We all know the economic crisis is hitting every aspect of many people’s lives and the state budget for the environment is no exception.

Now, hoping to figure out how to make do with a lot less money, the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs has scheduled six “listening sessions” in coming weeks to hear the public’s ideas on how to make structural changes to meet environmental goals despite budget cuts.

“Governor Patrick and I have worked hard with EEA agencies to manage our budgetary challenges to date so as to have the least impact on our environmental mission,” said EEA Secretary Ian Bowles. “But the time has come to think bigger. In that, we need the help of everyone who cares about our parks, beaches, rivers, streams, and forests.”

Bowles is researching three areas:
• Public-private partnerships to help manage state parks and other Department of Conservation and Recreation properties.
• New regulatory models to figure out ways to protect the environment through innovative means such as the state’s privatization of the clean-up of hazardous waste sites.
• Reorganization/consolidation of state agencies to help clarify missions and reduce duplication of effort.

Already, concern is growing among environmental groups about stripping away protections for wetlands, water and park upkeep. But state environmental officials say they are only in a listening mode now.

Here is a list of the sessions and how to comment:

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The National Marine Fisheries Service has determined that the ever so ugly Atlantic wolffish is not in danger of extinction and should not be placed on the endangered species list.

A face only a mother could love? (Photo courtesy of Jonathan Bird)

Last year, the Boston-based Conservation Law Foundation petitioned the federal government for listing, noting that Wolffish numbers have severely declined since the 1980s. They also hoped that the wolffish's plight would draw attention to its neighborhood - the rocky, boulder-strewn sea floor, which can be disrupted when fishermen drag a net or trawl across the bottom.

The federal government did say the Atlantic wolffish will continue to be classified as a species of concern that will funnel research dollars to ensure it doesn't become listed.

Here is the press release.

And here's a story staffer Carolyn Johnson did on the fish last year.

In a few weeks, the Gosman Center at Brandeis University will be the site of one of the largest solar panel arrays in Massachusetts.

The 277 kilowatt solar system is part of the university’s Climate Action Plan, which aims to eventually make the campus carbon neutral and educate students and the surrounding community about energy use.

Construction on the solar system is set to begin this week and to last about three weeks, according to Janna Cohen-Rosenthal, the sustainability coordinator at Brandeis.

Read more of the story on the Globe's Your Town Waltham site here.

Connectivity is a key word in the conservation movement these days: As land becomes more fragmented because of roads or subdivisions, environmental groups are looking to ensure large tracts of protected land are linked together.

(AMC photo)

And today, with the announcement that the Appalachian Mountain Club has purchased 29,500 acres of beloved Maine Woods, hikers, skiers and backpackers now have a 63-mile long corridor to enjoy the wild from near Greenville north to Baxter State Park. The purchase ensures almost 650,000 contiguous acres of conservation land is open for public recreational use.

The Roach Ponds purchase from Plum Creek for $11.5 million is the first milestone in a planned 400,000 acre conservation effort.

The purchase, buffering more than 20 miles of the Appalachian Trail corridor, also permanently protects the headwaters of the West Branch of the Pleasant River, beloved by fishermen for brook trout.

“Today marks an incredible step forward for land conservation and outdoor recreation in Maine,’’ said AMC Deputy Director Walter Graff, who helped broker the deal. “This parcel has been the missing link in a corridor of protected land.”

The area is in what is known as the 100-mile wilderness conservation corridor of the Appalachian Trail. AMC has donated a conservation easement on the property to the state to ensure it is protected for ever.

For more information, go to http://www.outdoors.org/about/newsroom/roach-ponds-event.cfm

By Beth Daley
GLOBE STAFF

Although U.S. Rep. Edward J. Markey is chair of a congressional climate change committee and a co-sponsor of clean energy legislation, he’s never explicitly come out in favor of the proposed Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound.

Yet today, Markey wrote a strongly worded two-page letter to U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar urging him to approve the Cape Wind project before next month’s international climate talks in Copenhagen.

“Approving the Cape Wind project as the nation’s first commercial offshore wind project before the start of the U.N. conference would send a strong message to international negotiators about the United States’ commitment to developing sources of clean energy and reducing global warming pollution,’’ Markey wrote.

Markey has long indicated support, but said he was waiting to give his okay on the proposed 130-turbine wind farm until it went through a full environmental review. Eight years after the project was first proposed that final, favorable review was issued by the U.S. Minerals Management Service earlier this year. But Salazar has yet to issue the final permit.

