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Ticks!

Surge of Ticks Expected in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic States Due to Wet, Mild Winter

By

Dave Bloom

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Record setting precipitation combined with mild temperatures this winter are setting the stage for an explosion in the tick population this spring, according to researchers at Rutgers University.

“Ticks, like most small organisms, are very sensitive to dry weather. It kills them,” said Dina M. Fonseca, a Rutgers entomology professor and director of its the Center for Vector Biology. “But we have been experiencing exceptionally wet seasons. It slows down their decline in number. So we could end up for a very large population this year.”

The Northeast and Mid-Atlantic experienced above average precipitation and temperatures during the winter months leading to this spring. According to New Jersey State climatologist David Robinson, the Garden State averaged 64.8 inches of precipitation in 2018 — the wettest year on record — followed by a winter featuring the 13th-most precipitation since 1895.

Ticks are known for spreading a host of diseases like ehrlichiosis, tularemia, and Lyme Disease, but the Lone Star Tick is also known to cause alpha-gal syndrome where one develops an allergy to a sugar found in red meat and in some medications.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides the following advice for preventing tick bites:

:

Before You Go Outdoors

Know where to expect ticks. Ticks live in grassy, brushy, or wooded areas, or even on animals. Spending time outside walking your dog, camping, gardening, or hunting could bring you in close contact with ticks. Many people get ticks in their own yard or neighborhood.

Treat clothing and gear with products containing 0.5% permethrin. Permethrin can be used to treat boots, clothing and camping gear and remain protective through several washings. Alternatively, you can buy permethrin-treated clothing and gear.

Use Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) registered insect repellents containing DEET, picaridin, IR3535, Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus (OLE), para-menthane-diol (PMD), or 2-undecanone. EPA’s helpful search tool can help you find the product that best suits your needs. Always follow product instructions.

• Do not use insect repellent on babies younger than 2 months old.
• Do not use products containing OLE or PMD on children under 3 years old.

Avoid Contact with Ticks

• Avoid wooded and brushy areas with high grass and leaf litter.
• Walk in the center of trails.

After You Come Indoors

Check your clothing for ticks. Ticks may be carried into the house on clothing. Any ticks that are found should be removed. Tumble dry clothes in a dryer on high heat for 10 minutes to kill ticks on dry clothing after you come indoors. If the clothes are damp, additional time may be needed. If the clothes require washing first, hot water is recommended. Cold and medium temperature water will not kill ticks.

Examine gear and pets. Ticks can ride into the home on clothing and pets, then attach to a person later, so carefully examine pets, coats, and daypacks.

Shower soon after being outdoors. Showering within two hours of coming indoors has been shown to reduce your risk of getting Lyme disease and may be effective in reducing the risk of other tickborne diseases. Showering may help wash off unattached ticks and it is a good opportunity to do a tick check.

Check your body for ticks after being outdoors. Conduct a full body check upon return from potentially tick-infested areas, including your own backyard. Use a hand-held or full-length mirror to view all parts of your body. Check these parts of your body and your child’s body for ticks:

• Under the arms
• In and around the ears
• Inside belly button
• Back of the knees
• In and around the hair
• Between the legs
• Around the waist

Sources:

• Mild winter, wet 2018 may cause surge in ticks in NJ, Northeast – NorthJersey.com
• Preventing tick bites – CDC

April Showers - May Flowers, May Showers - Flash Flooding

But while flash floods make the larger South Branch muddy, they don't necessarily result in larger flooding unless the weather system travels North-Northeast along the watershed.  This week we'll likely on see a swollen muddy South Branch.

We're in the clear, but the river will rise

WV Water Resources Concerns

register-herald.com

Water rich, water poor: WVU professor shares his views on the state's most important resource

When bean counters tabulate the profitable natural resources of West Virginia, calculations are made about the coal that is hauled out of the rugged and rural mountain landscape or the natural gas being captured from thousands of wells in increasing volumes. There remains a vast supply of timber, too.

But for Nicolas Zegre, an associate professor of forest hydrology at West Virginia University and the director of the university's Mountain Hydrology Laboratory, the most important and largely overlooked commodity in the state is water.

