More habitat gone
Less than a mile and around the corner on the paved road, there is a substantial vernal pool along the road. I drove by the other day and that property owner had his entire piece "selectively cut", meaning everything, including the understory, was removed, leaving a handful of scattered oaks-all the way down to the vernal pool.
State regulations say 40% removal within 75 feet of wetlands every ten years but this type of clearing seems to be the new normal.
Speaking of our beloved state of Maine, I was shocked to see what the DOT has been up in the state capital of Augusta.
The state highway passes through/along the city, and there are several exit and entrance ramps for access. Basically they are a big circle with a large amount of land in the middle. Originally when they put them in, they did planting such as pine -not white pine, one of the shorter varieties-and it was quite attractive, acting as a visual buffer as well as a sound, wind, and pollution break.
When I was there Wednesday, it was all gone-scraped down to bare earth, piles of bursh stacked to one side, fully loaded logging truck going out the other. It was stomach churning.
It was so stomach churning that I accidentally ran over one of the big highway cones they had up while I was staring open mouthed at the ecological desert they had just proudly created. The WIllow nearly had a heart attack at the big whump as the cone went under two tires.
A comment on a one sided article defending the DOT's project published on centralmaine.com was that there was a deer family using that small forest-nevermind everything else-and of course the main reason DOT removed it was to remove the animals, according to the article. Way to go Maine, keep cutting like mad while backing alternate energy.
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The fully loaded pulp trucks keep flying up and down my road. I am not sure where they are cutting-it must be fairly close or they would go the other way-but my heart goes out to all the animals finding their homes a wasteland of bark and wilting leaves.
We saw a great crested flycatcher in the garden yesterday. I have never seen this bird , but my Audobon field guide claims that they frequent the tree canopy and are more often seen not heard. I am hoping it is local to my property and not a displaced asylum seeker.
State regulations say 40% removal within 75 feet of wetlands every ten years but this type of clearing seems to be the new normal.
Speaking of our beloved state of Maine, I was shocked to see what the DOT has been up in the state capital of Augusta.
The state highway passes through/along the city, and there are several exit and entrance ramps for access. Basically they are a big circle with a large amount of land in the middle. Originally when they put them in, they did planting such as pine -not white pine, one of the shorter varieties-and it was quite attractive, acting as a visual buffer as well as a sound, wind, and pollution break.
When I was there Wednesday, it was all gone-scraped down to bare earth, piles of bursh stacked to one side, fully loaded logging truck going out the other. It was stomach churning.
It was so stomach churning that I accidentally ran over one of the big highway cones they had up while I was staring open mouthed at the ecological desert they had just proudly created. The WIllow nearly had a heart attack at the big whump as the cone went under two tires.
A comment on a one sided article defending the DOT's project published on centralmaine.com was that there was a deer family using that small forest-nevermind everything else-and of course the main reason DOT removed it was to remove the animals, according to the article. Way to go Maine, keep cutting like mad while backing alternate energy.
***
The fully loaded pulp trucks keep flying up and down my road. I am not sure where they are cutting-it must be fairly close or they would go the other way-but my heart goes out to all the animals finding their homes a wasteland of bark and wilting leaves.
We saw a great crested flycatcher in the garden yesterday. I have never seen this bird , but my Audobon field guide claims that they frequent the tree canopy and are more often seen not heard. I am hoping it is local to my property and not a displaced asylum seeker.
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