Changing Environment
I read this morning that Maine falls have gotten warmer over the last twenty or so years according to weather records. I don’t have any data but from where I sit that is the case. If you have nothing to do and reach back a long way in this blog you will see me writing about a few warm days in October in the north Maine Woods. When I stopped guiding there a few years ago the first week of October was too hot to work a bird dog all day in my opinion.
This summer featured water temperatures in the local lakes of well over eighty degrees for a long stretch and the temperature in the saltwater portion of the Saint George was well over seventy for at least a month. Clearly things are warming quickly here on the Maine coast. On the upside fall fishing now lasts until Mid-November and spring ice out is all but guaranteed by April first. Of course that makes ice fishing a challenge!
Another change that is happening right before our eyes is the beech leaf wilt that I understand will eventually kill all of the beech trees in our woods. This change will allow a lot of light into the forest floor, and I am eager to see the changes that follow that.
Needless to say, from where I sit things really are different but that is what keeps my job so interesting!