Zegre is studying the state's water security, how climate change could impact the state's supply and how the state can position itself to benefit from what he believes is its most valuable resource.

On April 1, Zegre presented the media with the work, some findings and future possibilities for the Mountain Hydrology Laboratory at WVU's Academic Media Day in Morgantown.

The hydrology professor said that his lab's work centered on predicting climate in the state and the greater Appalachian region by compiling modeling of climate patterns and possibilities.

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According to Zegre, the historical temperature range of West Virginia falls between

Hampshire man pleads to EPA crimes

Friday, April 5-7, 15 min ago
MAKING HEADLINES

Hampshire man pleads to EPA crimes


MARTINSBURG — A Springfield man has pled guilty to discharging untreated sewage into the North Branch of the Potomac River.

Timothy Peer, 55, faces 3 years in prison and upwards of $500,000 in fines for charges of falsifying reports, violating his permit, polluting and mail fraud.
Peer admitted in Martinsburg federal court Wednesday that he failed to maintain a treatment plant he owned at Mountainaire Village near Ridgeley and that he falsified quarterly reports.

Visit www.HampshireReview.com or Hampshire Review every day for the latest news of importance here.

White Horse Mountain fundraising

bayjournal.com

Bay Journal

Hugging the slow s-curves of road winding into a mountainous sliver of West Virginia’s Hampshire County, I remembered why they call this portion of the Chesapeake Bay watershed “wild” — and why clean water advocates were desperate to keep it that way.

I was headed to White Horse Mountain, an almost entirely tree-covered heap of rocky hills hugging and draining into the South Branch of the Potomac River. It’s one of the largest undeveloped forestlands remaining in the region, home to rare wildflowers and habitats, hike-worthy vistas and the occasional bobcat or black bear. And it’s only recently been reopened to the public.

Five years ago, the Potomac Conservancy began raising more than $3 million — twice the nonprofit’s annual operating budget — to buy White Horse Mountain and keep its 1,730 acres of hardwood forest, rocky outcroppings and shady streams from being developed into 70 homes. Their fundraising efforts trumpeted the importance of preserving the

It's that time of the year..

Copperheads are common along the South branch. They are generally "shy" and will avoid humans and dogs. But if trapped they may strike to protect themselves, much like adult black snakes. But unlike young black snakes, young (especially very young) copperheads strike at almost anything that moves.

Rivers in WV more vulnerable than in other states

Clean Water Act Revision: Headwater Streams and Wetlands Could Lose Protections – Comment by 4/15

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a proposal to redefine an important part of the Clean Water Act, which protects headwater streams and wetlands. The rule the Trump Administration is proposing to redefine is called “waters of the United States.” It determines what waterbodies are eligible for protection under the Clean Water Act. Learn more here.

By the EPA’s own estimate, the revision would remove protections for 51% of our nation’s wetlands and 18% of streams, making it easier to pollute, pave over or build on

Water quality bill passes without updated human health criteria

Water quality bill passes without updated human health criteria – The Parthenon


Perry Bennett

West Virginia House delegates enter chambers, Saturday, March 9. 

New proposals concerning water quality and protections will not 

be reviewed until the 2020 legislative session.

West Virginia House delegates enter chambers, Saturday, March 9. New proposals concerning water quality and protections will not be reviewed until the 2020 legislative session.

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In 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency recommended West Virginia update 60 of its 94 water quality standards to reduce present toxins and carcinogens, but this weekend, the state legislature passed a bill including none of the recommended protections.

Delegate Evan Hansen (D- Monongalia, 51), minority vice chair of natural resources, said the standards in Senate Bill 163, ultimately determined by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, rely on data from the 1980s.

Hansen proposed an amendment to the bill to re-include the updated protections that were removed, but the amendment failed in a 34-64 vote.

“The reason legislators did not update the standards is because they were lobbied by the West Virginia Manufacturers Association,” Hansen said. “It’s very clear, and the Manufacturers Association was not secretive about it.”

Many of the pollutants meant to be controlled by the standards are carcinogens, Hansen said, so while the state’s cancer rate may not directly increase, it is likely to at least remain higher than it should be