So why did Markey write the letter now?

Environmentalists say he may have been motivated by a new delay to the project that Gov. Deval Patrick has labeled “ridiculous”: A ruling by Massachusetts' top historical officer that Nantucket Sound is eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Two Wampanoag tribes have called for the listing because in part they say their sun salutation would be disturbed by the spinning turbines.

With U.S. legislation on reducing greenhouse gases stalled in Washington, observers say, there is a growing belief the U.S. needs to attend the talks with some green promise in hand – even if it's only approval to build the nation’s first offshore wind farm.

“We’re grateful,’’ said George Bachrach, president of the Environmental League of Massachusetts. “We think it’s an important step forward for Cape Wind.”

"The timing is odd,'' given it comes a week after the state historical ruling, said Audra Parker of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, the main opposition group to the project.

Still, Sue Reid of the advocacy group Conservation Law Foundation said “we are really buoyed by it. It comes at a crucial time for the project.”

Here is the letter.

Who knew caring about climate change would mean a court summons?

For the last three Sunday nights, a group of more than 100 college students from across Massachusetts have camped out on Boston Common to call on Governor Deval Patrick to introduce a bill to re-power the state with 100 percent clean electricity by 2020. International climate talks are scheduled next month in Copenhagen, and the students are part of a growing grassroots chorus to get the U.S. to pledge to meaningful greenhouse gas reductions.

But this morning at 1 a.m. around 150 activists – including Jim Hansen, the outspoken NASA climate change scientist – were woken up by Boston Police officers to be told they were trespassing on the Boston Common. They were given a few minutes to leave or face summons.

About half the group temporarily left to the nearby Church on the Hill while 67 stayed to face the trespassing charges.

“It was cordial,’’ said Dan Abrams, a spokesman for the Leadership Campaign, which has organized students on 24 campuses. The students sleep outside on their college or university property during the week and come to the Common on Sunday nights to be ready to lobby in the Statehouse Monday mornings.

“Regardless of the cause, we have to enforce the laws of the city,’’ said Boston Police spokesman Joe Zanoli. He said Boston Common is closed after 11 p.m. “We can’t allow one group to voice their opinion and overlook laws.”

After police took down campers information, the entire group – including those that went to the church - continued camping. They woke this morning to attend a hearing sponsored by Sen. Marc Pacheco on their proposed legislation.

And they’ve already given the police a heads up: They’ll be back next Sunday.

You’ve probably heard by now about the dreaded Asian longhorned beetle wreaking havoc – and forcing the cut down of some 25,000 trees in the Worcester area.

Female Asian longhorned beetle (Jennifer Forman Orth/Massachusetts DAR)

Now it’s your turn to make sure they don’t make it to Springfield or Boston by participating in a Springfield survey Monday or a Boston one Saturday, Nov. 14. Details below.

The invasive Asian longhorned beetles have no known predators in the United States and attack many kinds of hardwood trees, from maple to birch. First discovered in 1996 in Brooklyn, they have shown up in other parts of New York, as well as in Chicago and New Jersey. The Department of Agriculture estimates the beetle has the potential to cause $41 billion worth of damage to the nation’s lumber, maple syrup, nursery, and tourism industry.

The shiny black bug has irregular white spots, and has antennae at least as long as its 1- to 1 1/2-inch body. It kills a tree by essentially cutting off its circulation: The female beetle lays eggs in the bark and worm-like larvae then bore into the healthy tree, feeding on tissue during the fall and winter before emerging through bark holes.

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By Beth Daley
GLOBE STAFF

Massachusetts' top historic preservation officer has dealt a setback to the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm, ruling today that the body of water is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places because of its cultural significance for two Native American tribes.
In a letter released late in the afternoon, State Historic Preservation Officer Brona Simon said she believes that Nantucket Sound is so culturally important to two Wampanoag tribes, it should be listed on the National Register as a traditional cultural property. Her decision conflicts with an earlier conclusion by the Minerals Management Service, the federal agency that led the environmental review of the Cape Wind project.

Now, the head of the National Register will have to determine if the property is eligible to be listed, a process that could ultimately delay the project's approval by up to a year, federal and state officials have said.

