Fish and Wildlife ServiceThe story of most salt marshes across the East Coast is largely the same: Decades of alterations—ditching, flooding, and draining – have left marshes in poor shape, unable to keep up with rising sea levels and provide habitat for local plant and animal species. The same story has played out in the marshes at Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey—except in a small stretch of marsh that seems lost in history, unaltered from its organic trajectory. It tells a different tale. [Read More] About an hour off the coast of Maine lie some of the state’s most unique environments: tiny sea islands that are often little more than piles of rocks with shrubs growing in the middle. They’re largely uninhabited, save for colonies of nesting seabirds. Yet even these remote patches of wild are not immune to the pervasive hand of human influence. Even before we reach shore, I see it: hundreds of lobster traps, buoys, and ropes melded into mountains three or four feet high. [Read More] [...] The boys are shadowing biologists in the half-hourly ritual of checking five of the ten mist nets set up at the Fort River Division of the Silvio O. Conte National Wildlife Refuge in Hadley, MA. They and nearly 15 other volunteers have joined U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists to band birds as part of a continent-wide research project that will help scientists understand where and why birds and declining and how to address the growing threats they face in a changing climate. The day is equal parts a teaching station for community members and students as it is a crucial source data collection for directing avian conservation efforts. [Read More] Put yourself in the mind of a piping plover for a moment: It’s early spring, and you’re looking to make landfall on the end of your thousand-mile journey North. You spy a strip of sand and run through your mental checklist of what makes a good nesting site. It's a close distance to the shoreline (check), a flat open space (check). It’s sandy and free from predators right now (check and check). You just hit beachside bingo. [Read More] The ebbs and flows of Susan Guiteras’ life—professional and personal—have always been in sync with the tides of the environment she works in. She's been working on the shores of Delaware, at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge and Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge, since 2002 and has been the supervisory wildlife biologist of the refuges since 2007. Guiteras is one of the longest-tenured staffers at the Delaware refuge, and she remembers the story of Hurricane Sandy inside and out. For her, it’s a story that begins well before Sandy even struck: It starts in 2006 when Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge saw its first big storm—the first of more to come. [Read More] Rick Bennett is the type of person who will print out your email so that he can prioritize responding to it. He’s the type of person who will tell you, just in passing, the whole story of how his career began as a fish researcher at a medical school and has evolved through the many facets of restructuring and reorganizing of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to emphasize the importance of following a passion even down a winding path. Suffice it to say, Rick Bennett, now the regional scientist in the Northeast Region’s Science Applications program, is the type of person who is thorough and thoughtful, leaving no stone unturned. So when approached by former Regional Director Wendi Weber to lead Hurricane Sandy restoration efforts, Rick Bennett is the type of person who would say “OK, but only if we do it right.” [Read More] Frank DeLeo remembers seeing dead alewives float up West River when he was young. Now, half a century later, he’s become a devout steward of the fish’s restored waterway. “They [the Pond Lily Company] used to release the textile waste into the river, right where the Pond Lily Dam was years ago,” he said. “They had these big tanks that looked like swimming pools. The [pools] would be all filled up with these blue or red or whatever dye and then they would just open the thing at low tide, since they figured it would just get washed out with the tide.” [Read More] You probably don’t care much about a saltmarsh sparrow. Chris Elphick, a conservation biologist who has dedicated most of his career to researching the small pale bird, doesn’t care much about an individual sparrow, either. When he says that, he’s only partially joking. For Elphick, the bird represents more than itself; it is a signifier of marsh health and a key to understanding the marsh ecosystem: how it is changing and how to help it adapt to outside influences. “We don't just do this [research] because we're interested in sparrows—of course we are interested in sparrows—but it has a lot of other repercussions across salt marshes that I think are important,” said Elphick. [Read More] Meg Harrington is excited to schedule a follow-up appointment with her dentist. At least, she’s excited for what it represents: a permanent job, in one place, for the foreseeable future. She’s built her career as a biologist weaving from New Hampshire’s Monadnock Region to California’s Central Coast, up to its high desert, and back to the forests of Massachusetts. She's held field positions and biological technician jobs — mostly seasonal or short-term — doing things like tracking loon productivity and monitoring snowy plovers. [Read More] A lot has changed since 1973. On the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act, land managers, biologists and bird-lovers alike are studying how a changing climate has affected bird populations and reflecting on