The Wrack

Two scientists AND their chief salesman want to better communicate coastal science and our changing world, BUT they need some help. THEREFORE, they sought out a guru.

The first week of March is customarily when reserve managers visit Congressional offices in DC to explain why the estuarine reserves are such a healthy bargain.

The following was published in the Biddeford-Saco?Journal Tribune Sunday edition, 2/22/2015.

I learned a new word this year. Subnivean, from the Latin for under (sub) and snow (nives). Its the zone within and underneath the snowpack. Its where weve all been living lately.

The following was published in the Biddeford-Saco?Journal Tribune Sunday edition, 2/8/2015.

In America, enshrined in our First Amendment, we have a right to voicing our own opinions. But ever since the Charlie Hebdo attacks in France, Ive been thinking about whether free speech does have limits. If what I say ends up hurting others, or even myself, I may have a right to say it& but should I?

My tight-timeframe Wednesday birding routine started in March and carried on through December. Over that span I missed 7 mid-week morning appointments with the birds, but still completed 33 checklists accounting for 61 species.

Starlings were evident on 20 surveys, crows turned up on 19, and a handful of species appeared 11 times: robin, bluebird, a sparrow, and goldfinch.

Sand beaches are incredibly valuable to Maine. Sea walls and jetties disrupt the natural movement of sand along the coastline, creating areas of erosion that combined with rising sea level and increased frequency and severity of storms have contributed to an overall net loss of sand.

In 2014, Wells Reserve researchers trapped and counted numerous brook trout in Branch Brook as part of an ongoing project to restore these native fish and the habitat they depend on (see previous blog post). ?We caught these fish as they moved from the estuary into the freshwater reaches of Branch Brook and ascended the restore…

It is NOT about easy answers, shortcuts, or even a-ha revelations. Why on earth is that great?

Back in September we reported on a current research project going on at the reserve? green crab sampling! We now have an update on this project, but first to refresh your memory&

Over the 2014 field season, research staff and interns participated in a green crab abundance study in hopes of getting a better understanding of population dynamics of this invasive species on marshes along the coast of Maine. We used modified eels traps baited with Atlantic herring, deployed two traps at a time per site, left them for 24 hours, and repeated this process eight times between June and October.

The following was published in the Biddeford-Saco?Journal Tribune Sunday edition, 12/28/2014.

I sat in the tire shop the day before Christmas, waiting for the technician to switch my summer tires for winter ones, and scrutinized my fingers. Id recently read an article about new biological research that pointed to a possible explanation for one of the great mysteries that has bedeviled mankind for millennia: why DO our fingers get wrinkly in the bath?