Too few males in the Upper Valley

Today’s Journal-Opinion reports an arboreal mystery: too few male trees.

“Out of the nine populations of satiny willows [retired U.S. Forest Service ecologist Scott Bailey] found, mostly along the upper Connecticut River in Vermont and New Hampshire, only two had male trees, he said: one patch near Colebrook, and a larger group in the Maidstone Bends Preserve near Northumberland,” reports New Hampshire Public Radio.

Though the trees can reproduce asexually, scientists still don’t understand why the male satiny willows are so scarce.

Similarly, less than 5% of the Labrador willow population, found only in the USA above the treeline on Mount Washington, is male.

“This is a puzzle,” Bailey said.

UVM student clinic bigger, closer, offers more services

The University of Vermont Board of Trustees approved at its annual May meeting the design and funding for a new Center for Health and Wellbeing (CHWB) building.

According to a UVM statement, the new building would replace and expand the existing clinic currently at the University Health Center, Rehab Wing which is under 6,000 gross square feet. The accessible one-level, 14,000 sq. ft. new medical clinic will be located on the Redstone campus. 

The new medical clinic will improve capacity and access to care for students and integrate mental health and medical services to support complex health needs. 

Vermont cyber analyst wins top national award – Ryan McLiverty, a cyber analyst at the Vermont Intelligence Center in Williston, received a prestigious national award from the alliance of U.S. fusion centers.

At its annual conference held in late April, the National Network of Fusion Centers named McLiverty the recipient of a citation for Excellence in the Field of Cyber Protection.

 Vermont Intelligence Center leadership nominated McLiverty for the award in recognition of his overall work to enhance cybersecurity in Vermont and his specific focus on topics including election support, incident reporting and intelligence sharing, weekly cyber threat reporting, and engaging with new partners, among other rubrics.

McLiverty grew up in Vermont and then attended Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in administration of justice and a master’s in homeland security studies with a concentration in intelligence and cybersecurity. He then worked for a year at the U.S. Naval War College, where he assisted in research on emerging military technologies. His next move brought him back to Vermont and his current position with the VIC.

The Vermont Intelligence Center, part of the Vermont Department of Public Safety, collects, analyzes and disseminates intelligence information in an effort to identify, investigate and prevent criminal activity.