stop here and follow the trail upriver from the campsite, you will discover the remains of two Lombard log haulers.

Another couple miles down river will bring you to the Michaud Farm ranger station. You can end your trip here, but you will miss seeing Allagash Falls, or you can take another night and continue the 17 miles to the town of Allagash. Either way, please stop at the ranger station and sign your group out on the clip board hanging in on the porch.

The Umsaskis to Michaud Farm trip should take three nights. If you want to continue all the way to Allagash Village, you should plan on a four-night trip.

These are just two of the many shorter trips you can take on the AWW. I often suggest that first-time visitors or novice canoeists just drive to Churchill Dam and paddle up on Churchill Lake for a few nights of camping. This gives these first-time visitors a feel for the waterway and the logging roads used to access the area.

If you do decide to canoe the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, I can assure you that you will not be disappointed with the opportunity to reconnect with the natural world.

For information on the AWW, go to: www.maine.gov/doc/parks/ or call 207-941-4014, email heidi.j.johnson@maine.gov or write to the Bureau of Parks & Lands,106 Hogan Road,Bangor,ME04401

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WHAT: A Spring Full Moon Watch Invitation from Park Manager Samantha Wilkinson
WHEN: 7 p.m., Friday, April 6; Park closes promptly at 9 p.m.
WHERE: Reid State Park, Georgetown

It goes by many names.

April’s full moon is sometimes referred to as the “pink moon,” because of the herb, moss pink, a ground phlox relative that blooms in spectacular fashion at this time of year in some regions. It’s also called the “sprouting grass moon,” and the “fish moon” among native coastal tribes, as April is the time when shad swim upstream to spawn.

If I were tasked with naming the moons, I would call this one the “Hey, Everybody, Winter is Over, So Let’s All Celebrate Spring at Reid State Park” moon!

That may be why no one has put me in charge of naming the moons. They did, however, put me in charge of managing Reid State Park, and since last year’s spring full moon watch was such a huge success and so well attended, I say an encore presentation this year is in order.

I am happy to extend Reid State Park’s normal operating hours on Friday, April 6, as a special treat for those who would like to view one of nature’s most beloved shows from one of its most unparalleled viewing arenas.

People interested in joining me on the shores of Reid State Park for this unique after-hours celebration of spring (weather permitting), should plan on arriving by 7 p.m., as the moon is scheduled to rise at 7:30 p.m. Night time activity will be limited to Griffith Head and Mile Beach only, and regular admission fees will apply. The park will close promptly at 9 p.m.

Pet owners — please remember that the nesting season for the endangered piping plover is now under way, so dogs are no longer allowed on park beaches. They are welcome to view the moonrise from other areas of the park, provided they are leashed at all times.

Don’t forget to bring your cameras!

For more information and up-to-date weather conditions, please call Reid State Park directly, (207) 371-2303.

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Gardiner Recycling Advisory Group Urges You to Do Your Part for Earth Day 2012:

Compost Your Yard and Food Waste!  Orders may be placed by returning the attached order form or visiting our online store www.gardinermaine.com.

Earth Machine Backyard Compost Bin    $45.00

Converts grass, leaves and table scraps into an abundant supply of rich garden soil.
Large 80 gallon capacity. Easy, snap together assembly.
10 year warranty & Instruction Booklet.  Made of recycled plastic.
Assembled dimensions – 33”x35”
(Photo shown for reference purposes only) 

KITCHEN SCRAP PAIL   $8.00

Attractive, easy to use, Hinged lid snaps securely to pail, 2 gallon capacity accommodates plates for “mess free” scraping!

THE WINGDIGGER  $17.00

Use this handy tool to turn your compost periodically.

The Rain Barrel $58.50

55gal capacity, Great rain water collection for gardening

The REOTEMP $18.50

Thermometer with a 20″stem to monitor interior temperatures in compost bins

Order online: www.gardinermaine.com, in person at City Hall or by mail:

Gardiner Recycling Committee, 6 Church Street, Gardiner, Maine 04345

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See poster below for more information

This past winter was a good one for an invasive forest insect threatening Maine’s hemlocks, and this spring is a good time for home and land owners, particularly those along Maine’s coast, to be aware of the potential for spreading it.

The hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) has been moving inland and north along Maine’s coastline. In addition to the recently reported infestations found in Alfred and Mount Desert Island, the invasive insect now has been found in Arundel, Biddeford and Kennebunk, according officials with the Maine Forest Service, under the Maine Department of Conservation.

“The sites are all York County, all coastal and where we expected to find it,” MFS Forest Entomologist Allison Kanoti said.