A listing would not necessarily stop the project, but would make permitting much more cumbersome. If the National Register head determines that the 560-square mile sound is eligible, Cape Wind would then have to go through a lengthy review process to actually be listed. The project has already undergone eight years of government reviews and a final federal decision on the 130 wind turbines was expected this year.

Simon’s letter states that her office found "considerable archaeological, historical and ethnographic information that substantiates Nantucket Sound is historically significant." A 21-page explanation followed her short letter.

Gov. Patrick criticized the decision released in a statement tonight.

"I respect the Wampanoags, but this decision is ridiculous," Patrick said. "We are going to have to get serious about alternative energy installations where they make sense, and every environmental and regulatory review has concluded that Cape Wind makes sense."

The two Massachusetts tribes have claimed for five years that the turbines in Nantucket Sound would disturb their spiritual sun greetings and submerged ancestral burying grounds. That's in part because during the last ice age, so much of the world's water was locked in glaciers, New England's coast extended more than 75 miles farther from today's shore. Native Americans likely hunted and lived on that exposed land, the tribes say.

While archaeological excavations in Nantucket Sound have found evidence of a submerged forest six feet under the mud, there have been no signs of Native American camps.
A Wampanoag officer said that Simon's decision underscored the validity of the tribes' claim and that she hoped it would lead to long-term protection of Nantucket Sound.

“It’s heartening. What this is about is where this is being placed -- take it out our (view)," said Bettina Washington, tribal historic preservation officer for the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe on Martha's Vineyard. "We are not against wind power."

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By Beth Daley

After months of speculating, Curt Spalding, the longtime executive director of Save the Bay in Rhode Island, has just been named New England’s U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief.

Curt Spalding (Save The Bay photo)

Spalding was considered a strong candidate, but pundits were placing bets on Charlie Lord, who helped found Boston College’s Urban Ecology Institute or David Cash, Massachusetts assistant secretary for policy at the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.

Months have gone by without an appointment and the decision is being met at the EPA with relief there is a new leader at the helm. Former Bush-era New England EPA chief Robert Varney left for the private sector months ago.

This from an EPA announcement: “Spalding has extensive experience as an advocate, policy analyst and administrator. For almost 20 years he served as Executive Director of Save the Bay Rhode Island, a 20,000 member environmental advocacy and education organization. He established the Narragansett BayKeeper and Habitat Restoration programs which reconnected Save The Bay to ecologically important Bay issues and oversaw the successful completion of the $9 million Explore The Bay Campaign and construction of the Save The Bay Center at Fields Point in Providence, RI. Prior to joining Save the Bay, Spalding was an Environmental Protection Specialist and Presidential Management Intern at EPA’s offices in Boston and Washington, D.C. Spalding received his bachelor’s degree from Hobart College and an M.P.A. from SUNY at Albany in Albany, NY.”

"It is an honor to be selected by President Obama and I look forward
to working with Administrator Jackson as we help our communities and
build a green economy,’’ Spalding said in a prepared statement. “Years ago, I had the choice of any federal agency to work for, and I chose EPA. My passion for EPA's mission is no less today than it was then. As Regional Administrator I look forward to working with the dedicated EPA New England team in confronting the environmental challenges currently before us. I am proud to serve the people throughout New England at this time of great promise in protecting human health and the environment."

A draft report from the US Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Environmental Protection calls for cutting annual phosphorous levels by 49 percent along the 70-mile upper and middle stretches of the Charles River. The state agency is accepting written public comments on the plan through Nov. 30.

The report urges waste-water plants to cut back the amount of phosphorus contained in treated water before it is discharged, a move that could lead operators to pass on the procedure’s higher costs to residents. It also targets businesses, which could see their costs rise if cities and towns adopt regulations to better manage storm water. Agencies responsible for major roadways would also have to clean up their act if the report’s limits go into effect.

Read the rest of Lisa Kocian's Globe West story here.

By Beth Daley
GLOBE STAFF

Governor Deval Patrick announced a truce with environmental groups late today in a battle over how to protect the state's 11,000 miles of rivers and streams from being drawn down too low by mounting development pressures.

Last month, four conservation groups abruptly resigned from a state waterway advisory panel, alleging that a new state policy removed ecological considerations from decisions about how much water could be removed from river basins for industry, agriculture, lawn watering, and other household uses. The organizations said the policy could allow some waterways to run dry.

State officials disagreed, saying that the policy would instead help waterways and that environmental concerns would still be weighed, even if they weren't specifically detailed.

