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Black flies surge in Maine's clean rivers
Boston Globe ^ | 06/23/2008 | Beth Daley

Posted on 06/23/2008 8:09:46 AM PDT by Phlap

Mainers call the black fly the state bird.

Residents and tourists have long steeled themselves against the flies' annual warm-weather onslaught, sometimes duct-taping pant legs and wearing screened hoods to keep the deceptively small bugs from delivering bloody bites or crawling into seemingly every body crevice.

But there are now more black flies in more places in Maine, and the reason may be surprising: It's the success of the environmental movement.

(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Maine
KEYWORDS: environment; pests; summer
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To: PBRSTREETGANG

LOL


21 posted on 06/23/2008 8:30:40 AM PDT by Arkansas Toothpick
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To: Phlap
I may need to join the "Black Fly Breeder's Association". Particularly if they eat environmentalists.

I dunno about them getting any "worse" over the years. Having lived in Maine both "pre- and post-cleanup", I don't think I ever saw a dime's bit of difference. Except that over the years, I think that maybe they hang around longer. Old timers say they'd usually be gone by early summer, now it's not uncommon to see them in July/August.

Mainers build up a tolerance to them; folks from away are generally miserable.

The last time I went fishing up at Moosehead (late 90s), guy I was with wore a light-colored shirt and I couldn't tell what color it was, they were so bad.

22 posted on 06/23/2008 8:30:55 AM PDT by wbill
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To: Phlap

Comical. The law of unintended consequences.

We live in the heart of blackfly country here in our part of Vermont. You just have to get used to it. After a few years, they don’t seem as bad as they did.

In fact, like true Vermonters, we even celebrate them. This here is from the next town over:

http://www.blackflyfestival.org/


23 posted on 06/23/2008 8:31:25 AM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: ktscarlett66

In my experience, they’re not truly “cyclical” as with cicadas and locusts, for example. They do respond to weather conditions, however. More rain during the spring and/or snow cover during the winter = more black flies. That’s certainly the case this year - we had snow on the ground continuously from December 1st until about April 10th. They also tend to disappear as soon as the temperature gets above 90 degrees for the first time.


24 posted on 06/23/2008 8:32:18 AM PDT by andy58-in-nh (Peace is Not The Question.)
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To: Phlap
If those black flies are like the pine flies in South Jersey, I feel sorry for 'em.

There is another fly here in South Jersey that I am really allergic too. It has yellowish color wings. When one of those b@st@rds bite me I swell up like a balloon.

25 posted on 06/23/2008 8:32:23 AM PDT by mware (F-R-E-E, that spells free, freerepublic.com baby)
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To: Phlap

DDT


26 posted on 06/23/2008 8:35:25 AM PDT by wendy1946
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To: maine-iac7
Woodman's Dope is still the best remedy Can you still get Ben's 100?

I have a bottle of it in my closet from the last time I visited. It stinks, but I'll take it over getting eaten up every day of the week.

27 posted on 06/23/2008 8:35:43 AM PDT by wbill
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To: wendy1946
DDT

I remember in the 1950's when they use to come around and spray DDT with this huge truck.

They would let the neighborhood know ahead of time so parents could get the laundry off the lines, and close the windows of the house.

The kids in the neighborhood had a whole different view of the whole thing.

I remember lots of kids on bikes would follow behind the truck in the cloud of DDT.

28 posted on 06/23/2008 8:40:03 AM PDT by mware (F-R-E-E, that spells free, freerepublic.com baby)
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To: Phlap

Gradually my visits to the West Branch region have move later in the year to avoid the slaps, curses and scolding from my fishing partner and wife of way more than forty years. The maxim “IF MOMMA AIN’T HAPPY, AIN’T NOBODY HAPPY” is the reason. Look Mainer do-gooders the longet I have to wait befor I get to come down east, the more of my filthy lucre you pass up.

