Category: Environment

Mandated food scraps attract bears

The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department says many people are having problems with bears looking for food near their homes, and with the food scrap ban in effect the department is providing tips for people who are composting at home so they can avoid attracting hungry bears. 

Forest fire threat

Fire officials request that people be extremely careful with any outdoor fires, especially over the next several weeks as warmer and dry weather is projected in the forecast. Warm afternoon temperatures, low relative humidity, and gusty, dry winds encourage the spread of wildfire.

Why turtles cross the road

Vermont’s turtles will be on the move this spring, and the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department is asking for the public’s help in keeping them safe.  Female turtles will be looking for places to deposit their eggs, sometimes choosing to lay them along the shoulders of roads, which can bring them into the path of motor vehicles.

Teen Challenge gives back on Green Up Day

On a cold, cloudy Saturday May 1, a group of women spread out across Hardwick’s Main Street picking up trash and exchanging banter. All members of Teen Challenge Vermont, an addiction treatment center in Johnson, they were more than excited to be outside helping the community. 

Electric fencing protects against chicken predation

Keeping a small flock of chickens at home to provide eggs and meat has become increasingly popular, but many first-time small-scale poultry farmers are discovering that several species of wildlife like the taste of chicken as much as we do.  The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department urges poultry owners to use electric fencing and follow other precautions to protect their birds from predation.

Steelhead leap Willoughby Falls

One of the state’s premier wildlife watching opportunities is taking place in Vermont.  The steelhead rainbow trout have started their upstream migration, leaping up waterfalls in a spectacular display of determination on their way to their spawning grounds.

Meteor flashes over northern Vermont sky

A loud, fiery 10 lb. six-inch wide meteor flashed over Northeastern Vermont Sunday evening, according to NASA Meteor Watch. It took about 5-6 seconds to burn up, which made it easy to see. Its passing sounded “like big trucks crashing,” according to young eyewitnesses in Johnson.

“Turn the screws on….break their will,” Vermont Climate Council advised

Ismay’s said, “So let me say that again, 60% of our emissions that need to be reduced come from you, the person across the street, the senior on fixed income, right… there is no bad guy left, at least in Massachusetts to point the finger at, to turn the screws on, and you know, to break their will, so they stop emitting. That’s you. We have to break your will. Right, I can’t even say that publicly….”