Kanoti said MFS staff had visited the reported sites previously as part of the MFS annual and ongoing survey and had found nothing. The HWA, discovered in February, now “has reached a detectable level of population over this winter,” she said.

On Mount Desert Island, MFS crews have been wrapping up their surveys, though Acadia National Park still has to be surveyed, Kanoti said. After checking more than three dozen sites on the island, including a number of private estates for which the crews received permission to survey, HWA has been found only in one additional tree, quite close to a reported site of infested, planted hemlocks. So far, it has not been found on any forest hemlocks, the forest entomologist said.

Hemlock woolly adelgid is a small, aphid-like insect that is covered with white, waxy wool-like material. This wool-like covering makes the insect resemble miniature cotton balls. It is most visible from late-October through July, with woolly masses located on the undersides of the twigs at the bases of the needles. The insect begins its egg-laying in March.

The insect, which came from Japan in the 1950s, causes infested trees to have off-color needles, often with a grayish cast, premature needle drop and twig dieback, and eventually, mortality.

HWA has been found in at least 19 states. In Maine, it was first discovered in the forest in Kittery in 2003 and has spread up the coast. The invasive insect has been found at three state parks, Ferry Beach State Park in Saco in 2008, Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park in Freeport in 2010, and Vaughan Woods State Park in South Berwick, also in 2010. Infested hemlocks in forested settings have been found in 35 towns in York, Cumberland, Sagadahoc and Lincoln counties.

This winter was a good one for HWA survival, Kanoti said, because there was no long stretch of very cold weather, which can reduce the insect population. “They will have survived quite well, and what that means is that people are likely to see them in new places,” she said.

Kanoti said that this was both a good and bad time to be on the look-out for HWA. The bug’s signature woolly masses are “about as big as they’re going to get” for the season and are easy to see, she said. For landowners, if they have hemlocks that they think are uninfested, it’s a good time to check for the insect, but not after they’ve been near known infestations.

The danger is that HWA eggs underneath the woolly covering are now starting to hatch, and crawlers are starting to emerge. These eggs and crawlers are “no larger than a speck of pepper,” Kanoti said, and can easily be transported on clothing, pets and cars.

“If you’re out searching in an infested area,” she said, “and you travel into a clean area, you can then carry the pest with you to a new location. If you’ve been down amongst hemlocks on the coast, you don’t want to then go look at hemlocks in an uninfested area.”

In addition to being careful about searching for HWA, Kanoti recommended that homeowners consider removing bird feeders as birds can carry the insect or to move feeders away from hemlocks.

“When we’re working in hemlocks, we work from ‘clean’ to ‘dirty,’ especially this time of year,” said Kanoti. “What that means is we start our work away from known infested areas and work towards them. If we encounter adelgid, that is the end of our work in hemlocks for the day.”

The Maine Forest Service encourages others who work or recreate in hemlocks in the lower third of the state to follow similar practices and to be aware that they can be agents of spread this time of year.

If there is a choice, people should plan harvests and tree care in hemlocks, especially within 30 miles of the coast, for the period when eggs and crawlers are absent, roughly August through February. “It would be a sad irony to bring this destructive insect to your trees when your intentions were to support their health,” Kanoti said.

Anyone who thinks they have found HWA should contact MFS Forest Entomologist Allison Kanoti at (207) 287-3147 or email: allison.m.kanoti@maine.gov

More information about hemlock woolly adelgid, including a list of professional pesticide applicators, can be found on line at: http://www.maineforestservice.gov/HemlockWoollyAdelgid.htm

For more information about the Maine Forest Service, go to: http://www.maine.gov/doc/mfs/index.shtml

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Maine Department of Agriculture State Horticulturist Ann Gibbs accepting the Outstanding Invasive Species Outreach and Education Award for 2012 on behalf of the Forest Pest Outreach and Survey

The Outstanding Invasive Species Outreach and Education Award for 2012 was presented during National Invasive Species Awareness Week in early March, at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Washington, DC. The award was given “in recognition of FPOSP’s significant achievement in advancing the awareness and understanding of terrestrial invasive species.”

The cooperative interagency group is composed primarily of state and federal forest health and agricultural resource managers, who work with non-governmental partners to form a broad partnership. This has produced a comprehensive, coordinated, region-wide forest pest outreach and detection program. The project, funded by the USDA, began in 2009 with nine states in the Northeast, and has since expanded to 15 states, some as far away as Minnesota.

In accepting the award for FPOSP, Maine Department of Agriculture State Horticulturist, and a project co-lead, Ann Gibbs said, “This project clearly demonstrates the importance of partnerships in dealing with forest pests. Most new detections of invasive forest pests, including ALB and EAB, have been made by members of the public. It is therefore very important that government agencies work together with the public as we try to manage these pests. This project has provided the opportunity for networking across the state and a large region of the country.”

