The squirrel’s dilemma: acorn or tulip bulb?

By Bruce Wenning/ Special To The Tab

Last fall did you loose a lot of your precious tulip bulbs to the gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), chipmunk (Tamias striatus), and meadow vole (Microtus pennsylvanicus)? I did at Habitat, the Mass Audubon sanctuary in Belmont where I'm the grounds manager. We plant 2,000 tulip bulbs every November for beautifying our formal gardens each spring. Last fall we lost close to 600 tulip bulbs to the above mentioned rodents. They were dug up and eatened for a highly nutrious meal and adequate moisture source during the droughty weather that prevailed. The meadow vole was very successful at feeding on our tulip bulbs even under the pristine snow cover. Those bandits!

What caused this change in feeding behavior to become so drastic and satisfying to them and troublesome to gardeners? The droughty years that began in 1993 and lasted more or less until 2004. Acorns are the fruits (and seeds) of oak trees and the main staple of squirrels while still on the tree. The calories stored in acorns is in the form of fat and other organic compounds that help squirrels, and other animals, get through the winter months. Squirrels prefer to feed immediately on the acorns of White Oak (Quercus alba) and will bury the high tannin content acorns of Red Oak (Q. rubra) and Black Oak (Q. velutina) for eating at a later date. Acorns are buried at shallow depths for better olfactory detection. Experiments have proven that squirrels find their buried acorns by smelling them and not by memory.

During droughty years, oak trees, as other tree species, become stressed due to a lack of adequate water for growth and reproduction. Part of an oak trees carbohydrate root reserves are allocated to the reproductive cycle of the tree each year. When plants are stressed by un-seasonal temperature extremes, nutrient deficiencies or prolonged drought, particularly during their flower development and pollen dispersal, seed production can be greatly reduced. During drought the threat of death increases which prompts many trees to allocate close to 50 percent of these reserves to leaf and root production to ensure survival and away from energy depleting reproduction (producing seeds). This was the scenario last fall with oak trees. Successive years of prolonged drought shifted these reserves away from acorn production. The acorn population simply crashed. In addition, when drought occurs early in the growing season the flowers of oaks are fed upon by squirrels preventing their fate of development into acorns in the fall. Therefore, drought was the culprit that turned the squirrels, chipmunks and voles from acorns and other natural foods to tulip bulbs. Tulip gardens showed the damage this past spring with incomplete blooms or no tulip flowers at all.

This year I see acorns! Hopefully, many of our rodent friends will spare our tulip bulbs and stick with their natural foods. To protect tulip bulbs from squirrels and other rodents, I have found two non-toxic strategies. The first is covering your tulip bulb beds with unsightly hardware cloth (wire) with quarter inch holes. Secure the edges with bricks, logs or other heavy objects. Planting your tulip bulbs closer to Thanksgiving gives squirrels and chipmunks more time away from your attractive tulip bulbs and more time caching acorns and other nuts and seeds.

The second strategy is spring protection. When tulips are emerging from the soil, apply a wax-based hot pepper spray to the foliage to deter rabbits, squirrels and chipmunks from seeking moisture by nibbling the tulip stems that support the bloom.

There are hot pepper spray concoctions on the market, but not wax-based. To buy the longer lasting wax-based pepper spray contact Ben E. Daniels Company in Plympton, MA. www.benedaniels.com, (800)-854-7988. I have tried this spray and it works.

Bruce Wenning, a plant pathologist and entomologist, is property manager of MA Audubon Society's Habitat Education Center and Wildlife Sanctuary (Belmont). He is on the Board of Directors of the Ecological Landscaping Association, www.ecolandscaping.org.

 

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Green meets blue in an urban environment

By Pallavi Mande / Special To The Tab

 

While many people are aware of the importance of reducing the environmental impacts of new development on green, open land, there is less emphasis placed on the environmental impacts of development in cities. Yet the relationship between the environment and development is equally important in urban areas. The impacts of urbanization on water are pervasive. Because little rainwater can penetrate the impervious surfaces that cities create, those surfaces deplete groundwater reserves, which in turn depletes the amount of water in our rivers.

