Site Discussions

A excellent summary of Tom’s book (which I have, and have read).  Succinct, interesting and for me, a beekeeper, useful and meaningful.

Thank you,

Stephen

Had one enter my bedroom somehow and kept it in my handy dandy *bugzooka* for a few days, after identifying it as definately NOT a ALB let it go to freedom on day 3, unfortunately HE took off too quickly to capture a good photo. I have been living here my whole life and this is the first I’ve ever seen, good or bad sign?? 26yrs old. Sighting June 19th, 2011

I think it would be better to extend the rifle season a little longer being that bow and arrow has 31 days with both seasons where rifle has fifteen days not counting the eight for muzzle loader season. If rifle was given seven more days letting four be either sex days for the last four days this would cut down on the deer heard a lot more.

We have a pond out in a open field. But if we had woods I would of loved to build one out in the woods. Love the photos

I have a tree in my garden which I have always taken to be a white oak. Being from Windhoek in Namibia this is a highly unusual tree for our environment, indeed I am not actually aware of any other in Windhoek at all. Over the last few years it has been very noticeable that, although all the leaves turn brown in autumn (May/June here being in the southern hemisphere fewer and fewer are actually shed. With new growth in spring the old brown leaves stay on the tree and appear to interfere with new growth. Apart from being unaesthetic these areas of dead leaves harbor pests such as aphids and scale insects which afflict the tree during summer. Each year this has become worse. The winters here are generally mild with few nights of frost whilst the peak summer temperatures are up to 40 centigrade. Rainfall is also primarily late summer with little or no precipitation in the winter, certainly no snow. Last year I manually removed the dead leaves in late winter, which took some effort, but which the tree seemed to appreciate based on the strength of the new growth. I’d be interested to know whether the failure to shed the old leaves when the new leaves grow is a problem or just part of a natural process? Might it perhaps be caused by our climate? I have inquired from local nurseries but have not received any helpful comment due, I think, to the general rarity of the tree here.

I don’t know of any urban area where asphalt is being removed and native forest allowed to return. It’s happening in rural areas all the time, though, as farm fields are reverting back to woods. Check out this article if you’re interested:
http://northernwoodlands.org/articles/article/what_is_a_climax_forest/

Thanks Jon (and Michaeline via e-mail) for pointing out the information for Maine.

The current northern limit of adelgid in Maine seems to be Route One in much of the areas we’ve found so far, but it is a tough insect to find.  The insect has been found as far east as Bristol.  We will have interns scanning hemlocks in coastal areas east of Owl’s Head this summer, and are conducting surveys in towns adjacent to known infested towns. 

In Maine we also have a group of dedicated volunteers who help us look for hemlock woolly adelgid (and some who never pass a hemlock without peering up at the foliated twigs or flipping over a branch)and help pass out information about the insect.  Our program relies on such dedicated individuals.

We also have partners in tracking where adelgid has been looked for.  If you spend some time looking for hemlock woolly adelgid in Maine, even if you don’t find it, please take a moment to report your observations at: vitalsignsme.org.  They have a Field Mission set up for hemlock woolly adelgid http://vitalsignsme.org/mission-hemlock-woolly-adelgid. 

If you think you have found adelgid you can report it directly to the Maine Forest Service (207) 287-2431 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Thank you!

Thanks, Dave; certainly putting in gardens in where asphalt was is a good start.  I specifically am interested, however, in knowing if anyone is replacing asphalt - and/or concrete, unused portions of parking lots, etc. - with native forest trees and allowing the native community of forest plants, aka NATIVE HABITAT, to grow back again.  Anyone?  Thanks.

Dave, replacing excess asphalt with gardens is a good start.  But I specifically am asking:  Does anyone know of a project anywhere where someone is restoring the forest to areas from which it was removed?  And, with apologies to Irwin Post who put up the original article of this thread, I’m also not asking about anyone who may be setting up a woodlot or tree plantation for timber production (although that is better than asphalt too!)  What I am asking is: does anyone know a project where people are replanting the ORIGINAL COMMUNITY of trees, understory, and groundcover plants that was native to the place before human disruption of it? That is, is anyone trying to RESTORE THE FOREST?  -Thanks.

That’s cool that we can take the loan and that opens up completely new opportunities.

I watched “Dirt” last night, Connie, which if you haven’t seen it is a documentary-type movie on soil and soil health. One of my big criticisms of the film was that it was a little too shrill, but apropos of your question, there were a number of real life examples shown where urban schools ripped up asphalt playgrounds and replaced them with gardens. So yes, absolutely it can be done. Along the lines of your thinking, you might want to also read the book The World Without Us, which imagines what the world would be like if we humans suddenly disappeared. Worth checking out.