Some of Maine’s accomplishments include:

• Organizing governor proclamations promoting August as ALB awareness month
• Using trained volunteers to conduct invasive insect detection surveys in Portland, Bangor, Lewiston, and Sebago Lake State Park
• Providing information to producers on ALB for Maple Syrup Sunday
• Working with Acadia National Park and state parks to develop outreach sessions on forest pests • Using award-winning costumes at events and helping publish a children’s book on ALB written by fifth grade students from China Middle School
• Providing information to the woodlands division of JD Irving that they sent out to their wood suppliers
• Facilitated showing the documentary “Lurking in the Trees” on the Maine Public Broadcasting Network

It is important to note that, to date, neither ALB nor EAB has been found in Maine.

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Photo Credit: blog.greenvilleinn.com

AUGUSTA-Maine Maple Sunday is fast approaching. The event, held annually on the fourth Sunday of March, takes place March 25 this year. As part of this year’s celebration of maple syrup production, more than 125 sugarhouses will be open around the state. Sugarhouses welcome visitors to participate in syrup and candy sampling, demonstrations of making syrup, sugarbush tours, and a variety of other activities.

Currently, Maine has 1.47 million taps and produced 360,000 gallons of maple syrup last season, a 14% increase from 2010. The latest yearly figures show that Maine generated nearly $13 million in revenue from the maple industry.

For more information on Maine Maple Sunday, and a complete listing of participating Maine sugarhouses, go to http://getrealmaine.com/.

A SEPARATION

(2011) OSCAR WINNER BEST FOREIGN FILM!

Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film, A Separation is an utterly compelling and profound film about the dissolution of a marriage in contemporary Iran. Nader (Peyman Moadi) and Simin (Leila Hatami) have been married for fourteen years and live with their eleven-year-old daughter Termeh in Tehran. Simin wants to leave Iran to provide better opportunities for her daughter. When her husband Nader (Peyman Moadi) refuses to leave behind his Alzheimer-suffering father, Simin sues for divorce. But when her request fails, she returns to her parents’ home—without her daughter, and Nader hires a young woman to assist with his father in his wife’s absence.  However, when he discovers that the new maid has been lying to him, he realizes that there is more on the line than just his marriage. Propelled by an acute attention to class, religious and gender differences, Farhadi’s meticulous script questions the very basis of truth and ethics, and explores the cultural, social and judical minefield that plagues contemporary Iran. At its heart a gripping, humane drama that recalls classic Hitchcock in its twists and turns, A Separation puts director Asghar Farhadi at the front rank of contemporary world directors. (Farsi with English subtitles)

“The best picture of the year!” -Roger Ebert

“A great movie, a look inside a world so foreign that it might as well be another planet, yet so universal that its observations are painfully familiar to anyone, anywhere.” -Arizona Republic
“The movie has such a profound and compassionate understanding of human behavior, family ties and the way ordinary people respond when they’re forced into a moral quandary, I can’t imagine anyone not being transfixed by it.” – Miami Herald
“The movie is hugely compelling on a moral and emotional level – I was completely hooked – yet it also revealed to me in numerous small and concrete ways what it’s like to live in a contemporary theocracy.” –Chicago Reader

2011/Drama/Iran/123mins/Rated PG-13
Directed by Asghar Farhadi
Starring Leila Hatami, Peyman Moadi, Shahab Hosseini, Sareh Bayat

Show Dates & Times:

3/23/12 – Friday
5:30 pm, 8:00 pm

3/24/12 – Saturday
8:00 pm

3/25/12 – Sunday
3:00 pm

3/26/12 – Monday
7:00 pm

3/27/12 – Tuesday
1:00 pm, 7:00 pm

3/28/12 – Wednesday
7:00 pm

Category:

• New Releases

THE HOMESTEAD ARCHITECTS

Presented By The Farnsworth Art Museum

The Farnsworth Art Museum presents a panel discussion involving architects participating in The Homestead Project exhibition. The architects will present and discuss their architectural re-envisions of a modern day homestead located in downtown Rockland.

The design of an urban contemporary house will be the underlying concept behind the Homestead Project, which will be on display in the Farnsworth’s Crosman Gallery from March 24 through September 23, 2012. The ten architectural firms participating have been asked to present their designs for a house on the same lot as the existing Homestead, one that meets the needs of the twenty-first century Farnsworth family. Among the architects who have agreed to participate are Henry N. (Harry) Cobb of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners Architects, New York; and Eric Allyn of Houses and Cottages in Rockland, Maine.