"CRWA, known for its work in protecting, preserving and enhancing the Charles River and its watershed, is creating a new approach to urban redevelopment," said Bob Zimmerman, executive director of Charles River Watershed Association. "We want to build 'blue cities' - cities that are designed to sustain and restore water resources."

City infrastructure, comprised of roads, buildings, sidewalks, parking lots, and more, is often designed without taking into consideration the natural flow of water, which often aggravates flooding problems. Because there is nowhere else for water to go, urban rivers are overwhelmed with polluted runoff during rainstorms, exacerbating flooding and pollution problems in the river.

"Urban redevelopment projects present tremendous opportunities to improve the environment, reverse degradation, and correct mistakes," said Kate Bowditch, senior environmental scientist and project manager at CRWA. "The most successful urban renewal incorporates environmental restoration, because of the proven economic benefits as well as because it generates widespread public support."

Existing policy and regulations already require redevelopment projects to reduce polluted runoff, increase groundwater recharge, and conserve water. In many cases, especially in Boston, where Mayor Thomas Menino and the Boston Redevelopment Authority are adopting Green Building standards, redevelopment projects are also adopting practices such as green roofs, water reuse, and incorporation of public open space.

"While these building-scale efforts are a huge step in the right direction, there is much more that can be done at the neighborhood level," said Bowditch. "Redevelopment provides the opportunity to encourage developers to look for ways to participate in improving the neighborhood, and can leverage other public and private investments as well." She added that larger infrastructure improvements to the water and sewer systems, transportation systems, open space and pedestrian amenities, and the urban ecosystem should all be considered whenever large-scale urban development is occurring.

As a case in point, over the next 50 years Harvard University intends to develop over 200 acres it now owns in North Allston to create a new campus south of the Charles. The project presents an opportunity to change current development practices, and create a new approach to planning that is environmentally sensitive and "water friendly".

CRWA has developed partnerships with the participants involved with the Harvard project- Harvard University, the BRA and the residents of the North Allston community. As the Institutional Master Plan for the new campus begins to take shape, CRWA is working closely with each participant group to further the goal of environmental sustainability.

A parallel opportunity exists on Newton's border, as Boston College (BC) plans to develop the 43 acres of land in Brighton that it purchased in 2004 from the Archdiocese of Boston. Like all colleges in Boston, BC must participate in the Boston Redevelopment Authority's institutional master planning process, which requires the school to keep a master plan on file with the city. Changes to the plan, such as major development on new land, require not only city approval but also neighborhood participation. Thus, there exists a tremendous opportunity for large institutional development projects to incorporate measures for environmental restoration and resource conservation. This will have both short-term benefits and will help to achieve sustainability in the longer term.

One of the country's first watershed organizations, CRWA was formed in 1965 in response to public concern about the declining condition of the Charles River. CRWA has figured prominently in major clean-up and watershed protection efforts that have dramatically improved the health of the Charles.

Pallavi Mande is an urban restoration specialist with the Charles River Watershed Association. 

 

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Improving ocean management

By Michelle Portman/ Special To The Tab

 

One of the most controversial projects of the decade in our region is the wind farm proposed for Nantucket Sound. This project has environmentalists, longtime Cape Cod property owners, politicians, energy experts and concerned citizens throughout the state and the entire country taking sides. Should private companies be given a license to profit from marketable commodities produced on seabed that is public domain? Should the impact to unspoiled ocean vistas outweigh the potential benefits from the production of renewable energy? And should the authority of the federal government trump that of landside states simply because a project barely lies across an arbitrary line of jurisdiction? 

