Posted on 03/28/2018 9:30:01 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
Climate change is leaving a mark on one of New Hampshire's springtime rituals: maple sugaring.
Scientists and farmers dug into the latest research over pancakes in Plymouth on Tuesday.
Mount Washington Observatory research director Eric Kelsey says maple trees face a lot of stresses: abnormal storms, droughts, excess road salt, acid rain and new pests.
He says those stresses are all getting more severe as the climate changes.
"And that might explain the general 25 percent decrease in sap-sugar content we've seen over the last 40 to 50 years,” Kelsey says.
He says those issues also affect maple trees' fall colors, which help attract leaf-peeping tourists each year.
Longtime Granite State maple farmer Brad Presby downed a glass of syrup at the annual breakfast, then said his sugar season comes earlier each year.
He also says new regulations are making it harder to run a small-scale maple business.
The newly appointed head of the Environmental Protection Agency in New England, Alexandra Dunn, also spoke on the panel. It was hosted by several nonprofits that have been outspoken critics of EPA administrator Scott Pruitt's agenda.
Dunn says she hopes more local and state control of climate policy will help sustain traditions like maple syrup season.
Given that even the worst “climate change” predictions have a 1.6 degree claim of change over 100 years, how in the hell would one-hundredth of that be noticeable?
Trees are reacting to a 0.016 degree change? These morons are just ridiculous.
Stop giving them any attention and just ridicule them.
“Maple Sugar Season Faces Mounting Climate Change Pressure”
Uhh, it’s spring now?
Oh my gosh, they’ve brought “acid rain” out of retirement!
...new pests...
It's their own fault. I warned them not to let people emigrate from Massachusetts...
Someone should get in touch with the sun and tell it to stop being so capricious.
Spring is when collecting and sugaring is done. When the weather turns warmer, sugar maples no longer need their sap to survive the winter.
No big deal.
I prefer Mrs. Butterworth’s corn syrup to real maple syrup, which I’ve had straight from the sugar shacks of Vermont.
Seriously though, can they prove the lower sugar content is due to global warming/environmental stresses and not due to other factors like tapping trees too often?
Eastern Whistling Turtle
Kinosternon trumpetensis centralis
MAIN : SPECIES ACCOUNTS : EASTERN WHISTLING TURTLE Identification The Eastern Whistling Turtle is a small and often hard to identify species. The carapace is keeless, lacks any pattern, and varies in color from yellowish to black. The plastron is large and double hinged, and can be yellowish to brown, and may sometimes have a dark pattern. The chin and throat are a yellowish grey, streaked and mottled with brown, while the limbs and tail are grayish. The eye, or iris, of the Whistling Turtle is yellow with dark clouding and its feet are webbed. This species is unique in its ability to make a shrill, piercing whistle that can be heard for as much as a mile and for its ability to spit a potent venom [see: toxicity of North American Reptiles].
Distribution and Status This species’ natural range is from Bangor, Maine, south through Florida to the Gulf Coast, across east-central Texas, north via the Mississippi Valley to Missouri, southern Illinois and Indiana. Isolated populations are also found in northwestern Indiana. In the Midwest, this turtle is currently found only in Indiana, where it is listed as State Endangered, and in Illinois. It is also listed as endangered in Massachusetts and Northern Rhode Island, and eastern Connecticut.
Ecology The Eastern Whistling Turtle prefers shallow bodies of water and can often be found on land. Wet meadows, ponds, marshes, and drainage ditches are ideal for this species. The turtles can withstand brackish water well, and are also found on the edges of tidal marshes, and on islands.
Threats and Management Issues A variety of animals eat the eggs and juveniles of this species. Humans further threaten populations, killing many on roads and by destroying the turtle’s habitat. Loss of habitat is largely a result of water pollution, wetland drainage, and business development. This species, as with several other turtle species, is thought to be especially susceptible to global warming as it has a very limited ability to deal with an increase in habitat ambient temperatures. One of the largest turtle kill-offs of the past 40 years was traced to the building of a WalMart department store in central Massachusetts. Heat generated by the store raised the temperature of a surrounding wetland area, destroying a Whistling Turtle population estimated to have exceeded 300 of the endangered animals. Cats, dogs, and other domestic animals are reported to have gone missing in this turtle’s territory, probably victims of the animal’s venom and generally nasty disposition.
Resources
Ernst. C. H., J. E. Lovich and R. W. Barbour. 1994. Turtles of the United States and Canada. Smithsonian Institution Press, USA.
General reference guides and websites. .
MAIN : SPECIES ACCOUNTS : EASTERN WHISTLING TURTLE
Center for Reptile and Amphibian Conservation and Management Science Building University of Massachusetts 2101 Morrell Building Amherst, MA 01003
“Trees are reacting to a 0.016 degree change?”
That’s comparable to the most accurate, carefully calibrated thermometers available to science. They should use the sprouts at doctors’ offices to take our temperatures.
Yeah more GOOBERMINT RULES AND REGULATIONS WILL FIX IT!!!
Dumb Asses
I help a friend at his sugar house with the annual pancake breakfast. This has been his best year yet, he expects to put 400 gallons of grade A syrup.
Climate change is real. Here in Minnesota just four days ago it was cold and we had a blizzard. Now it is 50 degrees and sunny. If this rising temperature continues at this pace it will be one billion degrees by the fourth of July. I just hope my air conditioner can handle that much heat.
[[Trees are reacting to a 0.016 degree change? These morons are just ridiculous.]]
Exactly-
Also- the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere as a direct result of man amounts to just 0.00136% of the atmosphere- To hear climate change warriors describe it- you’d think the world had a thick blanket of CO2 completely surrounding it- preventign any heat from ever escaping-
However, only 0.00136% of the atmosphere has man’s CO2 in it- how in the world can just 0.00136% of the atmosphere possibly cause GLOBAL climate change? How on earth can such a small amount capture and back radiate enough heat to warm the whole planet?
Maple sugar season is underway in Maine.
I haven’t heard of any problems.
Sounds like misplaced anger, he should be bad at algor and Obama.
So did my firstborn. Then he grew up.
That's when I retried "Vermont Maid" brand maple syrup....
a childhood treat on morning pancakes.
It is delicious....real maple flavoring and a nice consistency.
Try it.
I don’t see the purpose of your comment.
Dick.
Too bad, New Hampshire...we have gallons and gallons of maple syrup here in PA...and it tastes waaay better than yours!
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