what the next 50 years may look like for the species we love, endangered or otherwise. As climate change causes global average temperatures and sea levels to rise, conservationists are finding tools that will best prepare them to protect the species we love and the lands they depend on. From predictive models that point us in the right direction to revised management guidelines, the Service is preparing for the climate of the future. [Read More] For what it’s worth, Zach Ladin seems like the type of guy for whom a folk festival would spark a scientific epiphany. The supervisory wildlife biologist for the Northeast Region’s Migratory Bird Program has long hair and almost a surfer-dude drawl. A copy of “Dune” sat on the bookshelf behind him, as we chatted about Artificial Intelligence for 10 minutes before getting to our intended topic — a study he led along with colleagues at the U. S. Forest Service, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and the University of Delaware after witnessing festival-goers disperse to their cars from a packed festival shuttle. It’s a pretty big festival, he explained; people come from all over. [Read More] What does it matter, really, that thousands of miles of river flowing through the middle of Maine have been the subject of years of restoration work? What is behind the fact that the Penobscot is open, unobstructed and free for fish to swim up, past the sites of former dams? The work spans 20 years, coordinated by an interlocking list of partners so long, so sprawling that I won’t even attempt to name them all here.* Since the 1990s, they’ve removed, restored, remediated and relicensed so many dams that I have spent literal hours working my way up the Maine river on a map, plotting, point by point, the sites of each project (of the 20+ dams in the watershed, 2 have been removed, at least 15 upgraded and restored, and 6 are in the process of evaluation, planning, and construction). It’s confusing and intricate and winding. But the outcome is clear: 3 million river herring have returned to this once closed-off watershed. [Read More] FWS Magazine: RAD Provides Options for Land Managers to Keep Pace as Climate Change Rapidly Transforms Wildlife Habitat
Alongside a paved road at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Maryland, a large-yet-unassuming body of water sits just beyond a stretch of grassy marsh. From the adjacent observation deck, visitors can see birds roosting or watch the sun set and find nothing out of the ordinary. But for those with a trained eye, like refuge biologist Matt Whitbeck, the sight is alarming. Five thousand acres of tidal marsh once sat here, Whitbeck explains. Decades of sea level rise have drowned out the habitat, leaving behind only this quiet pool, christened Lake Blackwater. Knowing that, it’s harder for Whitbeck to appreciate the view. [Read More] Magazine Excerpt: Spring 2022 Audio: Nancy PAu Profile: Partnering across Parker River
audio: Sitting DOwn With Rick Bennett: A conversation on the legacy—and future—of Hurricane Sandy
Audio: Matt Whitbeck Blackwater wildlife biologist, talks management in a migrating marsh
Audio: Talking salt marsh sparrows with Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge biologist Bri Benvenuti
AUdio: A conversation with Brianna Amingwa about conservation education
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The Amherst StudentIn the wake of the college’s announcement of a shift to remote learning, community members from across the board struggle to find their footing amid a seemingly surreal announcement and mandate for departure. Exceedingly high flight costs, the prospect of returning to unstable home situations and uncertainties around visas have all created cause for concern among students, while faculty face challenges in adapting their courses for remote learning. [Read More] In the two weeks since The Student first reported that three members of the men’s lacrosse team chanted the n-word outside of their Black teammate’s suite, the college announced the probation of the team until June 2021 among additional disciplinary measures, while outrage from students, alumni and others from across the nation intensified as captured in letters of demands to the college for increased accountability that the Black Student Union (BSU) wrote and began circulating. [Read More] As the coronavirus places an unprecedented stress on health systems and endangers the lives of thousands across the world, it also spurs another cause for panic — a financial one — that comes as the U.S. faces its biggest economic downturn since the 2008 recession. The college, with its $2.378 billion endowment, as of June 30, 2018, is not immune to this ill, regardless of how strict its sanitizing and social distancing measures may be. [Read More] For the fall 2020 semester, the college will welcome first- and second-year students for residential learning, President Biddy Martin announced in an email to the community. Most juniors and seniors will need to partake in remote learning, except for transfer students, second-semester seniors and students who spent a semester of the 2019-2020 academic year abroad, all of whom will also be allowed to return to campus for in-person learning. [Read More] Student Frustration at College's Lack of Communication Regarding Fall Plans and Leaked Announcements
