EcoHearth - Leave the Trail Behind

Winter in Maine

EcoContact@EcoHearth.com (Rich Bard | Blog Entry) — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 05:00:00 +0000

It's almost the end of February. Still the dead of winter in Maine. Night time temps regularly dip below 0º. Nothing but snow and ice as far as the eye can see. Skin gets all pasty white from lack of sun. (Not being the most racially diverse state in the US, most Mainers start the winter fairly white anyway.) People resort to desperate measures to help them through the rest of the winter: TV, alcohol, garden catalogs, full-spectrum lighting, ice hockey, you name it. {readmorelink}Read on…{/readmorelink}

Life on the Edge

EcoContact@EcoHearth.com (Rich Bard | Blog Entry) — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 05:00:00 +0000

Donning my snowshoes, I leave the plowed, shoveled and accessible world that we humans carve out of the winter snows. Each snowfall is cleared from what is “in bounds” for human use during the winter—and the plow banks and piles of snow grow taller each time. Anything outside of that maintained boundary is by necessity off limits—unless, of course, like me you put on your snowshoes. {readmorelink}Read on…{/readmorelink}

Never Miss a Chance for an Ecological Lesson

EcoContact@EcoHearth.com (Rich Bard | Blog Entry) — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 05:00:00 +0000

“Look at that,” I say to seven-year-old Max as we linger in the back yard on an autumn afternoon. “Those two are both maple trees. That one’s already lost almost all of its leaves, but this one has barely started to change colors. Why do you suppose that is?”

“Can you push me on the swing now?” comes the non-sequitur reply. So much for the open-minded wonderment of youth. I never even got to my other point about why maple trees lose their leaves before the oaks even start to change colors. {readmorelink}Read on…{/readmorelink}

Ghost Traps Haunt Our Beaches and the Ocean Floor

EcoContact@EcoHearth.com (Rich Bard | Blog Entry) — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 15:00:00 +0000

There is a certain stretch of beach that I walk regularly. Being part of a naval base, it is closed to the public, but I have permission to do shorebird surveys there. Only once in three years have I seen another person’s footprint in the sand, most likely from a boat that landed there.

As I walk slowly along the sandbar, focusing on identifying and counting birds, I could easily forget about the outside world of man, except for one problem: the tons of trash that wash up on the shore of this otherwise pristine little paradise that I have all to myself. {readmorelink}Read on…{/readmorelink}

A Brief Ecological History of Burying Island

EcoContact@EcoHearth.com (Rich Bard | Blog Entry) — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Steve rowed the boat slowly, speaking in measured phrases between his strokes. Occasionally he looked over his shoulder to see if we were still on course for Burying Island. He was in no particular hurry. As long as the headwinds weren't too strong, we'd get there in due time. It’s a trip he's made countless times since his family acquired the island, back in 1938, when he was just four years old. Since then, Steve has seen the once nearly clear-cut island return to a forest and watched the wildlife return along with it. {readmorelink}Read on…{/readmorelink}

Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation, Part 2: Returning an Orphaned Deer to the Wild

EcoContact@EcoHearth.com (Rich Bard | Blog Entry) — Fri, 25 May 2012 15:00:00 +0000

The message the young buck was sending came through loud and clear. He wanted out and if he wasn't given his freedom, he'd find his own way out. Which he did, repeatedly. He never wandered too far, and Gayle Krauss—the wildlife rehabilitator who raised him from a young fawn—was always able to lure him back into his fenced yard, but clearly the time had come to return him to the wild. {readmorelink}Read on…{/readmorelink}

Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation, Part 1: Tending to Injured and Orphaned Birds

EcoContact@EcoHearth.com (Rich Bard | Blog Entry) — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:00:00 +0000

I hang up the phone, collect my thoughts for a moment, then pick up the receiver and make another call. I explain to the person on the other end that there is a bald eagle that can't fly on the ground in the middle of a village. I ask if the person on the phone can arrange transport and take the eagle if I catch it. “Yes,” comes the unhesitating reply, as I hoped and expected. I gather my gear and head for the eagle, knowing that where it’s going will provide the greatest chance for recovery and eventual return to the wild. {readmorelink}Read on…{/readmorelink}

A Frog Blog

EcoContact@EcoHearth.com (Rich Bard | Blog Entry) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:00:00 +0000

I'm standing in the dark, eyes closed, brow furrowed in concentration. For five long minutes, I remain as still as possible. I'm listening to the chaotic chorus of croaking frogs from a nearby wetland and I don't want to miss a single note of this pastoral symphony. A cough, a foot shuffling in the sand on the road shoulder, even the sound of my pant legs rubbing against each other can mean I may lose some important data.

The North American Amphibian Monitoring Project (NAAMP) enlists volunteers who each "adopt" an amphibian survey route. Several times a year, depending on where they live (it's three times here in Maine), they drive a mapped route, stopping at ten predetermined locations to listen for frogs and record which species they hear. {readmorelink}Read on…{/readmorelink}

Making Wind Power Safe for Wildlife, Part 3

EcoContact@EcoHearth.com (Rich Bard | Blog Entry) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Even after years of wildlife studies and endless debates about where to put turbines to gather the most wind while having the least impact on everything from birds and bats to frogs and rodents (see Part 1 and Part 2 of this series), concerns over the effects of wind power on wild animals continue. Fortunately, in many states, Maine included, the government maintains a say in the final layout and operation of wind farms. If the government is vigilant and acts in the public interest, it can certainly help minimize those effects. {readmorelink}Read on…{/readmorelink}

Making Wind Power Safe for Wildlife, Part 2

EcoContact@EcoHearth.com (Rich Bard | Blog Entry) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 06:00:00 +0000

Before a new wind farm can be built, extensive studies are undertaken (on the developer's dime) to find out what kind of birds and bats either live near or migrate through the potential site, and may therefore be in danger from the turbines. Part 1 of Making Wind Power Safe for Wildlife provides a brief description of some of those studies. It turns out that wind farms may also have damaging effects on wildlife that never come close to a spinning rotor, like deer, salamanders and even the lowly bog lemming. {readmorelink}Read on…{/readmorelink}