Late today, however, Patrick and representatives of the Conservation Law Foundation, Charles River Watershed Association, Ipswich River Watershed Association and Clean Water Action said that they had agreed to work together to develop a new water-withdrawal policy and that the groups would rejoin the advisory panel.

"I am pleased to announce these important voices are back at the table participating,'' said Patrick in a conference call with reporters and the environmental representatives. "We share common goals ... for Massachusetts to lead in water conservation and water management."

A statement issued by the state made clear that environmental groups persuaded state officials to their way of thinking. The state agreed to suspend the controversial policy and meet regularly with the groups to come up with a new one that explicitly has environmental protections built in.

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I’ve written about a naturally occurring arsenic belt in New England that may be putting thousands of families’ private drinking water supplies at risk from central Maine to central Massachusetts.

The Dartmouth students with their household arsenic filter (photo/Douglas Fraser)

But that potential contamination pales compared to arsenic poisoning taking place everyday in Bangladesh, Nepal and other South Asian countries. Every year tens of thousands of people become sickened when arsenic in rock seeps into drinking water supplies. Skin lesions can appear on people and skin and internal cancers can occur.

It’s a global health crisis and now, three Dartmouth undergrad engineering students have come up with an ingenious solution that won $15,000 in the recent 2009 Collegiate Inventors Competition.
Philip Wagner, Lindsay Holiday and Dana Leland built an inexpensive reliable device made of materials locally available in any place suffering from high levels of arsenic in groundwater.

The team uses electrocoagulation, a process used in many modern cities water treatment plants to scrub contaminants from water – but scaled down to fit into three five-gallon buckets. Untreated water is placed in the first bucket and an electrical current powered by a 6-volt battery is sent through two steel plates. Tiny iron particles are released in the process and bond with the arsenic in the water.

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By Beth Daley

Massachusetts Energy and Environmental Affairs secretary Ian Bowles today required far more information and study from Framingham before they can go forward with a plan to reactivate old drinking water wells - and questioned the overall wisdom of the project.

Lake Cochituate in Natick, which some say could be adversely impacted by stimulus money plans. (Michele Mcdonald for The Boston Globe)

The controversial project - being rushed to be eligible for more than $5 million in federal stimulus funding - has been the subject of a stream of criticism in recent months from the federal Department of the Interior to local environmental groups. The $40 million plan included building a water treatment plant that was one of the first in line in the state for a low-interest loan.

Today, Bowles said the project needs far more review and information and also raised questions about the overall wisdom of using scarce state and federal funds to help a community develop a drinking water supply when there is one already available for them to use and it would not provide any additional water quality or public health benefits.

Here is the back story: Framingham has long wanted to reactivate old drinking water wells and build a water treatment plant to reduce its reliance on more expensive water from the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. Doing so, community officials say, would save the town at least $1 million a year and allow it to upgrade its aging water and sewer infrastructure to keep pollution from streaming into waterways.

In order to receive more than $5 million in economic stimulus money, the town asked state environmental chief Ian Bowles in August to use a draft environmental review of the project as the final one. Bowles refused, lowered the amount of water the town could take from nearby waterways, and instructed Framingham to conduct a list of adjunct studies. He also instructed state agencies to work closely with Framingham to get it done quickly so if the project was ultimately approved, it could take advantage of stimulus money.

But the $40 million project has been a lightning rod for controversy. Recently, the U.S. EPA; Department of the Interior representing the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife; the state’s Department of Environmental Protection and Water Resources Commission have all commented that the town’s final environmental review is incomplete at best and has not proven it won’t be harmful to nearby aquatic life and water quality.

Yesterday, Bowles agreed and took it a step further: He instructed the state Department of Environmental Protection to review its criteria to ensure low interest loans are prioritized for water quality and public health goals.

We all know by now energy efficiency is incredibly important. It’s going to help us dramatically stabilize greenhouse gases. Slow the building of new power plants. Keep us warmer. Save us money.

But let’s face it. Getting – and keeping – people’s attention about the big EE is, at best, a challenge. It makes the eyes glaze over. People walk away from me at parties when I start talking weather stripping. Really.

Boys & Girls Club member Dayvone James, 14, applying weather stripping to a Charlestown front door to seal an air leak. (Aram Boghosian photo)

Now, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program – the federal energy efficiency gurus – is teaming up with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to get kids to buy into the idea before they grow up to keep every light in the house on. Some of the 60 clubs participating around the country have kids designing family energy efficiency nights, handing out CFL bulbs and even writing and producing plays about EE.