OBTW, down here in the GSMNP and nearby environs we use to be plagued by a nearly microscopic G-gnat called a “no-seeum”. For some reason they are now extinct in our area. Must have been the acid rain caused by the “gummit power plants” (TVA) down past Knoxville. Every cloud has a silver lining if you look hard enough.

See ya in mid-July at the North Woods Trading Post.

Caddis


29 posted on 06/23/2008 8:40:23 AM PDT by palmerizedCaddis (There is a place left on earth where some folks can still walk on water!!!!)
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To: Phlap

...so the environmentalist attempt to preserve the environment is actually altering it. Got it....


30 posted on 06/23/2008 8:40:46 AM PDT by Tzimisce (How Would Mohammed Vote? Obama for President!)
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To: oprahstheantichrist
I take 100mg/day of vitamin B1 (thiamin)

I hope you heard about the recall on that stuff.

31 posted on 06/23/2008 8:42:31 AM PDT by LasVegasMac (Islam: Bringing the world death and destruction for 1400 years!)
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To: oprahstheantichrist

So do I - and mosquitoes eat me alive. It ain’t the thiamin.


32 posted on 06/23/2008 8:42:53 AM PDT by KeepUSfree (WOSD = fascism pure and simple.)
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To: mware

There were guys who fell into vats of DDT in the 50s who are still walking around, one guy who used to eat the stuff to demonstrate its safety to humans, and everybody who survived the nazi death camps was sprayed with the stuff to get rid of lice and other parasites; none of them died from DDT exposure. A friend of mine studied under Heinz Meng himself and tells me that Meng described the entire case against DDT as BS and claimed it had no effect on any kind of birds or their eggs. Everything we’ve ever been told about DDT is BS. DDT is a legitimate candidate for greatest thing the white man ever invented and it would solve the black fly problem in a single day.


33 posted on 06/23/2008 8:52:03 AM PDT by wendy1946
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To: Phlap

The Black Fly Song- Wade Hemsworth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8HrGhn9nLI


34 posted on 06/23/2008 8:53:58 AM PDT by Snowyman
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To: wendy1946
DDT affects falcons(by damaging their eggs) and who knows what else. All herbicides and pesticides have long term compound affects on the environment. Just ask the agent orange vets.
35 posted on 06/23/2008 9:16:21 AM PDT by Phlap (REDNECK@LIBARTS.EDU)
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To: Phlap

That case was challenged many times and now that DDT has been banned, a field test or even a lab test is out of the question.

Suffice it to say that one man’s poison...


36 posted on 06/23/2008 9:39:47 AM PDT by Old Professer (The critic writes with rapier pen, dips it twice, and writes again.)
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To: Phlap
"We are ecstatic," said Marilyn Dowling, who calls herself the director of research and development for the association. She and Holly Garner-Jackson, the marketing director, said people have a choice: polluted rivers and no black flies, or clean rivers and black flies. People "should roll up their sleeves to feed the little darlings," Dowling said. "They are defenders of the wilderness."

Perfect example of how sick these enviro-whackos are...

37 posted on 06/23/2008 9:49:41 AM PDT by NYC Republican (weInfuriate the MSM---Vote McCain... John McCain- Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory...oh g)
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To: blam

No See’ums are also know as “flying teeth”.


38 posted on 06/23/2008 10:04:23 AM PDT by WellyP (How much does Huma know?)
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To: Phlap
DDT affects falcons(by damaging their eggs) and who knows what else.

As I noted, the best expert on falconry we've ever had is on record to the effect of calling that claim a bunch of BS.

39 posted on 06/23/2008 10:31:04 AM PDT by wendy1946
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To: Phlap

A very reasonable idea, and one used for mosquitoes, is to breed and release a cloud of dragonflies.

Dragonflies are voracious predators of other insects and will clear an area very quickly. They also make a very quiet clicking sound that other insects are terrified of.

In Canada, they tried this in a park infested with mosquitoes, just before a major outdoor concert. In just a few days, the mosquitoes were completely gone.

The only thing to figure out is how many dragonflies per acre you need.


40 posted on 06/23/2008 10:31:14 AM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy
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