New England researchers optimistic a tiny wasp is turning the tide against emerald ash borer

Patrick Skahill | WBUR

"...On a rainy day in eastern Connecticut, [Jian] Duan, a federal research entomologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, walked to a dying ash covered with holes. Peeling back the bark with a draw knife, he revealed a mess of serpentine tunnels. Curled up inside was one of his targets: a larva of emerald ash borer. [...] But today Duan isn’t just collecting emerald ash borers. He’s also looking for its predator, one released here on purpose in 2019 and 2020: a wasp known as Spathius galinae (pronounced spay-see-us glee-nuh). [...] Solutions like this, known as biological control, are one way scientists can deal with biological problems like the invasive emerald ash borer. Right now there are experiments across New England to see if the wasps can help save the region’s ash trees. Connecticut and Massachusetts began using the “biocontrol agents” in 2013. Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont are doing similar experiments, hoping to stop a devastating pattern. [...] Since it was first detected in Michigan in 2002, emerald ash borer (EAB) has killed tens of millions of ash trees. Federal officials estimate it has cost municipalities, nursery operators and the forest-product industry tens of millions of dollars. The massive die-off of ash trees has also disrupted the making of culturally-important products like baskets and baseball bats. [...] Shortly after EAB arrived in the U.S., DNA testing traced its origin to northeast Asia. Duan traveled to Russia – trekking through cold forests to collect wasps that only prey on EAB. Samples were brought to America, quarantined and carefully tested for years to ensure the wasps wouldn’t kill any other non-target species. Now that some of these wasps have been living in the forests of Connecticut and Massachusetts for about 10 years, scientists are trying to find out if the intervention is working." Read More

Landscaping for Climate Change: Practical Solutions for Managing Your Yard

Housatonic Valley Association | Press Release

"As we look to the future with more rain, associated flooding, and potential periods of drought, how we manage our landscapes can make a difference, not to just your yard but to the health of our community, too. Landscaping using nature-based solutions uses techniques that support pollinators, improve water quality, reduce waterfront erosion, and can save on maintenance costs. Join one or both of the upcoming 'Landscaping for Climate Change' webinars: Monday, February 27 & Wednesday, March 29, from 6:30 PM to 7:15 PM. Gain insight into how to manage your lawn to support pollinators while reducing maintenance costs. Find out how to capture stormwater and encourage it to soak in and recharge groundwater. While the provided information will be geared toward riverfront and lakefront homeowners, much of it is relevant to all. Find out more about how you can reduce flooding and support a more climate-resilient community, and register now for the February webinar at this link: https://tinyurl.com/Feb27flood. In addition, this Climate Resilience project for Richmond and West Stockbridge will culminate in a plan that identifies potential project locations for nature-based solutions to mitigate flooding. Your input on the draft plan and possible solutions will be needed later in the spring, so stay tuned for further updates. If you want to sign up for alerts, go to https://tinyurl.com/RWSSignup.

This project is generously funded by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs’ Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) Grant program, which provides support for cities and towns to plan for climate change and to implement projects to build local resiliency. More information about this program can be found at https://resilientma.mass.gov/mvp/. This webinar series is sponsored by the Housatonic Valley Association (HVA), the Town of Richmond, the Town of West Stockbridge, Mass Audubon, and Weston & Sampson."

Working Lands Aid At-Risk Species: How Private Lands Can Provide Critical Wildlife Habitats

John Litvaitis | Northern Woodlands

"...cottontails were tightly affiliated with dense, woody vegetation found in shrublands, regenerating forests, and some old fields (collectively called 'thickets'). Such habitats have been in decline throughout the northeastern United States for quite some time, and the animals dependent on these habitats have likewise declined. So, restoring New England cottontails and other thicket-dependent species requires creating and maintaining suitable habitats. An obvious starting point for generating additional habitats is public lands that include state and national forests, wildlife refuges, and other conservation lands. But, with only 10 percent or less of the land base within the range of New England cottontails publicly owned and suitable for management, private lands need to be part of the solution. Many landowners recognize they have a role in the stewardship of nature. Yet, gaining their support to benefit species such as New England cottontails can be challenging. Economics has an obvious influence on decisions made by landowners, and incentive programs can encourage participation in habitat conservation. These programs benefit a wide range of taxa, from popular game species to at-risk plants and animals. They include monetary grants, cost-sharing, incentive payments, rental contracts, and conservation easement purchases. Grants or cost-share programs pay all or part of the costs associated with habitat restoration. [...] At the national level, several agencies are involved with habitat conservation on private lands. The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) within the U.S. Department of Agriculture is the most prominent. NRCS was established more than 80 years ago as the Soil Conservation Service to address soil conservation needs in response to the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Today, NRCS works with private landowners to conserve soil, water, air, plants, and animals that contribute toward productive lands and healthy ecosystems. In 2012, NRCS and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service developed a partnership for private landowners to voluntarily participate in Working Lands for Wildlife (WLFW). [...] Privately owned lands are especially important when addressing the needs of at-risk plants and animals because these lands support populations of more than two-thirds of the species listed under the Endangered Species Act, with 10 percent of all listed species occurring only on private lands. Additionally, many species that are in jeopardy of being listed also occur on private lands.[...] Gaining landowner support to benefit at-risk species can be challenging. Some may already carry skepticism toward government programs and are concerned that having at-risk species on their land may interfere with current or future activities." Read More