In Charlestown, five Boys & Girls Club young teens are making it exciting by teaching even younger kids. The 13 and 14 year olds recently completed an energy review of a home in their neighborhood to find energy saving opportunities that the adults among us should have learned by now: replacing incandescent lighting with compact fluorescent bulbs; using a programmable thermostat, sealing up air leaks around doors with weather stripping. They learned that electronics can continue to suck power even when they are off – and to use a power strip to truly turn off tvs and computers.

But the group is now teaching 8 and 9 year olds about what they learned and how it helps fight global warming.

When I was that young, everything was fun to learn. And we all know it stays with you, like a glowing CFL, for years to come.

By Beth Daley m
GLOBE STAFF

In August, I wrote a story about how Framingham was racing to secure federal stimulus money for a public works project that environmentalists said could significantly harm the Sudbury River and a popular lake.

Now, if letters pouring in from federal and state officials are any indication, the water pumping and treatment project is all but dead, at least for now.

A fisherman on the Sudbury River (Globe staff photo/Wendy Maeda)

Here is the back story: Framingham has long wanted to reactivate old drinking water wells and build a water treatment plant to reduce its reliance on more expensive water from the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. Doing so, community officials say, would save the town at least $1 million a year and allow it to upgrade its aging water and sewer infrastructure to keep pollution from streaming into waterways.

In order to receive more than $5 million in economic stimulus money, the town asked state environmental chief Ian Bowles in August to use a draft environmental review of the project as the final one. Bowles refused, lowered the amount of water the town could take from nearby waterways, and instructed Framingham to conduct a list of adjunct studies. He also instructed state agencies to work closely with Framingham to get it done quickly so if the project was ultimately approved, it could take advantage of stimulus money.

But the $40 million project – and now final environmental review - has been a lightning rod for controversy. Recently, the U.S. EPA; Department of the Interior representing the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife; the state’s Department of Environmental Protection and Water Resources Commission have all commented that the town’s final environmental review is incomplete at best and has not proven it won’t be harmful to nearby aquatic life and water quality.

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By Beth Daley, Globe Staff

Anyone who has been on Mt. Washington’s Tuckerman Ravine Trail in August may feel like it’s a superhighway of hikers, but research shows that there is a decline in strenuous nature recreation – read that hiking and backpacking.

A hiker in New England (Mark Wilson/Globe photo)

Now, a recent study shows that trend may prove a financial hit to national conservation groups.

A study this month in PLoS ONE shows that many people who engage in vigorous outdoor sports later tend to become supporters of mainline conservation groups in far more numbers that those who are casual users that may only fish or go sightseeing. The study was conducted by Oliver Pergams, visiting research assistant professor at University of Illinois at Chicago, Patricia Zaradic, director of the Red Rock Institute in Pennsylvania that studies people’s relationship to nature and Peter Kareiva, chief scientist of The Nature Conservancy.

The researchers found that the amount of time one spent hiking or backpacking in nature correlated with a willingness more than a decade later to financially support any of four conservation organizations: the Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, the Sierra Club or Environmental Defense. The typical backpacker gave $200 to $300 per year, after a 11 or 12 year lag.

"For the first time, we've shown a direct correlation between outdoor recreation and investment in conservation, and we know what types of outdoor activity are most likely to lead to conservation investment," Zaradic said.

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All eight Boston city council candidates told more than 200 people Thursday night of their green space intentions as part of a debate hosted by Boston Park Advocates, a citywide network of organizers and individuals championing urban parks.

Looking for a fishing spot in Franklin Park (Dominic Chavez/Globe photo)

Organizers say the lively debate, moderated by WCVB TV Anchor Pam Cross, touched on issues from funding to arts in parks to community gardens to bicycling.

The laugh of the evening came when Felix Arroyo was asked “What does the Asian Long Horned Beetle mean to you?” (The beetle is an invasive pest wreaking havoc in Worcester). Arroyo, stumped, responded that if the insect had horns it must not be good, but then pledged to learn everything he could about it.

The suite of candidates pledged various efforts that included the creation of a dedicated funding stream for parks, more concessions in parks to raise money for maintenance, taking away car parking spaces to increase and support bicycling and ensuring parks remain safe and well-maintained.

