An Educational Youth & Families, Agriculture and Natural Resources
Newsletter for Residents of York County

May - June 2005

Protecting Yourself from Lyme Disease in Maine
Prevention Tips from the Lyme Disease Research Laboratory

By far, the best way to avoid Lyme disease is to be aware of the risk of tick bites and to act accordingly.  The good news is that deer ticks usually do not transmit Lyme bacteria until they have been attached for at least 24 hours — up to 48 hours for adult ticks.  In addition, even in highly endemic areas, only 40-50% of adult deer ticks may be infected.  In a recent study, no more than 3.4% of individuals seen by physicians for deer tick bites who were not treated with antibiotics eventually developed Lyme disease.  Diagnosed in its early stages, Lyme disease is easily and effectively treated with oral antibiotics.  If Lyme disease is unrecognized and untreated, it may progress to cause arthritis and neurological problems but treatment is still usually effective.

Precautions to Avoid Tick Bites

• Tuck your pant legs into your socks and your shirt into your pants when walking in woods, brush, or tall  grass. Deer ticks attach to clothing and then walk upward.
   

• Wear light-colored clothing so ticks may be seen more easily.
   

• Use a repellent containing DEET according to label directions -- particularly on shoes, socks, and pant legs.  Avoid applying high-concentration products to the skin, especially on children.
   

• People who must be in areas where ticks are prevalent may pretreat protective clothing with a permethrin-containing product which both repels and kills ticks.  Caution: this is not for use on skin; use only as directed on the label.
   

• To protect pets, consult your veterinarian about tick repellents, acaricides or, in high risk areas, the Lyme vaccine for dogs.
   

• Inspect yourself, your clothing, your children, your companion, and your pets for ticks when you get in from the field.  Ticks often attach in body folds, behind ears and in the hair.  If possible, shower and wash clothes immediately. Heat drying is effective in killing ticks.
   

• Mowing grass and cutting brush in yards may reduce tick habitats in problem areas.
   

• When transporting pets or game, precautions should be taken to avoid bringing ticks into new areas.

Prompt removal of attached ticks is extremely important. The Lyme disease spirochete is rarely transmitted before the tick has been attached for 36 hours.  Grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible, preferably with fine tweezers, and pull gently but firmly until the tick lets go.  Do not handle ticks with bare hands.  Do not squeeze the tick.  Apply antiseptic to the bite.  Save the tick in a small vial of 70% alcohol.  Common tick removal methods, such as scorching the tick with a match, or applying vaseline or nail polish are not recommended because they may cause infected tick body fluids to be expelled into the skin. One recent study showed that a single dose of antibiotic was effective in preventing Lyme disease if given within 72 hours after a deer tick was removed. Consult your physician if you remove an engorged deer tick.

Vaccine. The LYMErix vaccine, which was approved in 1998 by the Food and Drug Administration, for use in adults, is no longer available. GlaxoSmithKline withdrew the LYMErix vaccine from the market in February 2002, citing insufficient demand as the reason for their action.

Note: See Resources section for more literature on ticks in Maine and Lyme Disease

Bay Management Study Completes First Round of Community Meetings

Maine’s coastal waters currently host a variety of activities such as recreational boating, fishing, marine transportation, energy, conservation and aquaculture.  The State of Maine recently began a two year Bay Management Study to explore whether Maine needs new ways to manage coastal waters and what type of measures are appropriate for use here.  Bay management would likely encourage the coexistence of multiple uses, enable local involvement, make better use of scientific information, and improve decision-making systems.  In January 2007, recommendations will be sent to the Maine Legislature.

To kick off the bay management study, staff from the State Planning Office and the Department of Marine Resources held a series of public meetings entitled “Sharing Public Waters: A Community Discussion.”  These meetings were held from January through March in five coastal towns: Eastport, Ellsworth, Rockland, Portland and Wells. While the meetings introduced the concept of the bay management study to those who attended, the primary purpose of the meetings was to get public input and opinions about what water uses and conflicts occur in their region and what is working and not working in terms of how nearshore waters are being managed.

Preliminary review of the input received during the meetings suggests that Maine residents care about a wide range of issues related to the coastal environment.  These issues can be grouped into five main categories: 1) navigation concerns (i.e. increased conflict between different types of vessels); 2) ecological issues (i.e. impact of declining water quality on shellfish); 3) resource harvesting (i.e. conflict between clammers and wormers); 4) recreation and tourism (i.e. swimmer safety in areas with boat traffic); and 5) water access (i.e. loss of working waterfront).  Participants in the meetings also described how management of nearshore resources functions in their areas, often focusing on the need for improved local input and control of decisions.  For example, one participant described how wormers in his region met weekly for 6 months to manage their harvesting activity so they could keep it sustainable, as an example of how local people can actively participate in managing resource use.  There were also useful examples of what is and is not working in how science is incorporated into decision making, how multiple agencies work together to manage nearshore waters, and how multiple uses are encouraged in resource management.

The input received from these initial “Sharing Public Waters: Community Discussions” will provide staff with directions for further exploration and research.  For instance, the staff will research how other states and countries have dealt with coastal issues similar to those raised by Maine’s coastal residents.  Furthermore, in order to get a more complete understanding of how Maine’s residents view the coast, the issues raised in these public meetings will be used to develop questions for a public survey.

Throughout the next two years, there will be many opportunities for public involvement in the study.  Participants in later public meetings will have opportunities to create and share their own ideas on how bay management might be developed in Maine.  For more information and to get involved in the study, visit http://www.state.me.us/dmr/baystudy/baystudy.htm or contact Vanessa Levesque at 207.287-9979 or at vanessa.levesque@maine.gov.