For many Amherst students scattered across the globe in their remote learning locales, Wednesday, July 1 was spent pacing their rooms and refreshing their emails on the hour, every hour. It was not until a few minutes past 5:30 p.m. that day that the college shared its official plans for some students’ return to campus in the fall. Before that, the college had shared with students that on July 1 it intended to make public a detailed outline of what the fall semester would look like, but offered no further information about when to expect an email. [Read More] “Black people are the condition of possibility for the existence of Amherst College.” From its opening lines, the campaign to #ReclaimAmherst makes clear the legitimacy of Black people’s claim to the institution. From the college’s founding years to Amherst’s current status as a leader in diversity, Black people have always propped up Amherst College, the document argues. [Read More] As the attention of the college has shifted towards ensuring a safe, healthy Covid plan and perfecting remote learning, the approach to the other daunting crisis on our doorstep has taken the backburner. When it comes to climate change, just last year the college passed one of the most comprehensive plans for carbon neutrality to date. And yet, the departure of former director of sustainability Laura Draucker in May — as well as the position’s continued vacancy — and the upheaval brought by Covid-19 have left that plan and the future of sustainability at the college in question. [Read More] On Tuesday, Sept. 29, the college announced a partnership with Kestrel Trust and a number of local landowners to conserve a total of 583 acres across the Mount Holyoke Range. Kestrel Trust is a local conservation group that aims to conserve land and waterways in the Pioneer Valley. The group works with landowners to keep land undeveloped infinitely. [Read More] For the past three months, the college has set forth careful, calculated planning for the precarious experiment that began last week: bringing the 937 students from across the pandemic-stricken country to live and learn on campus. It did not go off without a hitch; students tested the waters and saw how firm the campus living guidelines held; out-of-state tests did not return in time; and Zoom crashed on the first morning of classes. However, all in all, the precarious mobilization seemed a success: first-years are adapting — happily, for the most part; professors are returning to the art of teaching, rather than planning; and the college has confirmed and managed a mere total of two coronavirus cases so far, set to the backdrop of large universities’ massive outbreaks and drastic shifts to accommodate them. [Read More] On Sept. 25, the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass) announced that 13 students living off-campus in the Amherst area tested positive for Covid-19. By Monday, the university confirmed that five more students who had been in contact with this group produced positive test results. All students are currently in isolation. [Read More] This past November marked the fifth anniversary of Amherst Uprising, a multi-day sit-in of Frost Library led by students who demanded attention and change surrounding racism on campus. Yet, for many, the Uprising didn’t begin — or end — in the confines of the library foyer five years ago. Rather, it marked just a moment in a centuries-long struggle for racial justice and Black equality within the institution. [Read More] Emma and I both found ourselves in the basement office of The Student — she was a fresh news editor and I was on arts & living. Still insecure and uncertain, I saw Emma as someone who I could easily recognize myself in. We were both literary-minded, dabbling in the ultimate frisbee team (which neither of us really stuck to, ultimately) and interested in natural sciences (she as a geology student and I as an environmental studies major). I looked up to her as a role model then, and I still do. Three years later, as I sat down to write this profile from the suburban house where I grew up, I wondered what those versions of ourselves would think of us now as we’ve both grown and taken the helm of something far greater than a table full of sophomore boys. [Read More] I accepted this job during a sweaty summer in 2019 when I was interning for a magazine in New York. Something about this incessant, unresolved question of whether to take the offer or not clicked into place one day, and I carefully typed out sentences into the text bubble on my phone: “I’m in,” essentially. [Read More] Rabbi bridges judaism and environmentalism in talk
Environmental Rabbi Ellen Bernstein sat down with students to discuss the connection between faith and environmentalism on Nov. 15. The gathering was an addition to Amherst Hillel’s weekly shabbat dinner in collaboration with the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life. [Continue Reading Here] Fresh faculty: Anna Abramson
Studying Arctic ice caps from the capitol
For so many, an interest in scientific research charts a clear path: undergraduate degree, master’s, doctorate, research, professorship. But Cynthia Suchman ’90 launched onto that path not knowing exactly where it would lead, open to the turns it took and the possibilities it opened — away from what’s most conventional. [Continue Reading Here] How my taylor swift love affair continues on "Lover"
Watching Taylor Swift on “Saturday Night Live” this past weekend felt off in a way that’s difficult to put into words. What is Taylor Swift doing singing onstage with a saxophone? Why does she perform with such uncomfortably imposed swagger? [Continue Reading Here] Amherst Through Art: Homecoming History at the Mead
The Life behind "living": What we've been listening to
In the Arts and Living section, we spend every week upholding, analyzing and exalting the arts and culture on the campus, in the valley and world around us. But, it’s also worth taking a moment, or two, to look within the section for the arts and culture we ourselves consume. This week: podcasts. As the summer season of binging and intern-commute listening comes to an end, there’s still room for podcast consumption. It just might take some revived inspiration, so consider this list of my favorites as a push back into podcast bliss. [Continue reading here] The need for young voices (editorial)