These questions have prompted the state's renewed interest in ocean management. Offshore use projects are becoming more common and varied. Recent technological advances are making new ocean uses possible. Also, many types of projects are becoming increasingly difficult or impossible to site on land. Available land is scarce while limitations as to what can be built where are increasing. For years there has been controversy around offshore oil production in other parts of the country, for example, in California and Florida. In Massachusetts, recent offshore proposals include not only wind projects but wave energy developments, liquefied natural gas pipelines, fiber optic cable lines and sand and gravel mining.

In an effort to develop proactive governance to replace what has traditionally been a "first come, first serve" approach, state administrators convened an Ocean Management Task Force in 2003. Charged with developing a new Ocean Management Plan, the Task Force met approximately 30 times over 10 months, held six public meetings and received more than 300 public comments.

So, what does the Task Force have to show for their efforts? A report called Waves of Change was produced and made available to the public in March 2004. It recommends strengthening state agencies to address environmental, planning and public trust issues in both state and federal waters, establishing an ecosystem-based protocol to improve management of offshore areas, and initiating ocean education and stewardship initiatives.

In the area of governance, the task force recommended strengthening the Ocean Sanctuaries Act and the Public Waterfront Act (also known as Chapter 91) two existing regulatory programs, currently of questionable effectiveness. Earlier this year, Governor Romney filed the Ocean Resources and Conservation Act that would allow the state to assert greater control over its ocean territories and would implement some of the Task Force recommendations aimed at more proactive governance.

As for management tools, the Task Force recommends convening a work group to address the designation of marine protected areas, increasing enforcement of existing environmental laws pertaining to the ocean and waterways, and developing inventories of the uses and resources of the state's marine waters. To manage potential impacts of new projects, the Task Force recommended developing methodologies and standards for the analysis of visual, cultural and aesthetic impacts of projects proposed for state waters.

Some of the most interesting and far-sighted recommendations of the Task Force have to do with improving scientific understanding of our marine environment. These include establishing a marine and fishery scientists group to advise the state, developing an ocean monitoring and research plan, a seafloor mapping program and standards for review of data submitted by project proponents. The Task Force also recommends that the state commit to developing an ocean literacy and stewardship "ethic" among Massachusetts residents, outreach mechanisms and greater dissemination of marine data collected to the public at large.

Certainly, our knowledge of the ocean, marine ecosystems and resources are so lacking that these steps are necessary at a minimum. But, the question remains whether the work of Ocean Management Task Force will contribute to wise proactive conservation of sensitive public resources in the near future. We now know, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the consequences of debating coastal issues ad naseum, postponing conservation measures and neglecting what goes on in the less visible, submerged domains of our environment. Will the conclusions of ocean experts make significant contributions to wiser ocean use, lead to further unfunded mandates or get slogged down while in their infancy and buried in the mud flats long before the tide rises? This remains to be seen.

 To read more on Massachusetts' Ocean Management Initiative see: http://www.mass.gov/czm/oceanmanagement/index.htm.

Michelle Portman is a Ph.D. candidate studying marine conservation policy at UMassBoston and she works as an environmental analyst.

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A great catch!

By Emily Long and Luke Johnson/ Special To The Tab

New England is certainly linked in peoples' minds with lobsters. On a mid-western college tour, we were informed by our tour guide sporting shorts with little red lobsters that he was from New England. Lobsters are commonly found here in a big boiling pot or on a bib covered in buttery lobster juice, but how much do we really know about them? Do we ever stop to think what kind of lives these crustaceans might live outside of the plate in front of us?

Trevor Corson's "The Secret Life of Lobsters" offers an intellectual awakening on an anecdotal plate. He interweaves stories of lobstermen and scientists, offering a hint of the friction between the two groups, while demonstrating their common love of lobsters. Having spent his childhood summers on Little Cranberry Island, Corson developed an early interest in lobstering and he gained a general appreciation of the village's economic dependence on the lobster industry. Later in his life, he spent two years working full-time aboard a lobster boat and gained a much deeper appreciation of lobstering: "I wanted to be a marine biologist when I grew up, but also a commercial fisherman."