I’ve read the thread of this discussion and want to respond to a single comment by Al Mollitor on Oct. 25, 2010, namely:  “...Those artificial and engineered landscapes [i.e., shopping malls and suburban housing developments] will never grow any kind of forest again”.  This is a commonly expressed sentiment among us environmentalists—- “Once the forest is cut down, we will never get it back”, etc.—- but one I want to challenge.  How do we know this?  Has anyone ever tried to re-grow forest in one of these areas?  I dearly wish we could get an actual experiment running, on returning “developed” land back to its original forested state.  Can anyone help me with this?  - Connie Ghosh, Atlanta, GA

An enduring symbol of Cape Cod - chickadees in a Pitch Pine.  I hate these Eastern White Pines that are spreading from so many yards.  The Pitch Pine is the most beautiful completely natural self reliant tree on the planet.

I am retired and I spend much of my day outdoors and I see No flying insects. The lack of pollinators has resulted in poor yields from my vegetables compared to a period of thirty years. The decline was abrupt and I noted the decline in my ledger in May of 2004..

We plant flowers and leave clover for bees and other insects. I only see insects at a local river and swamp ecosystem and they are in vastly reduced numbers.. The local VT extension agents I have talked with have dismissed my observations.

Rachel Carlson and her book Silent Spring may be too true.

Thank you for that clear explanation.  What raised this question in my mind was discovering Pick’s theorem which, since acreage is measured as the projection on a plane, should allow a simple way to make excellent approximations of the acreage of parcels with irregular boundaries.

What troubles me about solar and wind power is the amount of real estate they cover to generate power on a scale great enough to replace conventional generation plants. And in the Northeast, sunshine and wind are irregular at best, so something always needs to be available as backup.

People also seem to think that solar and wind power do no environmental damage. Maybe not after they are installed, but putting them in—at a large scale—requires a great deal of industrial production and transportation, all involving fossil fuels, as well as mashing up the locality with trucks and cranes, installing permanent access roads, etc. And how much gasoline would be consumed every summer to keep field and forest from overtaking the open space of a solar farm?

Has anyone yet figured out how to avoid bird, insect, and bat mortality from wind turbines?

I would be interested in seeing a comparison of how much acreage is actually used to run the Northern Pass lines vs. how much acreage and how many hilltops would be needed for the same amount of power via solar and wind. Is that information available anywhere?

I didn’t realize the importance of dandelions to bees until I read this article.  How unfortunate for the bees that this plant is dreaded by those who seek the perfect lawn.

It’s good to see Brian finally recognizes the wonder chickadees bring to the world.  I’m sure Brian doesn’t remember me, but in a conversation more than 5 years ago, he made a disparaging remark about the all so common chickadee and how everyone has them at their feeders.  Ever since I’ve been going to write an ode to this friendly, spirited bird, so obviously full of the joy of life.  I haven’t witnessed the mobbing, but chickadees are the friendliest birds in my section of the woods.  Instead of quietly devouring bird seed, like nuthatches and blue jays do, they cheerfully call everyone to the feast they have found.  Being dare devils, they fly in for a seed at a feeder inches from my head, while I fill another.  They will also land on your hand for a seed, if you stand still long enough, being great teachers of patience.  I know because I’ve done it twice.  Still, unlike ducks who will follow anyone around looking for more handouts, the chickadee is always a free spirit, flying back to shelter with it’s bounty.  Sure it’s fun to catch a glimpse of a reclusive bird that lives far in the woods.  Though it it technically true of every species, if the chickadee were to disappear the world would be a much sadder place.

Solar and wind power are not yet cost effective but would be when sufficiently developed and used…but we have powerful oil companies lobbying against them, and seemingly no public will and patience to withstand them.  No energy source is free from either harmful or nuisance effects, but solar and wind seem to offer the safest-for-the-planet source.  For that I would be willing to ‘sacrifice’ some scenery for the common good. 
  We live in the middle of Marcellus gas drilling; we see and feel the negative affects from it, will not benefit monitarily from it.  Our friends who will benefit hate it…hate the destruction, degradation, everything about it.  I hate the sacrifices we’re all making to have this gas produced and used, knowing that the primary benefactors from the gas drilling will be the oil companies.  Local economies, private citizens will benefit to some degree, but in what proportion to the cost of what is lost to them and to the planet we all inhabit?  Marcellus gas is another finite power source, and its production is another ‘mess’ we’re leaving for our children to deal with.  Why are we not putting our efforts toward a clean, constant energy source?  See above paragraph!

A very much needed discussion. In my town very recently there has been serious debate about the siting of wind turbines. Most of the inhabitants are aware of the almost constant wind flow at the projected sites.Both locations are at relatively high elevation. Both are places townsfolk like to walk when in need of a pleasant breeze on sultry days, or a magnificent view for miles in any direction. One site is on school property. The other is on a huge piece of land owned by a large fraternal organization. Town folks raised a ruckus about rather questionable ill effects caused by the turbines “flicker effects”. Nothing is settled yet. The NIMBYS have a way of shifting much attention to nit picking instead of necessary action on behalf of our environment and our populace at large.