Newsletters
March 2013-Zero Waste, Mouse, Pitch Pine, Contest
WELCOME TO GREEN FUTURES !
MARCH, 2013
“I am not leading this fight as a matter of aesthetic pleasure. I am leading because somebody must lead, or else the fight would not be made at all.”
-Theodore Roosevelt
“Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room.”
-Winston Churchill
ZERO WASTE STATE? WE CAN’T HAVE THAT HERE IN “Trashachusetts!”
A huge mistake the BIG environmental organizations made was not vehemently opposing Governor Patrick’s decision, when he first took office, to combine “energy” and environment within the same state regulatory agency.
The efficiently functioning Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs quickly became the dysfunctional Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.
Of course, you know it …and so did they when these two disparate entities were combined …“energy” is always going to come first. Energy will always trump environment.
The Governor’s Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), under the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, is proposing rescinding the ban on waste incineration. DEP wants to end the moratorium on incineration of solid waste to …in their words …”encourage innovative and alternative technologies (e.g. gasification or pyrolysis) for converting municipal solid waste to energy.”
Yes, we’ve heard that before, been there and done that. Anyone remember Al Gore and the Molten Metals debacle here in Fall River? Remember Somerset NRG’s plan for the old Montaup Electrical Generating Station? They were going to use “pyrolysis/plasma” gasification to fuel the plant’s turbines until they discovered it wasn’t economically advantageous to do so. How about Great Point (ugly rectangular tower over by Dominion’s Brayton Point Power Station)? They call their “proprietary” process “catalytic hydromethanation.” Here’s another: Not sure they are still in existence, but in New Bedford we have/had Ze-gen with their liquid metal catalytic gasification process which appears to be the same, except for the type of “liquid” metal in the catalytic cooker, as that used and discarded by Molten Metals fifteen years ago.
There are dozens, if not hundreds, of similar research and development projects making gas out of trash, coal, bio-mass, grass and anything else you can think of. In the laboratory all these “gasification” methods work. In real life, not so much.
So, why this push by the state to ease its way back into incinerating trash? Because they don’t have the desire and political will to fight for and implement a true Zero Solid Waste Master Plan
To lift the incinerator moratorium in Massachusetts “to encourage innovative and alternative technologies,” as DEP says, is pure hokum! It is apparent that DEP wants to return to the past, incrementally, at the expense of our health and environment.
San Francisco is the first major U.S. city to proclaim itself a “Zero Waste City. Why can’t Massachusetts become the first Zero Waste State?
Read about San Francisco’s efforts here: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/climate-change/jan-june13/recycling_01-25.htmlT
COMMENTS FROM YOU AND OTHERS IN OPPOSITION TO THE GOVERNOR’S AND DEP’S ILL-CONCEIVED PLAN NEEDED BY MARCH 1st! PLEASE DO IT NOW. A SENTENCE OR TWO STATING YOUR OPPOSITION IS ALL THAT IS NEEDED.
Excerpts from - MassDEP Notice of Supplemental Public Comment Period on a Revision to the Draft Solid Waste Master Plan
MassDEP is seeking public comment on one substantive change to its Solid Waste Master Plan.
The Revised Draft Plan and Appendices are available for review on the MassDEP web site athttp://www.mass.gov/dep/recycle/priorities/dswmpu01.htm.
MassDEP will accept comments only on the proposed change to the moratorium in the Revised Draft Plan until 5:00 p.m. on March 1, 2013. Comments should be sent to: John Fischer at MassDEP via email at dep.swm@state.ma.us or by mail to John Fischer, MassDEP, One Winter Street, Boston, MA 02108.
Want more info? – MA Toxics Action - http://www.toxicsaction.org/news/tac/response-patrick-administration-modifying-incinerator-moratorium
MA Clean Water Action - http://www.cleanwateraction.org/action/zero-waste-bay-state
MASSPIRG - http://www.masspirg.org/reports/map/industry-blowing-smoke
BIORESERVE FAUNA OF THE MONTH – White Footed Mouse (Peromyscus leucopus)
Everyone dines on white footed mice. Oh, not you? Local carnivores and omnivores rate these mice number one on their list of preferred food items. Perhaps you don’t know what you’re missing?
White footed mice are probably the most common mammal in the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve(SMB) and are an important prey item for numerous predatory mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish.
White footed mice are six to seven inches long, almost half of that being tail. Males and females are the same size. Adult fur color ranges from various shades of brown to a brownish-gray with darker shading along the upper back. Young are usually gray. The lower parts of both are white and the feet, of course, are also white. Their tails are haired, brown above and white below.
The white footed mouse can be found from the Canada/U.S. border south through the United States and Mexico to Yucatan …except for our Pacific and Rocky Mountain States and Florida.
A variety of habitats, from deep forest to suburban vacant lots containing trees and shrubs, appeal to these mice. They are adept at climbing and are rarely found where there aren’t any trees. They are also good swimmers.
When disturbed or anxious white footed mice “drum” on dry leaves with their front feet. They also make squeaking and chirping sounds.
White footed mice build round nests, ten to twelve inches in diameter, of leaves, grass, bark and any other dry and soft material they find in their environment. Their nests can be placed underground in burrows, in stone walls, under logs, in hollow trees, in sheds, barns and buildings. They often build two or three “spare” nests that they can escape to in an emergency should a predator or foul weather destroy their original domicile.
White footed mice breed from March through November. Female mice seek out non-related males from neighboring territories for mating. The females make their mate selection through scent.
