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Outdoors

Trying to save whales going to take 10 years

SCARBOROUGH, Maine — New protections for endangered right whales in the North Atlantic would be postponed for nearly a decade under a plan that cleared a key hurdle in Washington last week with the full-throated support of the fishing and lobster industries. Environmentalists say this could spell the end for the vanishing whales, which can drown after getting tangled up in fishing gear or being struck by boats. There are only about 380 North Atlantic right whales left. The federal government has already paused any new right whale rules until 2028, and the House Natural Resources ...

Oystercatchers making a comeback in nature thanks to conservation

SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. — On a pristine Rhode Island beach teeming with noisy seabirds, a group of biologists armed with nets sneak up on a pair of American oystercatcher chicks. But just as they move in to capture them, one of the football-size birds, with bright-orange bills and long legs, scampers into a coastal salt pond. The other briefly takes to the air, sending the team running across the mile-and-a-half-long beach in pursuit. “There is a problem. They can fly,” Alan Kneidel, a senior conservation biologist with the environmental group Manomet Conservation Sciences, said as ...

Finding workarounds for beating the summer heat

Just when it seemed as if the summer weather had been mostly pleasant, we were clobbered with a brutal heat wave all too reminiscent of last year. While it’s hard to be a fan of the scorching temperatures, I personally prefer summer heat to winter freeze. Of course, there is no way to do ...

Grant supports growth of clay shooting club

HUNTINGDON — The Juniata College Collegiate Clay Shooting Club is expanding its opportunities for student-athletes and improving its home range facilities through a $75,000 grant from the Midway Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports youth and collegiate shooting sports ...

Raised temps affecting wildlife

As various parts of the world scorch under extreme heat, people aren’t the only ones impacted by the high temperatures and humidity. Birds and other wildlife are at risk without respite, too. Birds, especially, are crucial to ecosystems across the globe, providing services like pollinating ...

Maine couple helps moose calf escape from bear

A Maine couple heading out for a day of fishing happened upon a scene fit for a nature documentary: A moose calf running for its life with a large black bear in pursuit. Elvia and Todd Malcolm were in Telos Township, Maine, about an hour or so from their home in Lincoln, when they saw a ...