The Homestead Project is made possible through the generous supporg of: A.E. Sampson & Son, Anonymous, Bench Dogs, Inc., Cold Mountain Builders, J.C. Stone Inc., Marvin Windows and Doors, Thos. Moser Fine Furniture, Tidewater Millwork, and Windsor Chairmakers

The primary media sponsor of the Homestead Project is Maine Home + Design.

Purchase tickets.

Visit The Farnsworth Art Museum Online

Show Dates & Times:

3/24/12 – Saturday
3:00 pm

Admission:

$8 Museum Members
$10 Non Members
Reserve tickets by phone 596-0949 or online at
www.farnsworthmuseum.org

Category:

• Lectures

PIÑA

(2011) Academy Award Nominee! Showing Two Days Only!

“Dance, dance, or we are lost.” Pina Bausch’s final words summarize her life and provide the inspiration for acclaimed director Wim Wenders’ (WINGS OF DESIRE, BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB) breathtaking tribute to the legendary choreographer. Sensual and visually stunning, PINA takes the audience into Bausch’s work: her imaginative sets (a gliding monorail, a bare stage covered with chairs, a towering man-made waterfall) and the beauty and sheer physicality of the dances and dancers of her Tanztheater Wuppertal ensemble. Bausch and her Tanztheater Wuppertal ensemble elevated dance into brilliantly subversive new expressive realms, and in this exhilarating film Wenders captures the raw, heart-stopping intensity of the movement creating a transcendent cinematic experience.

An official selection of the Berlinale, Telluride, Toronto and New York film festivals, and Germany’s official entry for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, PINA features interviews with and performances by Bausch’s beloved original company members, and offers an indelible image of an artist who went the full distance in her uncommonly rich creative life.

“A thrilling piece of cinema. Five stars.” The Times
“Eloquent and exhilarating.” Screen International
“A must-see.” Variety
“You don’t have to know the first thing about modern dance to be transported to an alternate state of consciousness by Pina.” -Salon.com
“Whether you’re familiar with Pina Bausch’s work or not, the new film Pina is a knockout.” -Los Angeles Times

2011/Germany/Musical, Documentary/106min/PG
Directed By Wim Wenders

Show Dates & Times:

3/24/12 – Saturday
5:30 pm

3/25/12 – Sunday
6:00 pm

Category:

• New Releases

345 Main St, Rockland ME
207.594.0070
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On Thursday, April 5 at 7:00 p.m., the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM) is sponsoring an evening with Chuck Keeney, a West Virginia activist and labor and environmental justice historian, who will talk about the impacts of mountaintop removal mining, what the people of Appalachia are doing to stop it, and how citizens can help here in Maine. The event will take place in Smith Auditorium in Sills Hall, at Bowdoin College in Brunswick.

NRCM’s former executive director, Brownie Carson, will introduce Chuck. They met while marching 50 miles across West Virginia last June as part of the march on Blair Mountain protest.

This event is free and open to the public, but space is limited, so please RSVP online at http://supporters.nrcm.org/site/Calendar?id=101021&view=Detail or by email or telephone to Emmie Theberge at emmie@nrcm.org or (207) 430-0105.

Mr. Keeney will describe the struggle to stop mountaintop removal and to protect the homeland and jobs of residents of Appalachian coal country. He will speak about how people from the community and beyond have come together to save Blair Mountain from destruction by Alpha Natural Resources, one of the nation’s most powerful coal companies.

Keeney is president of Friends of Blair Mountain, a citizens group dedicated to preservation of the site of the 1921 battle. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009, Blair Mountain was later removed because of pressure from the coal industry.

Keeney’s great grandfather, Frank Keeney, was president of United Mine Workers District 17 and a leader of the 1921 march by 10,000 coal miners, which ended in the Battle of Blair Mountain, 50 miles south of Charleston. Keeney will tell the story of this little known battle, the biggest armed conflict in American labor history. He will also describe the 2011 march on Blair Mountain, which he helped organize and lead.

Brownie Carson, NRCM’s former executive director who met Keeney during the 2011 Blair Mountain march, says, “Chuck Keeney provides an inspiring voice in the campaign for social and environmental justice in West Virginia and throughout Appalachia, and we are happy to have him come to Maine to help build a bridge between our communities and strengthen all of our efforts.”

This is event is hosted by the Bowdoin College McKeen Center.

