"Michael S. Lorrey" wrote:
>
> Technotranscendence wrote:
>
> >
> > Someone else remarked about how a lot of land in the Northeast has gone
> > wild. This is true in many areas of New England. Yet, the ecosystems that
> > existed before the land was tamed are, in most cases, not returning -- at
> > least, not in toto. The carrier pigeon is gone and there are hardly any
> > wolves south of Canada or East of the Mississippi.
>
> Actually, the wolves are here, I've seen them with my own eyes, and I do know
> the difference between coyotes, wolves, malamutes, german shepherds, etc. The
> state wildlife offices, though, are preferring to call them 'large coydogs'
> because they don't want to freak people out.
Moreover, for northern New England, at least, there is more wildlife now than
there was prior to the arrival of europeans. There are far more deer, many many
moose, bear, wild boar, wild turkey, grouse, woodcock, duck, geese, pheasant,
rabbit, woodchuck, beaver, mink, fisher cat, badger, timber rattler, etc. The
carrier pigeon is gone, to be sure. Originally, the pigeon was a pest, as flocks
of millions of birds would land in a forest and the weight of the birds would
tear the limbs off of trees.
Southern New England is obviously a mess, but basically most of Vermont, NH
north of Lake Winnepisaukee, and Maine north of Portland, is more ecologically
diverse than prior to the arrival of europeans.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Oct 02 2000 - 17:37:57 MDT