Mountain Times - Vol. 50, Number 2, Jan. 13-19, 2021

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Columns 30 • The Mountain Times • Jan. 13-19, 2021 Wood turtles are rare (and threatened) beauties Last June, my wife Marie and I encountered a mature wood turtle while walking through a forest near our home. We admired the intricate topography of its shell, inspiration for this species’ scientific name: Glyptemys (“carved turtle”) insculpta (“sculpted”). The 9-inch adult had brownishblack skin and scarlet-orange patches on its neck and legs. Its lower shell was a rich yellow The Outside Story By Michael J. Caduto encircled by black splotches. Sadly, these beautiful creatures are now rare or endangered throughout much of their range, which stretches from the northeastern United States to southeastern Canada, west to the Great Lakes, and south to Virginia. Development has destroyed turtle habitat, especially in crucial riparian environments along stream banks. Poaching turtles for pets or to sell on the black market has wiped out entire populations. It is now illegal to capture, sell or possess wood turtles in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, among other states and provinces. During summer, wood turtles wander between water and dry land, eating a variety of plants and animals, from berries and mushrooms to insects, slugs, snails, tadpoles, crayfish and small fish. They specialize in stomping the ground, prompting earthworms to surface, where they’re quickly dispatched. The turtles rarely wander much more than a quarter mile from the water. “For the most part, they are river turtles whose entire lives are based around a home stream,” said herpetologist Jim Andrews, coordinator of the Vermont Reptile and Amphibian Atlas. This time of year, wood turtles have settled into a hibernaculum to wait out winter’s cold. In late autumn, wood turtles swim to a pool within a stream to seek a safe place underwater – sometimes wedged behind a log or large rock – where they’ll spend the winter. The temperature in this hibernaculum will remain just above freezing throughout the season. Turtles enter a state of brumation, during which metabolism drops by 95% and their body temperature assumes that of the environment. The turtles must be able to obtain oxygen while submerged, which they do through linings on the roof of the mouth and inside the cloaca (rear end). In April, as these streams thaw and warm, wood turtles return to foraging in “There is heavy predation on eggs, so the survival of eggs and young is limited,”said Jim Andrews, coordinator of the Vermont Reptile and Amphibian Atlas. fields and forests. Around mid-June, the female digs a hole up to 6 inches deep on a sand or gravel bar along the edge of the river. If a waterfront nesting site is disturbed or impaired, she may nest in a sunny meadow, a field or even along a road. She lays 4-12 eggs, covers them, and tamps the ground with her lower shell. If the eggs remain safe from predators, in a little over two months, the grayishbrown hatchlings emerge and migrate to the relative safety of a stream. A female wood turtle can live for over 50 years and so produce many nests. “The fact that wood turtles do not become sexually mature until about 14 years of age demonstrates that the long-term survival of adults is critical to the persistence of populations,” said Andrews. “There is heavy predation on eggs, so the survival of eggs and young is limited.” Everything from raccoons and skunks to foxes and coyotes will eat wood turtle eggs and young. Other dangers include crossing roads and agricultural fields to reach nesting sites or to forage for food, as well as a decrease in suitable riparian nesting sites. Biologists and conservationists are working to protect wood turtle habitat and to educate people about this and other sensitive riparian species. Protection measures include preventing development and retaining natural vegetation along shorelines, as well as situating new roads and driveways at least 1,000 feet from aquatic environments. Waiting until late October to mow fields and meadows, and not mowing shorter than 7 inches, can also help protect turtles. If you are lucky enough to spot a wood turtle, send a photograph to your state’s non-game wildlife experts, but keep the turtle’s location secret to discourage illegal collecting. If you find a wood turtle in a location where it is threatened, such as crossing a road – and you can move the turtle without risking harm to yourself or others – bring it to a safe place nearby (within 100 yards) and in the direction it was headed. If wood turtles are to survive, they need us to offer a helping hand, and to yield a right-of-way. Michael J. Caduto—an author, ecologist, and storyteller who lives in Reading, Vermont—is author of “Through a Naturalist’s Eyes: Exploring the Nature of New England.” Illustration by Adelaide Murphy Tyrol. The Outside Story is assigned and edited by Northern Woodlands magazine and sponsored by the Wellborn Ecology Fund of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation: nhcf.org. An overview of the new relief package Much of the focus of the new relief package has been on the $600 payments to individuals, but the 5,000+ page act covers a lot more including, small business loans, funding for the Covid-19 vaccine and unemployment. Refundable tax credit The $600 individual payments, in addition to the $1,200 payment under the CARES Act in March, are