The non-fiction book takes the reader directly into the lobster's world. We travel into the traps at the bottom of the ocean, to a scientist's make-shift lobster town equipped with video cameras. Occasionally, Corson takes us back in time to discuss issues of over-fishing and to speculate about future generations of lobsters and lobstermen. Corson's witty parallels between humans and lobsters make the book especially interesting. In one section he dramatizes the mating rituals of lobsters by making allusions to their human counterparts, as when he described a female molting before mating: "a few minutes later, she fell over on her side, unzipped the back of her shell, and began to wiggle." In another chapter, Corson graphically describes male lobster fights in parallel with descriptions of the battles between lobstermen and scientists regarding lobster conservation.

The book provides insight into lobster politics, discussing how people use lobsters as a resource. Scientists are constantly working for the preservation of lobsters, while fishermen are juggling the preservation of lobsters with the preservation of their livelihood and their families. In the book, you hear these two groups really listening to each other. In one scene, scientists, skeptical of the lobstermen's preservation efforts, witness a lobster haul and are amazed by the large number of lobsters tossed back into the sea. Throughout the book, the two groups are always learning new things about each other, resulting in a new level of mutual respect.

The writing style is laid back and Corson conveys his message in a playful manner. He has an informative voice, but the scientific information and historical references are not overemphasized, so the story narrative flows. He takes basic biological and behavioral facts and shows their complexity. At times it is like a lobster soap opera.

You might say that Corson has a talent for conveying lobster personalities. He describes the drama of lobsters that have been placed into artificial environments with a clarity that keeps you wanting to read more. There were moments when our minds drifted from the page, especially when nautical jargon was involved - yet we yearned to get back to the action underwater!

There's a profound conservation lesson to be learned from this book.

Studying lobsters is a window into our environment. Lobstermen do not set out to catch every lobster they can. They are aware of the impact of their actions on the lobster population so they set standards to control overfishing, standards that exceed those set by scientists and lawmakers. This book enriched our knowledge of lobster fishermen and of the workings of the lobster fishery. As the title implies, there's more to lobsters than most of us know. The author makes us see why scientists and fishermen care about lobsters. If you read this book, you, too, will understand the fascination and intrigue of lobsters.

Emily Long and Luke Johnson are seniors at Newton North High School. They wrote an opinion piece for the TAB last year based on a year-long Biology project. Having discovered that the TAB is a useful link to the community, they will continue contributing to the Environment page because they want to increase public awareness of environmental issues.

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More dangers of mercury

By Gilbert Woolley/ Special To The Tab

Mercury, even in very small amounts, is a potent neurotoxin (poison) for the rapidly developing nervous systems of young children and the fetus in the womb. In a previous article we warned that mercury can be ingested by eating some seafoods.¹

Another direct route into the body is from dental amalgam used to fill our teeth. Often referred to as "silver," 50 percent of amalgam is actually mercury. Saliva gradually erodes the amalgam so that mercury is absorbed into the bloodstream. Also, mercury vapor is emitted from amalgam and inhaled. Mercury from amalgam is suspected of causing certain neurological conditions.

For many years polymeric (non-metallic) compounds have been used widely and successfully to replace amalgam. If you are thinking of having your amalgam fillings removed, this must be done with extreme care, in order to limit the amount of mercury entering your body. Make sure that your dentist knows about this. Women who are pregnant or anticipate becoming pregnant should not have amalgam fillings removed.

Mercury in the environment

Mercury enters the environment in several ways. Dental amalgam is a major source. It is estimated that forty tons of mercury are used every year in the US in dental amalgam and much of that will eventually be removed when fillings are replaced and either flushed into sewers or disposed of in the trash.

Some uses of mercury are dangerous to people and the environment only when they break or are disposed of after the end of useful life. A common example is the mercury in glass thermometer, often disposed of in regular trash and, as it is in Newton, incinerated. Mercury vapor from the incinerator condenses and falls on gardens, fields, lakes and streams. Alcohol (in glass) thermometers and electronic thermometers are widely available and offer inexpensive replacements.

