The Wrack

The following was published in the Biddeford-Saco Journal Tribune Sunday edition of 1/24/16 and Making It At Home Thursday edition, 1/28/2016.

Always eager to start some new long-term monitoring project, I’m now keeping track of the number of conversations I have about the weather. I’m planning to henceforth keep tabs on with whom, when, and for how long we chatted. I’m already certain one thing will be constant: the changing weather will be discussed in only the most general, equivocal, unchanging terms. You and I will talk about the weather, my friends, but we will say nothing new.

It's been well over a week since our few inches of snow fell and we've been through a a number of melt/freeze cycles over that time. Skis and snowshoes won't be much fun; wear sturdy boots and take your time on the uneven and sometimes icy surface.

Weather is not looking great. Your best bet this weekend is probably Saturday afternoon. Be careful early Saturday, as the roads might be slick. The skies brighten for the start of the work week.

We have no public programs this weekend, and the Visitor Center is closed until April, but next Wednesday at lunch time Sue Bickford will talk about Soundscape Ecology in Mather Auditorium.

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). It’s the zone within and underneath the snowpack. It’s where we’ve all been living lately.

Figure 1: A chart of the scientific consensus on climate change (97% of scientists agree that humans are driving global warming), and how much attention the minority opinion seems to receive in the media. Or is it a graph of the amount of America's wealth controlled by the top 3% (54.5%), vs. the bottom 97%?

The following was published in the Biddeford-Saco Journal Tribune Sunday edition, 10/5/2014.

Two weeks ago, my family and I were perched on the steps of the grand fountain in Columbus Circle, Manhattan, watching 300,000 people march past. They sang, they shouted, and they carried thousands of messages, all communicating one thing: world leaders, it’s time to do something about climate change. A week of action followed. Further protests spread around the world, corporations declared carbon reduction goals, and even presidents and prime ministers frankly spoke of “addressing the need to revise a framework for negotiation.”

That’s some progress, anyway.

We have developed a disaster response plan for the Wells Reserve and surrounding watersheds that complements and coordinates with local and county efforts and that will serve as a model for other natural resource organizations and agencies.

The following was published in the Biddeford-Saco Journal Tribune and Making It At Home Sunday editions, 2/2/2014.

I will not be the first person to admit that it’s gotten harder to watch football this season. I still love the drama, the personalities, and the heroics of any given NFL Sunday. But some guilt has crept into the game I grew up watching every week with my father. I’m not seeing it the same way I used to.

Hi Everyone,

Thought I would share some numbers from our System Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP) weather station here at the Reserve, and compare them to some values from around the area. First off, it seems we got "lucky" with rain fall totals. Both the Reserve station and the Portland International Jetport weather station reported just over an inch of rain on Tuesday. However rainfall totals varied a bit depending on where those "bands" of precipitation hit… pretty minor event as far as actual rainfall goes, but when that rain is being blown sideways at close to 60mph. Speaking of wind…

I just wanted to let you know that the Wells Reserve came through the storm in good shape, despite wind gusts (according to Jeremy Miller and the SWMP weather station) of up to 58 MPH Monday evening. We were without power beginning at around 8 pm, but regained it around 11 am today.

We lost about 20 shingles on the Laudholm barn and several on the Sheep Barn, but that is it. A dozen or more trees (most small, several large) had fallen across the trails, with one threatening the public entrance. John Speight and volunteer Frank Heller cleared the tree alongside the entrance road and many of those along the trails; they had the gates open by late morning. The Internet was on and the phones working (with some minor glitches) by noon.

We saw a cold and wet start to the month of June here in Southern Maine. I thought I would share some SWMP data from a few of our stations to illustrate how weather can significantly impact the water quality of our estuaries

So looks as if we got a bit "lucky" and missed the brunt of Hurricane Irene as the storm passed to our west dropping large amounts of rain on western New Hampshire and parts of Massachusetts and Vermont. Here are some totals from our System Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP) weather station behind the Coastal Ecology Center.