It’s only been a few short weeks since 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg landed in New York City after spending weeks at sea, traveling carbon-free from her native Sweden to the U.S. for this fall’s United Nations climate talks. Her welcome in the city’s North Cove Marina was one more fitting for an international pop star than a young girl who had decided to start skipping school until the world started to take notice... [click here to read more] |
Forbesglobal climate strike: Greta thunberg and huge crowds protest
Thousands of students and adults converged on hundreds of American cities Friday — and an estimated four million did so around the globe. The young Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg led the charge and spoke at the end of the day at the strike in New York City, where the city’s 1.1 million school public school students were granted excused absences from school (although their teachers were forbidden from striking). Today’s strike comes at a time when scientists have discovered North America has lost 29% of its birds since 1970, Bermuda is still reeling from Hurricane Humberto and the city of Houston is recovering from Tropical Depression Imelda’s severe rains and flash flooding only two years after Hurricane Harvey. [Continue Reading Here]
Enthusiastic crowd welcomes 16-year-old climate activist greta thunberg as she sails into new york harbor
It’s been 15 days since 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg hitched a ride on a sail-powered yacht from Europe to the U.S. to protest the U.N. Climate Action Summit taking place in New York in mid-September. Thunberg has vowed to avoid air travel, due to environment-harming carbon emissions. The Malizia II docked this afternoon at 4:00 EDT at Coney Island in Brooklyn so its passengers could clear customs and immigration and then proceeded to North Cove Marina at the southern tip of Manhattan, just a stone’s throw from Wall Street. [Continue Reading Here]
What Role should carbon pricing pay in addressing climate change
As the U.S. and Europe are in the midst of unprecedented summer heatwaves, forcing the toll that climate change and carbon emissions take to the forefront, a carbon tax is one of the few devices for dealing with climate change that shows any sign of garnering bipartisan U.S. support. This is the simple idea that putting a price on carbon emissions will illustrate the otherwise-intangible costs of carbon. But according to a new paper from the DC-based Center for Progressive Reform (CPR), market-driven approaches should not be the only tool for addressing climate change; the brief says that carbon pricing is essential for addressing the climate crisis, but alone, it is “insufficient.” [Continue Reading Here]
Four automakers join california in leading charge to spurn trump gas mileage regulation
Four major automakers—BMW, Ford, Honda and Vollkswagen—together with the State of California, set a new standard for industry emission regulations in a rebuke to Trump administration policies.
The private deal further establishes California as a leader in climate policy. Its Air Resources Board has been in secret negotiations with the four manufacturers to reach the new agreement, in which the automakers pledge to produce fleets averaging 50 miles per gallon within the next seven years. [Continue Reading Here]
What oregon's 11 runaway senators can tell us about leaders' climate obligations
Just days before the close of the Oregon legislative session on June 30, the clock is ticking for the 11 Republican state senators who fled last week to avoid voting on a cap and trade bill that would restrict carbon emissions. Rather than casting a vote on the legislation — either a yes or a no could end up being politically costly — the senators left their colleagues two legislators short of a quorum, thus stalling a number of bills up for a vote. [Continue Reading Here]
CBS PlEdges to increase auditions for actors with disabilities
Just a little more than a week ago, Ali Stroker made headlines as the first person in a wheelchair to win a Tony Award. "This award is for every kid watching tonight who has a disability, who has a limitation or a challenge, who has been waiting to see themselves represented in this arena,” she said in her acceptance speech.
Now, thanks to CBS Entertainment and the Ruderman Family Foundation, those kids may soon see themselves represented in popular entertainment more frequently. [Continue Reading Here]
What's all the malarkey about
Joe Biden’s words rarely make headlines. He doesn’t have the eloquence of Barack Obama or the shock value of Donald Trump, leaving his prose and his stances susceptible to paraphrasing. What he does have is a bunch of malarkey. [Continue Reading Here]
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In These Times
Labor 101 for undergraduate workers seeking to unionize
AMHERST, MASS.—Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” plays in a classroom at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) as students mill about with pink “Undergraduate Workers UNITE!” buttons pinned to their shirts. Nearly 40 students from 10 institutions across the Northeast gathered Nov. 15-17, 2019, at UMass Amherst, a highly unionized workplace for the Northeast Undergraduate Worker Convention (NEUWC). [Continue Reading Here] A version of this article originally appeared in the January 2020 issue of In These Times. |