based on 2019 tax filing information. If you Money Matters By Kevin Theissen were over the income threshold in 2019, but you weren’t over the threshold in 2020, you will still receive the payments as a refundable tax credit on your 2020: 1040 tax return. We will see if Congress will increase this to $2,000 per person, as it has been discussed. If you received a payment in 2020, but end up making more than the income threshold, you will not need to return the money. Charitable giving changes The charitable planning provisions from the CARES Act have been extended to 2021. This includes the above-the-line deduction of $300 for individuals and $600 for those married filing jointly that give cash If you received a payment in 2020, but end up making more than the income threshold, you will not need to return the money. gifts to charities remains in place. This is for nonitemized filers only, but it provides extra incentive to support charitable organizations during these times. Also, the CARES Act allowed for cash gifts to most public charities of up to 100% of adjusted gross income in 2020. This is normally limited to 60% of AGI. So, if you have a large tax bill in 2021, you might consider taking advantage of this larger than normal charitable deduction. Flex spending rollover Another interesting provision is the ability to roll over flexible spending account (FSA) funds from 2020 to 2021 and from 2021 to 2022. Usually, these accounts have a “use it or lose it” requirement that makes account holders use the funds by the end of the year. Simplified PPP loan forgiveness The application process for the Paycheck Protection Program’s loan forgiveness just became easier. For loans under $150,000, a business will now need to submit a certification to the lender with just three things: the number of employees you are able to keep due to the loan, how much of the loan will be used to cover payroll costs, and a promise that you’re going to do what you say you will with the money (and that you’ll keep records to prove it). This is designed to help small businesses with the hope that they continue to retain employees through the Covid era. Next possible actions As the next administration begins, we will be keeping an eye on retirement planning updates and additional Covid-19 relief as well as another possible aid package. Kevin Theissen is the owner of HWC Financial in Ludlow.
The Mountain Times • Jan. 13-19, 2021 COLUMNS • 31 There’s an old saying that suggests that every decision we make is either based on love or fear. I’ve always found solace in that proverb and try to remember it when I am evaluating something in my life that requires judgement. How often do we say things or have an opinion on something that we barely understand? Quite often, we simply have an immediate reaction and that becomes our belief. Those are the moments where I try to ask myself The Movie Diary By Dom Cioffi why I think or feel a certain way. And more times than not, I can trace the origin of my opinion back to love or fear. I also try to extend this point to others. When someone says or does something that brings me immediate agitation, I’ll recite that line in my head and then proceed to break down the possibilities for their stance. It’s amazing how this tiny mental act can defuse an otherwise intolerable situation. Now, I realize the world is not a black and white place, and forcing it to be such can bring a lot of heartache. But if you’re okay with some broad brushstroke generalizations, that little axiom can help bring some clarity. Not surprisingly, over the last week, I’ve found myself resorting to this love/fear adage on countless occasions. The new year obviously got off to a rough start. Most of us hoped that seeing Dec. 31 in our rearview mirror meant better things to come, but it hasn’t started off that way. In fact, it’s jumped to a new level of chaotic. The news networks have had a field day with the available content, parsing it out to the general public who eagerly soak up every tasty morsel set in front of them. It’s easy to make broad generalizations about our I keep moving. I can feel my ski slide underneath me as I collapse onto my front leg. With each stride, I move forward, onward and upward through the darkness. I swing my left hip forward, feeling the resistance of my skins as I drag my ski along the snow. Paying close attention, I can feel the different fibers of the skin latching onto the surface at the end of each stride. One foot in front of the other, as I deliberately work toward my goal of the summit. I pause to catch my breath, desperate for a moment of respite on my arduous journey. And in this moment, I pause to look up in the direction of my travel. The morning light is beginning to dawn and I can barely make out the summit up ahead. She seems so far away and forbearing, making a timely ascent appear almost impossible. I check my watch, anxious that I’ve already been climbing too long without enough progress. And I begin to worry that I won’t make the summit in time. ...the current social environment ... is not very forgiving for certain transgressions. One wrong post can Livin’ the Dream By Merisa Sherman follow you for years. Just keep moving Feel the love current political and social misfortunes, but I think any learned person would agree, that the ills of our country are multi-layered and not easily discerned. Like most 16-year-olds, my son barely watches the news. In fact, most of his “news” comes from the comedy channels he watches either on television, streaming services, or YouTube. But most of his stances on wellknown issues are derived from memes, those comical little symbolic messages that find their way around the world via the internet. I hate to say it, but it seems like we have a whole generation of kids generating opinions based on tiny pictures with a few words of text. Don’t get me wrong, I like a good meme as much as the next guy, but basing an opinion or making a stance because of a meme is dangerous and irresponsible. My son showed me several memes that originated over the past week. Some were funny, some were poignant, and some were just plain stupid. And a few of them were borderline inappropriate. I talked to my son about the dangers of passing memes around via his social channels. I also reminded him that the current social environment he lives in is not very forgiving for certain transgressions. One wrong post can follow you for years. At this point, not a week goes by that there isn’t a news story about someone being cancelled because a social mob decided something they said or wrote was deemed offensive. At this point, I can make a choice. I can choose to turn around and go home, fearful of the hard climb to come and unwilling to trust the unknown. To return to the warmth of my bed and the comfort that I know awaits me. I can choose to turn around here, convincing myself that I am satisfied with a lower peak. Persuading myself that the skiing will be good enough from here, I can choose not to continue my ascent rather than push onward toward the true goal: the mountaintop. In my short burst of despair, I look down at my skis and remind myself that there is only one way that I will be reaching the top of the mountain on this or any other morning. There is only one way that I can maneuver around this bend in the trail, and through the trees up ahead. There is only one way that I can push through this steep section, one in which I will undoubtedly slip backwards several times. I must learn to trust myself. That’s what makes this week’s film so intriguing. “No Safe Spaces” is a documentary that examines the current social climate surrounding humor and outspokenness and the seemingly inexhaustible need for the public to ferret out individuals who have crossed the line of what the mob deems offensive. Commentated by radio talk show host Dennis Prager and comedian Adam Carolla, “No Safe Spaces” visits college campuses to interview students and faculty about their need for safe spaces. The film also delves into various free speech controversies that have occurred over the last few years, including the Jordan Peterson event in Canada and the Bret Weinstein event at Evergreen College. This is one of those films that gets under your skin. The more I watched it, the more agitated I became. Personally, I don’t like the trend that this film exposes. And while the content is only a year old, there have already been countless more examples of innocent people’s lives being ruined by cancellation. What I appreciated most about this documentary is that the producers took the time to get opposing viewpoints. One-sided arguments inside documentaries always make me suspicious. Check this one out if you’re concerned about the social trends occurring in our country and want a well-informed and educated overview. A vexing “B” for “No Safe Spaces” (available as a rental on multiple streaming services). Got a question or comment for Dom? You can email him at moviediary@att.net. Seed packets…the first sign of spring! I know the skiers aren’t thinking like I am. Their season has just begun and they don’t want to think about it ending. I, on the other hand, am excited because flower and veggie seeds are in the stores! Seed catalogs have begun to arrive and I get to spend time looking for something different to grow this year. I promised an occasional garden column during the winter so let’s take a “look forward” to the pleasure we will get from playing in the dirt! When the pandemic arrived gardening became a very popular way to spend free time…time that people never had before. Seed packets disappeared from shelves at a rapid clip. I have always been an early buyer of seeds. I look for ads in January that offer excellent discounts, up to 40% in some Looking Forward By Mary Ellen Shaw cases. There is nothing more satisfying than heading to a store on a cold winter day and seeing all those packets with brightly colored flowers and delicious looking veggies. I make sure to bring my list and have always been able to find just about everything I plan to grow. Last year my handy husband, Peter, made me a wooden box with slots to hold the packets. I divided the box into veggie and flower sections. I put the packets in alphabetically – beans to zucchini and asters to zinnias! Now it’s so easy to find what I am looking for. When all the seeds in the packet aren’t used, I can put a paper clip on the packet and back in the slot it goes. It will be right where it belongs for a fall planting of spinach or radishes. Once you get home with your seeds you may be motivated to grow something right away. Who wants to wait over four months for that to happen? You don’t have Livin’ the dream > 33 to. Grow lights to the rescue! Looking forward > 33
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Mountain Times - Vol. 50, Number 2, Jan. 13-19, 2021

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