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SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

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The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

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Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Report Finds Ticks on Rise; Bad News for Moose and Maine

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Tuesday, September 2, 2014   

AUGUSTA, Maine. - With autumn around the corner, a new report from the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) finds Maine's winter tick population is growing because of climate change. More ticks spells bad news for the already-depleted New England moose population.

Hunter and wildlife biologist Eric Orff serves as New England outreach coordinator for the National Wildlife Federation. A contributor to the NWF report, he says the longer snow stays on the ground the more winter ticks die off, but climate change keeps altering the equation in Maine, giving baby ticks more time to latch onto local moose.

'This last winter in Maine, there was a dramatic die-off from winter ticks," says Orff. "Half the moose they radio-tagged in January were dead by April, so they had a 50 percent moose mortality in Maine."

Report author Dr. Doug Inkley says there is a growing body of evidence linking the warming climate to changes in both wildlife and the environment.

"It's not our imagination. This is already happening," he says. "We must take action now for our children's future, and for our outdoor experience future. These things are happening now."

Along with moose, the National Wildlife Federation report notes winter ticks also impact elk, caribou and deer.

Orff says the changing climate also is responsible in a spike in deer ticks, which can serve as the source for Lyme disease, a significant health problem for humans.

"It feeds on a human. It gives you Lyme disease, which I actually had over a decade ago," says Orff. "It's one of the fastest increasing diseases in New England."

The report, titled Ticked Off: America's Outdoor Experience and Climate Change, also warns that pests like tiger mosquitoes are now forecast for Maine. Thus far the mosquitoes have only been found as far north as Long Island.


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