Many older fluorescent light tubes and some other types of bulbs contain mercury and should be recycled and not disposed of as solid waste.

Another use of mercury is as an electrical contact. It is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature and is also a good conductor of electricity. It is the switching element in the familiar thermostat on the wall of your house and also in "tilt switches" such as those that let a driver know that the trunk lid is open. Mercury for these switches is also enclosed in a glass tube and is no danger to the user. However, unless the switches are removed from a device or appliance when it is no longer in use it is very likely that the glass tube will be broken and the mercury released into the ground - or, worse, in vapor from a trash incinerator.

Temperature controllers in homes mostly last as long as the house is standing, but automobiles have a short life and are usually crushed and turned into scrap metal. It is safe to assume that mercury switches are not commonly removed before crushing, so that mercury vapor is released in the smokestack of the steel furnace. Today, solid state switches can replace mercury in almost all applications, and often at a lower cost.

Recycling

Mercury is very costly and is easily recycled, but in many applications, the quantity used is minuscule and the cost of recapturing it far exceeds its value.

A precautionary approach suggests that mercury should be used only if it can be positively shown that there is no substitute. If this principle were followed, there would be very little mercury in the waste stream. Requiring manufacturers to take back components containing mercury at end of a product's useful life is probably the most effective way to get them to use the many available replacement materials for this environmental toxin and it would stimulate discovery of new replacement materials.

To learn more about this subject, try Google.

 

¹A recent Harvard School of Public Health study claims that the 2004 FDA/EPA advisory warning pregnant women and young children not to eat certain fish species and to limit their consumption of albacore tuna, may have done more harm than good, by discouraging people who are not at risk from eating all kinds of seafood. However, the advisory clearly warns against only a few fish species and specifically targets pregnant women and young children. Some of us have questioned the part of the advisory that recommends eating as much as 6 oz of albacore a week. We also feel that the advisory is not well written and takes too long to get to the point, so it is confusing, and suspect that it has not always been reported accurately in the media.

 

Gilbert Woolley is a retired engineer. He has been a very active member of the Sierra Club since 1971, and he served on the Sierra Club National Toxics Committee for six years.

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Fish is still good food

By Lois A. Levin/ Special To The Tab

 

Many species of fish that were once abundant have become scarce. In fact, there is increasing evidence that wild fish stocks are collapsing all over the world.

Fish is an extremely healthy food, despite the serious problem of mercury contamination of many fish species. (The US government has issued warnings that some types of fish are especially risky for pregnant women and children.)

How are responsible shoppers supposed to know which types of fish are harvested sustainably, so that we can all continue to enjoy this healthy food?

In our area, we are fortunate to have markets and restaurants that offer environmentally-responsible fish options. Here is the list of "best Eco-choices"from Environmental Defense's Oceans Alive Campaign:

Abalone (US farmed)

Anchovies

Arctic char (US & Canadian farmed)

Catfish (US farmed)

Caviar (US farmed)

Clams (butter, geoducks, hard, littlenecks, Manila)

Crab (Dungeness, snow from Canada, stone)

Crawfish (US)

Halibut (from Alaska)

Herring (Atlantic sea herring)

Mackerel (Atlantic)

Mahimahi/dolphinfish (US from the Atlantic)

Mussels (farmed blue, New Zealand green)

Oysters (farmed Eastern, European, Pacific)

Sablefish/black cod (from Alaska)

Salmon (wild from Alaska)

Sardines

Scallops (farmed bay)

Shrimp (Northern from Newfoundland, US farmed)

Spot prawns

Striped bass (farmed)

Sturgeon (farmed)

Tilapia (US)

For more information on these and hundreds of other fish, visit www.oceansalive.org/eat.cfm. Pocket Seafood Selector (c)September 2005 Environmental Defense, New York, NY

Permission to reprint this info given to GDC's Marcia Cooper (marciac@aol.com) on Oct. 6 by Kathleen Goldstein (KGoldstein@environmentaldefense.org).

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