Note - #AsianLadyBeetles, another #InvasiveSpecies, actually feeds on Hemlock Woolly Adelgid! A reason to shoo the beetles outside if they are in your house!

#Maine [and #NewEngland] - Help Track a #Hemlock Pest

February 26, 2026

"#HemlockWoollyAdelgid (#HWA) is an #aphid-like invasive insect that feeds on and can kill hemlock trees in Maine. To find HWA, look:

- On hemlock trees. In North America, HWA is found only on hemlock trees.
- On the undersides of hemlock twigs. At this time of year, HWA is covered in white tufts of wax and is easy to see. Look for discrete 'woolly' masses.
At fallen twigs on top of the snow, as this will give you a picture of what is happening high in the crown. Unless you are in an area where HWA is commonly found (such as southern coastal towns), please let us know if you find it.

Unless you are in an area where HWA is commonly found (such as southern coastal towns), please let us know if you find it. "

Wikipedia: "Accidentally introduced to North America from Japan, HWA was first found in the eastern United States near Richmond, #Virginia, in 1951. The pest is now found from northern #Georgia to coastal# Maine and southwestern Nova Scotia as well as areas of western #Michigan near the eastern #LakeMichigan shoreline. As of 2015, HWA has affected 90% of the geographic range of #EasternHemlock in North America."

Read more [includes photos for identification]:
https://www.maine.gov/dacf/about/news/news.shtml?id=13343953

#SolarPunkSunday #HemlockTrees #SaveTheTrees #Forestry
#Stewardship #InvasiveSpecies
#InvasiveSpeciesWeek #NaturalPestControl
#NewEngland #EasternCanada
#Massachusetts #EasternSeaboard #MaineDepartmentOfAgricultureConservationAndForestry

#Maine - The #SchoodicToSchoodic Initiative

"Together we can save one of the last places along the #EasternSeaboard where #wildlife can roam to and from rocky #shores and inland #woods seeking food and refuge.

"Seventy-five percent of Maine’s native plants and animals are vulnerable to the impacts of #ClimateChange. As temperatures warm, these threatened species will have to move significant distances to survive, but too often #development makes this impossible.

"Over the past several decades we’ve been working in partnership with #FrenchmanBayConservancy, #TheNatureConservancy, the #StateOfMaine, and other partners to conserve key 'stepping stones' of land between #DonnellPond Unit (state-conserved land surrounding #SchoodicMountain and #TunkLake) and the #SchoodicDistrict of #AcadiaNationalPark (on the #SchoodicPeninsula) to create a protected corridor for #wildlife. Through over 60 conservation projects, #MCHT and partners have conserved more than 55,000 acres from 'Schoodic to Schoodic.' MCHT has played a role in three-quarters of those projects.

"Still, the corridor is not sufficiently protected and critical lands are under threat of development."

Learn more:
https://www.mcht.org/conservation-work/initiative/the-schoodic-to-schoodic-initiative/

#SolarPunkSunday #WildlifeCorridors #MaineCoastHeritageTrust #Nature #MaineCoast #Acadia #ProtectNature

#Dockworkers striking from Texas to Maine. The first work stoppage on #GulfCoast & #EasternSeaboard since 1977, after impasse in #negotiations between #Longshoremen (ILA) and #USMX, the powerful #maritime #ShippingIndustry trade group.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/port-strike-east-and-gulf-coast-dockworkers-international-longshoremens-association/

This is what's at stake...! #SaveSearsIsland! Build the #WindTerminal on #MackPoint!

Explore #SearsIsland

"Sears Island is one of the largest undeveloped islands on the #EasternSeaboard that is connected to the mainland by a causeway."

https://friendsofsearsisland.org/

#SaveWahsumkik #ProtectNature #ProtectWahsumkik #Nature #Maine #EndangeredSpecies #OffshoreWindFarm

Study confirms #GulfStream warming, shifting toward #MaineCoast

December 19, 2023

"The latest research finds the Gulf Stream has warmed faster than the global ocean over the past two decades, and has shifted toward the #AtlanticCoast.

"Scientists say the ocean current, which carries tropical water up the #EasternSeaboard, has warmed two degrees Fahrenheit since 2001 and could be pushing warmer water into the #GulfOfMaine.

"Robert Todd, an associate scientist with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, said years of data collection confirm what climate models predicted.

"'Long-term ocean observing really is important,' said Todd, 'and we need to keep making those observations so we can understand what’s actually happening in the climate system.'

"Todd said #OceanTemperatures are steadily rising as a result of human activities. He said the findings could determine how changes in the Gulf Stream will impact Maine’s coastal industries.

"The Woods Hole study relied on more than 25,000 ocean temperature and salinity observations collected through the Argo Program — an array of some 4,000 floating robots throughout the global ocean.

"In addition, underwater gliders have slowly navigated the Gulf Stream — revealing warm rings of water, which Todd says could enter the Gulf of Maine and alter marine #environments and species.

"'You can imagine if you have an organism that likes cold water, and suddenly the water is a whole lot warmer because this ring was there,' said Todd, 'those organisms might not be there anymore or might suffer — and then, the fisheries associated with that would suffer.'

"The Gulf of Maine — which stretches from #CapeCod in #Massachusetts to #NovaScotia, #Canada — is already considered one of the fastest-warming ocean regions on the planet.

"Todd said the data collected is shared in real time with scientists around the world."

https://mainebeacon.com/study-confirms-gulf-stream-warming-shifting-toward-maine-coast/

#OceanWarming #ClimateChange #ClimateCatastrophe #Fisheries #MarineEnvironment