Tuesday, May 28, 2013

WV Scholar Finalists - Please vote

It turns out I know two of the 10 finalists for the West Virginia Wesleyan WV Scholar Competition. Both are uncommonly wonderful people. And most importantly, both aspire to be biologists!

Please VOTE for either (one vote per email address):

Rachel Elaine Fulks
Parents' Interview >> Video >>

Rachel Fulks is a junior at Bridgeport High School, where she maintains a 4.125 GPA and is a member of the varsity cross country team, varsity track team, National Honor Society, and the online newspaper staff; she will be co-editor of the 2013-14 yearbook. Her favorite subjects in school are Chemistry and Biology, but she also enjoys creative writing. Rachel is a member of Bridgeport United Methodist Church, where she serves as youth representative on the Executive Board and is a member of the youth planning team and the youth group. She is actively involved in the United Methodist Conference and serves as vice president on the West Virginia Conference Council on Youth Ministries. She has a passion for participating in service projects. In her free time, Rachel enjoys reading, playing the piano, running, and working as a sales associate at The Gap. In the future, Rachel plans to major in pre-medicine and later become a pediatrician as a reflection of her love for helping others.

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Cayla Leann Collett
Parents' Interview >> Video >>

Cayla Collett is a 16 year old junior at Elkins High School. She resides in Elkins, WV on her family farm with her parents, Alan and Tricia Collett, and her three sisters, Alayna, Jeyna, and Sydney. She is active in school, where she is a part of the Cross Country team, Student Council, Class Council, National Honors Society, and a tutor for elementary school students. Outside of school, this young lady is a 12 year member of 4-H and a lifelong member of Degree of Honor through which she spends many hours volunteering her time to the community. In Degree of Honor alone, Cayla organizes the annual collection of Christmas gifts and person care items for the Salvation Army. Trough the Ronald McDonald house, Cayla actively collects pop tabs and organizes fund raisers. For many years, she has participated in the Walk for Women, bringing awareness to breast cancer. Her dream is to see a cure for breast cancer in her lifetime. Because of her commitment to community service, she was the recipient of the Teen Volunteer of the Year award in 2013. As a member of the 4-H teen leaders Organization, Cayla has been a camp counselor, served as an officer, and involved in other community activities with the club. Cayla's long term aspirations are to continue professional dancing, and pursue a degree in chemistry and biology, with a goal in becoming a Molecular Cellular Biologist.

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Oak Leaves, Lilacs and Morels

Joel Sampson shows you when and where to find morels. At just over an ounce, and @ $15 per pound, it's like hunting for dollar bills in the woods.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Another free Homesteading book

Free right now on Amazon.

Oooh-- look at this one!

FREE for Kindle at time of posting----> http://amzn.to/14R4r1a

If you don't have a Kindle, you can download a free app for your PC

FREE for Kindle at time of posting----> http://amzn.to/14R4r1a

If you don't have a Kindle or other tablet (e.g., iPad), you can download a free app for your PC

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Audubon’s New Online Bird Guide Now Available

from Audubon Magazine:

By Emma Bryce
05/15/2013

Photo by Katey Nicosia / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

For the days when hauling around a tome for identifying birds just won’t do, Audubon comes to the rescue with its new online guide to North American birds, available for $2.99 on the iPhone, Android, iPad, NOOK or Kindle through the Audubon Birds app. One screen pretty much holds it all, displaying information about birding, conservation, even avian anatomy. The guide categorizes more than 800 species by family, common name, or general shape, allowing users to pick the most appropriate identification route.

The third display option is particularly innovative. This category directs users to the quick guide, offering the ability to search the stout, slim, long-legged, and sleek-beaked contours of many birds. It presents a gallery of shapes: There are duck-like birds (think ducks, grebes, loons, pelicans, and swans), perching birds (groups like larks, flycatchers, thrushes, and wrens), or my favorite, chicken-like marsh birds (encompassing rails, coots, jacanas, and gallinules). Others include those cut like sandpipers, birds with the arrow-like anatomy of swallows, and those that feature the same, watchful upright stance as a hawk.

Angling for Healthier Rivers - Smallmouth Bass Concerns

The Link Between Smallmouth Bass Mortality and Disease and the Need to Reduce Water Pollution in Chesapeake Bay Tributaries

Click here to read the full 2013 smallmouth bass report

Read the 2013 smallmouth bass report

Download the PDF

Summary

Over the last decade, one of the most prized freshwater sport-fish species—smallmouth bass—has suffered fish kills and perplexing illnesses in several Bay tributaries. These tributary rivers include the South Branch of the Potomac River in West Virginia, the Shenandoah and Cowpasture Rivers in Virginia, the Monocacy River in Maryland, and the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania. In the Susquehanna River, smallmouth bass populations have plummeted, with catch rates of adults falling 80 percent between 2001 and 2005 in some areas. According to the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, the population has not recovered.

Smallmouth bass do not tolerate pollution well. Thus, they are an indicator of water quality. While the specific causes of the deaths and illnesses among smallmouth bass remain unclear, leading fisheries biologists studying the problem believe that a "perfect storm" of contributing factors has overwhelmed a sensitive species.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) compiledthis report by interviewing five leading smallmouth bass experts and examining peer-reviewed journal articles, as well as reports from federal and state agencies. Some conclusions include:

Fishing for the species is responsible for $630 million annually in sales in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia, the four Bay states where fish kills and diseases have occurred. Sales of boats, fishing rods, and more contribute to that figure. Additionally, smallmouth bass are responsible for $193 million annually in salaries and wages for about 5,700 people employed in fishing-related jobs and $41 million in state and local tax revenues.
Phosphorus and nitrogen pollution levels are high in many of the river segments where fish have died or become sick.In the Susquehanna River and tributaries, average phosphorus pollution levels in 12 of 24 sites monitored by the U.S. Geological Survey between 2007 and 2011 were among the worst in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. And 11 of these 24 sites had total nitrogen pollution levels that were among the worst in the region. ("Worst" is defined as ranking in the top third for levels of these pollutants among 65 sites studied in the Bay watershed). Some monitoring sites along the Monocacy River and the Potomac River and its tributaries also registered high levels of these pollutants.
Scientists believe that nitrogen and phosphorus pollution may be contributing to fish deaths and diseases in two ways. The first is by spurring the growth of parasites (myxozoans and trematoads) and their hosts (worms and snails). The second is by feeding algal blooms that raise pH levels and lower oxygen concentrations, stressing young smallmouth bass.

River crests at 16.79 feet in Springfield

May 9 Update: The actual crest was later (around midnight) and almost a foot higher than predicted by the normally conservative graphs. At this level, most camps along the river remain above the water, but only by a few feet.

May 8: The river crested in Moorefield this afternoon around 1pm in the Action Stage (8.5 feet on that gauge). For updates, click on the South Branch Springfield link on the right menu. Current predictions have the river cresting around 7pm.