If you see people with snorkels, life vests and scuba gear in Boston’s Christopher Columbus Park tomorrow afternoon, it’s not because of the expected heavy downpours. It’s to highlight that critical parts of Boston could be submerged as sea levels rise because of global warming.

The event, which will form a human and sandbag sea wall, is just one of scores of events planned around New England as part of the 350.org International Day of Climate Action led by author and Lexington native Bill McKibben.

Worthy Causes, Inc., a Boston-based non-profit, sponsored the ice sculpture in Government Center this week to raise awareness for climate change and the upcoming Boston Night to Combat Climate Change (BNCC) to benefit Oxfam America and NRDC.(Donald E. Martelli, MS&L)

Billed as the largest political environmental action effort in the world’s history, some 4,500 events are scheduled to take place in over 175 nations in hopes of pressuring world leaders to create meaningful policies to stabilize carbon dioxide in the atmosphere at 350 parts per million - the amount some leading scientists say the earth’s atmosphere needs to be at for climate to remain stable. Today, levels hover around 390 parts per million.

Some 190 countries will be meeting in Copenhagen in December to hammer out a new treaty to reduce the world’s emissions of heat trapping gases.

Tomorrow’s events will be anything but sedate – and are designed to get the world’s attention. In Hungary, hundreds of bathers plan to jump into Budapest’s public baths and do a synchronized swimming performance in what organizers say is perhaps the first ever bathe-in for climate change. In Seattle, 350 people will dance to Michael Jackson’s Thriller because if global warming doesn’t slow, organizers say, people might as well be undead.

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Obama's MIT speech today on clean energy is coinciding with tomorrow's International Day of Climate Action, billed as the largest day of political action in the world about climate.

Ad taken out by 350.org in MIT student newspaper

Some 4,000 events will be taken place in over 175 nations to pressure world leaders to create policies to lower and then stabilize carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million - the amount many scientists say is safe to have without causing widespread climate disruption. World leaders will be meeting in Copenhagen in December in hopes of hammering out a new treaty to lower the world's emission, which already hover around 390 parts per million.

I'll be posting an advance about some of the events in a bit, but at MIT, 350.org took out a full page ad in the paper with three questions for Obama.

I know the graphic is hard to read. So here are the questions:
1. Tomorrow will see the most widespread day of political action in the planet’s history: 4,200 rallies in 171 nations, including 1,800 across your own country, all with the same theme: the most important number in the world is 350, as in parts per million CO2 What can you say to give those people hope that the world’s leaders will actually pay attention?

2.When he was vice-president, Al Gore said of climate: “The minimum that is scientifically necessary far exceeds the maximum that is politically feasible.” Since that still seems true, what’s your plan of attack for really educating Americans about the dangers that global warming poses?

3. Your administration has talked about the need to limit temperature increases to two degrees celsius and CO2 concentrations to 450 ppm.
Given that 1 degree, and 390 ppm, has been enough to melt the Arctic, destroy the great pine forests of the west, and spread mosquito-borne disease, don’t we need more aggressive targets?

By Beth Daley

If you are of a certain age - or lean toward the trees - you’ve no doubt read Rachel Carson’s 1962 book "Silent Spring," which alerted the US public to the devastation wrought by DDT and other pesticides on the environment. By many accounts, Carson’s book launched a new age of environmentalism in the country that led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Rachel Carson in Woods Hole shortly after her book "The Sea Around Us" was published (photo by Edwin Gray. Courtesy of the Lear/Carson Collection, Connecticut College)

Yet I never knew the close relationship Carson had to Massachusetts. I knew she has a federal wildlife preserve named after her in southern Maine – and also had a summer cottage near Boothbay Harbor – but she also had strong ties to Plum Island and Woods Hole.

At the Society of Environmental Journalists conference in Madison, Wis., two weeks ago, I met Bill Souder, a Pulitzer-prize finalist and environmental author who has a contract with a Random House imprint to write book about Carson to celebrate the 50th anniversary of "Silent Spring." The working title is "Days of the World, Years of the World: The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson."

Souder – along with some reference material from the federal government and local research institutions – gives insight into Carson's Bay State days. After graduating from Pennsylvania College for Women, Carson spent six weeks in 1929 as a research zoology investigator at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole.

Three years later as a Johns Hopkins University graduate student, she returned to MBL to conduct embryological research on bony fish. She returned almost every year, in large part to make use of the institution’s scientific library, according to Souder.

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