Archive for the ‘Mother Nature’ Category:
A Northeast-based forest pest outreach group’s efforts to reduce the spread of invasive species received national recognition recently. The Forest Pest Outreach and Survey Project (FPOSP) targets accidental pathways which could spread invasive species, including the Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) and emerald ash borer (EAB), insects that have already destroyed millions of trees across the US. Maine has been a key partner in this effort from the beginning.
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.
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.
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.
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 Bradbury Mountain 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.
Invasive bugs, plants and animals continually threaten Maine’s unique natural resources, its tourism, recreation and economy, and the livelihood, traditions and health of thousands of Maine people. Because of that fact, Maine’s five state natural-resource agencies are encouraging all Mainers to observe and participate in National Invasive Species Awareness Week from Feb. 26-March 3.
Each fall, plans are made and lists compiled of materials that need to be hauled by snowmobile and tow sled into remote locations in the waterway. Last winter, waterway staff hauled cement pads and jacks into AllagashLake for the camp-jacking project that was accomplished last summer. Six tanks of propane and 100 gallons of gasoline completed the winter delivery into Allagash Lake. Then it was on to Eagle Lake, Camp Pleasant, and Round Pond.
Largest Corporate Dairy, Biotech Firm and USDA Accused of Conspiring to Corrupt Rulemaking and Pollute Organics The Cornucopia Institute has formally requested that the USDA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigate corruption at its National Organic Program resulting in the use of illegal synthetics in organic food and then allowing powerful corporations to “game the system” for approval “after the fact.”
A Presidential Permit for the Keystone XL pipeline was rejected by President Obama earlier this year following protests by thousands of citizens at the White House last fall, including more than 100 Mainers. Proposed legislation introduced in both the U.S. House and Senate would have Congress approve the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline without finishing the environmental review process and before a route for the pipeline is even finalized.
AUGUSTA – With the addition of two foxes in the same York County neighborhood testing positive for rabies, the increased number of rabies cases in the first month of 2012 [...]
Concerned that the insect is spreading Down East, the Maine Forest Service (MFS) staff will look for evidence of hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) on roadside hemlock trees particularly in the villages of Pretty Marsh and Seal Harbor, in the town of Mount Desert, according to MFS officials.
The Maine Forest Service, under the Maine Department of Conservation, this week finished up its bark-peeling project to look for evidence of the highly dangerous invasive insect, emerald ash borer (EAB). The results were just what MFS entomologists were hoping for. After participating in two workshops on Jan. 17 and Jan. 24 and peeling 52 logs down to the cambium, or living layer, the volunteers found no tell-tale signs of the harmful EAB that is threatening Maine’s forests, MFS officials said.
Welcome to Hirundo Wildlife Refuge. Hirundo is a 2,400 acre nature preserve, spanning Pushaw and Dead Streams, Lac D’Or (lake), vast wetlands, including domed bog and maple and juniper swamps, and mixed hardwood and evergreen forests. Only 10 miles from the University of Maine, Orono Campus, visitors paddle canoes free of charge and watch playful river otters, breeding Wood Ducks, Bald Eagles, and Osprey in the tranquil beauty. While hiking, snowshoeing, and cross country skiing, one might encounter moose, deer, red and gray fox, muskrat, beaver, otter, black bear, bobcat, fisher, and ermine.
There is a strong pull to get into nature, especially wild settings. Researchers speak of “wilderness rapture” or “transcendence” in which feelings such as awe, wonder, humility, connection to nature, absorption in the moment, and a sense of timelessness prevail.
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