The Natural Resources Council of Maine, www.nrcm.org

A “little critter” examines a trail signpost at Acadia National Park. PHOTO CREDIT: Rex Turner

By Rex Turner, Outdoor Recreation Planner
Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands

As I pour hot water from my well-traveled vacuum bottle in to the bottle’s cup, steam rises into the air.  This steam could be floating up into the icy overhang of a snowed-in Appalachian Trail shelter, or it could be being ripped sideward by chill winds racing down a wild, streamside flush with snowmelt.

It is not doing either of these things, nor is it doing anything else romantic and exciting in breathtaking places. Nope. This steam is swirling upwards around a baby bottle sitting in the small container of hot water. As the steam wafts away towards magazines, boxes of cat food, headache medicine, and the multitudes of other items in the local Target, it hits me that my little critters – both still in diapers – really do affect my adventures. Though as most parents can attest, just getting kids out of the house to run errands can be an adventure itself!

Before I give the impression that I have nicknamed my two kids “Ball” and “Chain,” let me say that when it comes to family time, small outdoor adventures are no less enjoyable and rewarding than backcountry outings. Rather, “tame” outdoor outings can be big time adventures for little ones, and there is a real, vicarious thrill to seeing your kids experience natural wonders, even if those wonders are taking place only a short distance down a trail or in front-country settings such as small community parks.

So, while there are thousands of acres toward which I could point people for backcountry excitement, let me instead share a few easy places in our Maine state parks and public lands where you can take young kids to explore nature and have fun.

Our state parks provide unique opportunities for families to mix and match their outdoor fun and adventure. This is especially true where developed settings, including playgrounds, transition into settings defined more by natural landscapes. A perfect example this time of year is BradburyMountain State Park in Pownal. A new playground, funded as a small part of a 2007 statewide bond, sits right near the park entrance. Nearby, biking and hiking trails head off in different directions, including the low but open summit of Bradbury Mountain. It is as short as 0.3 mile of somewhat steep hiking to reach the summit, where an annual hawk watch is under way. Your child can witness migratory birds gliding acrossMaine’s forests and can then follow that up by reenacting that gliding on a swing back at the playground. Especially consider visiting Bradbury Mountain and Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park in Freeport on April 28-29 for the “Feathers Over Freeport” birding festival, which includes many kid-friendly events.

BradburyMountainis not the only park with playgrounds. Lake St. George, Moose Point, Sebago, Two Lights, Swan Lake, Cobscook  Bay, and Mount Blue state parks all received playground upgrades from recent state bonds, and other parks have playground equipment as well. All of these parks also provide the opportunity to interact with nature.Moose Point State Park in Searsport, for example, has a 1.5 mile network of trails through pleasant forests as well as access to the shoreline of Penobscot Bay. Youngsters can look for forest and marine life, including tidal pool organisms at low tide. After exploring the shore and trails, families can have a picnic at one of the picnic areas overlooking the bay.

Mount Blue State Park in Weld is yet another example of a destination that blends easy-access experiences with opportunities to interact with wild nature. There is a popular beach, boat launch, nature center, and camping area on Webb Lake, and there also is a diverse set of trails at the Center Hill area, which includes 3,187-foot-high Mount Blue. The steep, 3.2 mile (roundtrip) Mount Blue Trail may be beyond the ability of some families, but other trails, especially the 0.5 mile (roundtrip) Center Hill Nature Trail, provide a taste of the western mountains in a setting well suited to youngsters. Picnic tables, an Adirondack shelter for day use, restroom facilities, and a tremendous view of Tumbledown, Big Jackson, and Little Jackson mountains await visitors here.

While public reserved lands are typically more at the big and wild end of the spectrum, as compared to state parks, they still provide some great destinations for families looking to at least dip their kids’ toes into the wild.

Suggested public lands hiking trails less than 2 miles in total length include several trail routes at Dodge Point in Newcastle; the Cataracts Trail located in the Andover West Surplus portion of the Mahoosuc Public Lands; Bald Mountain Trail in Oquossoc; and Hancock County’s Caribou Mountain Trail at the Donnell Pond Public Lands (the 1.8 mile roundtrip northern access trail to the larger 12-mile Caribou Mountain Loop network). In addition to trails like these, and many longer trails, there are terrific beaches, primitive camping, boat access to pristine waters, and unfettered open spaces to teach kids to hunt, fish, and observe plants and wildlife.

Young children have an almost unparalleled ability to shape your daily life. Backpacking across the Bigelow Preserve can get replaced with visits to the swings and sandbox. And all things considered, that’s just fine. Thankfully, parks, both state and local, are available to start kids down a path that can lead to bigger and bigger adventures.

Before you know it, you may have your kids on the Appalachian Trail or other backcountry destinations – and they may be waiting for you to catch up!

For more information about Mainestate parks, go to: wwwparksandlands.com