The gestation period for these mice is usually 23 to 25 days. Litter size varies from 3 to six. At birth the young are pink, blind and helpless. Their eyes open when 2 weeks old. The baby mice grow rapidly and are ready to leave home when 8 to 9 weeks old. In the SMB female white footed mice usually have 3 to 4 litters a year.
Adult mice usually stay and forage within 300 feet of their nest. Young mice are more adventurous as they explore surrounding areas seeking a territory of their own.
White footed mice are nocturnal and active throughout the year foraging about for seeds, acorns, other nuts, berries, grain, leaf buds, fungi, insects and snails. Like SMB’s diurnal chipmunks, white footed mice have cheek pouches. When they find an abundance of food, they stuff it in their cheek pouches and carry it home to store in their nest.
The black legged tick, aka “deer” tick, (Ixodes scapularis) feeds on white footed mice while the tick is in its larval stage. If the mouse is infected with Lyme disease the tick larvae will become infected and now capable of spreading the Lyme organism to the next animal it bites. The ticks molt into the nymph stage and often attach to deer (hence, the name “deer tick”!).
White footed mice can also carry potentially deadly Hantavirus, but the disease in the United States is very rare and when it appears it is usually in the dry Southwest. Most people get it by inhaling dust contaminated by fresh mouse droppings or urine. In September, 2012, Hantavirus made the news after four campers in Yosemite National Park, out of many thousands, came down with the disease and died. The vector in the Yosemite cases was the deer mouse, a close relation to our white footed mouse.
So, should we fear our white footed mice and possible Hantavirus here in New England? There have only been four Hantavirus cases in all of New England up to 2012. It is extremely rare. One is more likely to be hit by lightning, multiple times, than to contract this disease. Besides its rarity, Hantavirus is not easily contracted. The virus does not survive for very long outside the body and sunlight quickly kills it.
Fear our shy forest mice? No way! …just keep your nose away from mouse feces dust.
BIORESERVE FLORA OF THE MONTH – Pitch Pine (Pinus rigida)
Pitch pine is the second most common pine in the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve(SMB). White pine is first.
Pitch pines often grow to a height of 60 to 80 feet. If left alone, they occasionally reach 100 feet in height. The tallest pitch pine on record grows in the far northeastern corner of Georgia and is 143 feet in height.
An intermediate, successional forest tree, pitch pines will eventually be replaced by an oak climax forest. These pines grow best in dry, thin, nutrient impoverished sandy/gravelly soil and have evolved a long tap root that reaches deep into the earth for moisture and stability.
Pitch pine range from central to coastal Maine south along the coast through New Jersey, inland along the Appalachians down to extreme northeast Georgia.
Needles of this pine grow in bundles of three, are stiff and sharp pointed and measure about 6 inches in length. They may remain on the tree for 3 years before being replaced. Pitch pine cones are 2 to 3 inches long and usually clustered. Each cone scale has a sharp spine projecting from its upper surface.
Pitch pine evolved in an environment prone to frequent brush fires. Pitch pine cones do not need fire to open and drop seed, but open more quickly, dispensing more seed, after fast moving ground fires heat their cones. Fire gives the pitch pine seeds a competitive advantage, a head-start, ready to germinate as soon as the ash covered ground cools.
Pitch pine’s thick, scaly bark protects the tree from all except the most intense fires. They also sprout from the trunk if that is all that is left after a forest fire. If even the trunk is destroyed by fire, pitch pines are one of the few conifers that readily stump sprout.
See that tree stump surrounded by shredded pitch pine cones? You’ve discovered the dining area of a red squirrel. In the SMB red squirrels and white footed mice are especially fond of pitch pine seeds as are many bird species such as mourning doves, eastern towhees, chickadees, juncos and grouse. Deer, snowshoe hare and forest voles nibble on pitch pine seedlings and young pitch pine sprouts.
Pine warblers nest in pitch pines, prairie warblers forage through their foliage and wild turkeys often roost in them during inclement weather.
Due to the large amount of highly flammable sap in pitch pines, Indians and early settlers would use long-burning pine knots to make torches. In New England, before more abundant sap from resinous southern pines became available through the coastal trade, pitch pine was rendered down in pine-tar kilns for the production of turpentine, ship caulking and other “naval stores.”
Pitch pine is a “hard” pine and the high pitch content makes for decay resistant wood. The wood has been used for ship building, railroad ties, fence posts and barn sills.
The pitch pine is one of the SMB’s most interesting tree species.
Reading "Sign" (traces left of an animal’s presence) Contest
A few weeks back we announced this contest for all observant folks that hike local fields and forests. We are waiting for some answers but …apparently …no one knows scat!
Identify the critters that left the following "sign" and you win.
We are reducing the number of sign identity photos to six and beneath each photo is a clue.
Email us, info@greenfutures.org your answers to the six sign photos that follow. In the event of a tie, a drawing will determine the winner:
PHOTO #1
CLUE: Three local mammals left their tracks in the mud while using the wildlife tunnel under Route 24.
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PHOTO #2
CLUE: The tortoise may have won because he didn’t stop to poop.
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PHOTO #3
CLUE: Walking to the post office to pick up a mail-order from the Acme Corporation?
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PHOTO #4
CLUE: Probably all that’s left of poor kitty.
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PHOTO #5
CLUE: I always get blamed, but I don’t care to eat cat and I don’t scream like a woman.
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PHOTO #6
CLUE: Not Boston baked beans. Maybe Raisinets?
SPRING IS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER
Out in the woods creatures are emerging from hibernation, bluebirds are checking out tree hollows and nesting boxes, tree buds are swelling and sprouts are sprouting. Click on our calendar for events and activities. Enjoy spring!
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