January 2023 Reader Photo Gallery

Northern Woodlands

"For a month with a bleak reputation, January 2023 inspired a number of colorful and lively images from our gallery photographers. Frequent topics included winter birds (especially owls), intriguing ice, bright green lichen, and wood cutting – by humans, as well as beavers, porcupines, and pileated woodpeckers." See More Photos

The pristine US forest threatened by a pipeline – in pictures

The Guardian

"Bernheim Forest in Kentucky is the largest privately held forest block in the eastern United States, and is currently fighting plans for a 12-mile gas pipeline, part of which would cross a northern section of the forest. In 2022, photographer Carla Rhodes became the forest’s first environmental artist-in-residence and captured the abundance and wonder of the 16,000-acre oasis" Read More

Fracking Wastewater Causes Lasting Harm to Key Freshwater Species

Liza Gross | Inside Climate News

"Extracting fossil fuels from underground reservoirs requires so much water a Chevron scientist once referred to its operations in California’s Kern River Oilfield 'as a water company that skims oil.' Fracking operations use roughly 1.5 million to 16 million gallons per well to release oil and gas from shale, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. All that water returns to the surface as wastewater called flowback and produced water, or FPW, contaminated by a complex jumble of hazardous substances in fluids injected to enhance production, salts, metals and other harmful elements once sequestered deep underground, along with their toxic breakdown products. Concerns that spills could damage sensitive ecosystems skyrocketed with the rapid expansion of fracking across the United States and Canada almost two decades ago, as technological advances allowed energy companies to exploit previously inaccessible shale oil and gas reserves. Those concerns are well founded, new research shows. Exposing animals that play a critical role in freshwater food webs to diluted samples of flowback and produced water from fracked wells causes lasting harm, scientists reported earlier this month in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Science & Technology." Read More

Celebrating Silky Willow

Charley Eiseman | Bug Tracks

"Simply not mowing the lawn, and welcoming whatever plants decide to grow in its place, has done wonders for the biodiversity of our yard. But we have also welcomed gifts of native plants from friends, and today I’d like to shine a light on a silky willow (Salicaceae: Salix sericea) shrub that Adam Kohl gave us a couple of years ago. We planted it in a moist spot at the edge of the woods, and last year it was discovered by several insects I hadn’t seen in the yard before." Read More

Winter Birds in Vermont: a guide to some common, and not so common, winter birds

Vermont Land Trust | Field Notes

"A creature that weighs about an ounce and can withstand temperatures of -15 (or colder) is a thing of wonder. When a bright day dawns in the heart of a Vermont winter, our winter birds add to the magic of gleaming snow and their darting flights set the stillness alight. Perhaps you’re wondering what you saw at your backyard birdfeeder or out your window? Let us help!" Read More

How Climate Change Is Making Tampons (and Lots of Other Stuff) More Experience

Coral Davenport | The New York Times

"When the Agriculture Department finished its calculations last month, the findings were startling: 2022 was a disaster for upland cotton in Texas, the state where the coarse fiber is primarily grown and then sold around the globe in the form of tampons, cloth diapers, gauze pads and other products.

In the biggest loss on record, Texas farmers abandoned 74 percent of their planted crops — nearly six million acres — because of heat and parched soil, hallmarks of a megadrought made worse by climate change. [...] West Texas is the main source of upland cotton in the United States, which in turn is the world’s third-biggest producer and largest exporter of the fiber. That means the collapse of the upland cotton crop in West Texas will spread beyond the United States, economists say, onto the store shelves around the world. 'Climate change is a secret driver of inflation,' said Nicole Corbett, a vice president at NielsenIQ. 'As extreme weather continues to impact crops and production capacity, the cost of necessities will continue to rise.' [...] By 2040, half of the regions around the globe where cotton is grown will face a “high or very high climate risk” from drought, floods and wildfires, according to the nonprofit group Forum for the Future. Texas cotton offers a peek into the future. Scientists project that heat and drought exacerbated by climate change will continue to shrink yields in the Southwest — further driving up the prices of many essential items. A 2020 study found that heat and drought worsened by climate change have already lowered the production of upland cotton in Arizona and projected that future yields of cotton in the region could drop by 40 percent between 2036 and 2065." Read More

EPA orders Norfolk Southern to clean up toxic derailment

John Seewer & Michael Rubinkam | AP News

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ordered Norfolk Southern on Tuesday to pay for the cleanup of the East Palestine, Ohio, train wreck and chemical release as federal regulators took charge of long-term recovery efforts and promised worried residents they won’t be forgotten. Speaking to reporters near the derailment site, Norfolk Southern’s CEO promised to undertake necessary steps to ensure the long-term health of the community and become a 'safer railroad.' EPA used its authority under the federal Superfund law to order Norfolk Southern to take all available measures to clean up contaminated air and water. It also said the company would be required to reimburse the federal government for a new program to provide cleaning services for impacted residents and businesses. [...] [EPA Administrator Michael Regan] warned that if Norfolk Southern fails to comply, the agency will perform the work itself and seek triple damages from the company. EPA planned to release more details on the cleanup service for residents and businesses, which it said would 'provide an additional layer of reassurance.' The agency said its order marked the end of the “emergency” phase of the Feb. 3 derailment and the start of long-term remediation. Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw reiterated promises to restore the site and invest in the community. Read More