Maine Perspective Front Page
Cutting Edge
University of Maine Research on the Frontiers of Science
Why People Trap
People who trap beaver, coyote and other furbearing animals in the 1990s tend to have an active outdoor lifestyle, which includes hunting, fishing and collecting wild edible plants, according to results of a six-state survey by John Daigle, UMaine assistant professor of parks, recreation and tourism, and a team of researchers.
The nearly 2,300 respondents to their survey ranked appreciation for nature, for example observing and learning about wildlife, as an important motivation for trapping.
"This type of research really begins to substantiate why people are interested in trapping furbearers," says Daigle. "Underlying motivations are much more complex than popular ideas of killing wildlife for income or for managing nuisance wildlife."
Their report was published in the Wildlife Society Bulletin in 1998. Income, animal control and affiliation with other people were less important to trappers in the early 1990s, according to the survey results. "Trapping in the northeastern United States, contrary to being compartmentalized, is one of many activities that are integral to and well-integrated within a broader lifestyle oriented to the out-of-doors," the report concludes.
Daigle's findings are part of an attempt to understand what motivates trappers as participation in the activity is dropping across the nation. In Vermont during the late 1980s, the number of licensed trappers dropped from 3,090 to 879 in the early 1990s. In Maine, about 2,500 trappers were licensed in 1992-93, far fewer than those who participated in the 1980s. Part of this decrease has been linked to low prices paid for pelts in Europe.
"We found another important variable," says Daigle. "A tremendous amount of time is required to fully participate in fur trapping. Unlike other wildlife-related outdoor activities, trapping requires that all traps set must be checked on a daily basis. Most trappers have full-time regular jobs, so trapping involves setting traps in the very early morning and checking them after work. Most nights will be devoted to processing and preparing furbearers. A great deal of time is placed on preparing pelts because it directly reflects their skills and ability, as well as the price paid by a fur buyer.
"In addition, for many trappers, vacations from jobs are scheduled around part of the trapping season. Many trappers would like to keep trapping if they could break even, but they cannot justify the costs for fuel and equipment, and the time required to trap. Other trappers simply leave trapping because it no longer interests them."
Daigle, a UMaine alumnus, is the principle author of the report. His colleagues include Robert Muth, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Rodney Zwick, Lyndon State College; and Ronald Glass, a research consultant in Starksboro, Vt.
The 14-page questionnaire was mailed in 1994 to 3,932 people who held trapping licenses or who participated in trapping activities in Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The analysis was based on a total of 2,279 returned questionnaires - 65 percent of the total. Daigle also conducted personal interviews with more than 100 of the survey respondents throughout the six-state region.
He is not a trapper but recalls that his father and grandfather both trapped along the Penobscot River. He wants to continue collecting information from people engaged in wildlife-related activities, including people who do not trap or hunt. He is particularly interested in how wildlife activities are passed down from one generation to another and become part of family traditions.
Detecting Gamma Rays
It's a project combining the latest high technology gear and creative backyard invention. Students and faculty in the departments of Geology and Physics have installed a new $25,000 gamma ray detector on campus to help them unravel secrets related to Maine's environment.
Gamma rays are naturally occurring, high-energy particles given off during the decay of radioactive elements. They can provide important clues about natural processes such as the layering of sediments in lakes, atmospheric deposition of mercury and even weather patterns.
The university purchased the device with research and development funds approved by the state legislature in 1998, and a grant for mercury research through the Water Research Institute.
In the past, collaborative work by UMaine geologists and physicists has started a national dialogue on radon gas concentrations in homes and revealed how much mercury has fallen on Maine from the air in the past century. New research is refining the mercury work and also focuses on another element, beryllium. This element exists naturally in the Earth's crust, and a radioactive version is formed under conditions high in the atmosphere. Known as Beryllium-7, it rains down daily on the Earth in minute quantities.
Located in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in Bennett Hall, the new detector is considerably more sensitive than its predecessor. Its heart consists of a pure germanium crystal that emits an electrical signal whenever it absorbs a particle of radioactivity. It is cooled with liquid nitrogen to a temperature of about -197 degrees Celsius or -322 degrees Fahrenheit. The crystal is housed inside a university-made lead shield designed to keep background radioactivity to a minimum.
Faculty involved in the work include Tom Hess in physics and Steve Norton in geological sciences. The students include Jim Kaste, a master's candidate in geology; and physics undergrads Joel Ngu, Chris Higgins and Ian Brasslett.
The detector was built by the Canberra Corp., Meridian, Conn., and arrived at UMaine in January. With Thomas Tripp, chief machinist in physics, Hess and some of the students built the lead shield and lined it with thin sheets of copper and cadmium. The metals absorb background radioactivity that might otherwise interfere with sample analyses. Commercially available shields cost $10,000-$12,000, says Hess.
Hess, Tripp and the students also assembled a package of electronic equipment to record and amplify signals from the crystal. The data are sent to a computer that displays counts of radioactivity at various frequencies.
Since January, Ngue has been calibrating the machine by analyzing samples with known amounts of gamma ray activity. That work provides the basis for interpreting data from environmental samples.
"We measure a radioactive isotope of lead because it can tell us how long something has been in the ground," says Higgins. "About half of the lead-210 that falls on the soil or on a lake or wetland decays every 20 years. Older layers of soil or peat have less radioactivity from lead-210 than the upper layers."
In a collaborative project with scientists in The Czech Republic, Kaste, Norton and Hess are studying how beryllium is transported through the environment and where it accumulates. With funding from the National Science Foundation, the three researchers will travel to Prague in May.