Provided by Vanessa Levesque, NOAA Fellow at Maine State Planning Office and Maine Department of Marine Resources

What Is Emotional Intelligence?

For many years, it was thought that a person's intelligence (IQ or intelligence quotient) determined how people succeeded in life.  Researchers now consider emotional intelligence (EQ) as another key determinant of a person's success in life.

Emotional intelligence was popularized in 1995 when psychologist Daniel Goleman wrote his book, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ.

Emotional, or social intelligence, involves at least five types of skills:

• Self-awareness is a person's ability to understand and be aware of their feelings and moods. Self-awareness helps a person keep an eye on their thoughts and emotions so they can better understand why they feel a particular way.
• Managing emotions This skill helps people display their emotions in socially appropriate ways. It helps one control anger, sadness, and fear.
• Motivation helps a person use their emotions to reach their goals. It helps them hold back their impulses and delay gratification to reach these goals.
• Empathy is the ability to understand how a person feels. It is different from feeling sorry for someone. It is feeling like "walking in their shoes."
• Social skills are dealing with others in social situations. It is the ability to carry on a conversation and deal with other's emotions. It is being socially competent.
   

Both types of intelligence are important in different ways. The IQ contributes about 20% to the factors that determine life accomplishments, according to Goleman. That leaves about 80% for everything else.

Goleman describes how emotional intelligence can make a difference in life's successes. For example, boys in the second grade who are impulsive and always getting into trouble are six to eight times more likely than other children to be violent in their teens and commit crimes. Sixth grade girls who confuse feelings of boredom and anger with hunger are the ones most likely to have eating disorders when they become teenagers. These children are unaware of how they are feeling and what it's called. So if a person doesn't have these skills, he or she can get into trouble, especially as a child transitions into adulthood. These abilities or emotional intelligence,  can help one throughout life.

Although children are born with different temperaments, or how they approach things—social, laid back, intense, shy, etc., EQ helps parents and teachers work with these qualities so children can better cope in the world.  For example, instead of protecting shy children from the world and catering to them, parents can encourage their young children to participate in challenging situations (meeting new kids, going to new places) in ways that don’t overwhelm but give them the successful experience of mastering something new.

The first step to increasing emotional intelligence is self-awareness. What are your feelings and why are you feeling that way? Although this can be very difficult for some, once a person begins to understand himself or herself, he or she can begin to develop other emotional skills, which leads to more emotional intelligence.

This article was exerpted from “Emotional Intelligence…What is it?” a fact sheet by Nancy K. Recker, M.A. at Ohio State University Extension.  For a copy of the complete original article and references see    http://ohioline.osu.edu/flm01/FS15.html or call the office for a copy.

Resources

Ticks In Maine:  Two fact sheets are available, one from the university of Maine Cooperative Extension located online at http://pmo.umext.maine.edu/factsht/Ticks.htm  and one available from Maine Medical Center at: http://www.mmcri.org/lyme/meticks.html  To receive a copy of these via mail please contact our office.

Tick Submission Form:  To receive a copy of the Maine Medical Center Tick submission form visit: http://www.mmcri.org/lyme/submit.html or call our office for a free copy.

Turn Beauty Inside Out, Maine:  T-Shirts and Bumper Stickers

Part of the mission of  Turn Beauty Inside Out, Maine  is to create new media that promotes healthy development and positive messages about what it means to be female and what true beauty is “good hearts, great works and activism”.  We have great bumper stickers and t-shirts that say “If the definition of beautiful gets any thinner, no one will fit” and t-shirts that say “True beauty blooms inside.”  For more information about these fun T-shirts and bumper stickers or about Turn Beauty Inside Out, Maine call the office.

Maine’s Marine Invasion Fact Sheet

Known as bioinvaders or nuisance species, marine invasive species are plants, animals, and other organisms introduced from other regions that spread in their new environment to the extent that they overtake native species and their habitats. This fact sheet can be downloaded at www.seagrant.umaine.edu/, or copies can be requested through Maine Sea Grant Extension, 207-646-1555 x115.

Public Shoreline Access in Maine:

A Citizen’s Guide to Ocean and Coastal Law

Many Mainers may understand that their “right to access” the shoreline has something to do with “fishing, fowling, and navigation.” But most are unclear as to where that qualification comes from and what it really means. While the state of Maine boasts thousands of miles of coastline, getting to the ocean can sometimes prove challenging. This 8 page booklet can be downloaded

at www.seagrant.umaine.edu/, or copies can be requested through Maine Sea Grant Extension, 207-646-1555 x115.

Programs

Garden Angels

The York County Garden Angel Project is again being offered by the Master Gardener Volunteers.  Our goal is to assist seniors and/or people with physical challenges who need assistance planting and caring for a small vegetable or flower garden, but do not have the financial means to hire that helping hand.  There is no cost to participate in this program.  If you or someone you know would like more information, please call the Extension office to request a brochure/application.

Spring Garden Celebration

Saturday, May 21, 8:30 am – noon
York County Extension Office, Sanford
Free of Charge – no  pre-registration is necessary

Workshop Schedule
9:00
1.  Beekeeping
2.  Selecting Roses for Your Site and Planting Tips

9:30 am
1.  Making Hypertufa Planters
2.  Pruning Fruit Trees (Brian Smith)

 10:00 am
1.       Organic Gardening
2.       Daylilies – Not Just for the Roadside Anymore!

10:30 am
1.       Water Plants
2.       Uncommon Perennials for Your Shady Garden

11:00 am
1.  Herbs!
2.  Starting Seedlings

 Raffle! Dozens of garden related items raffled. 

 Plant Sale!

      _         Hundreds of Plants
_         Perennials
_         Annuals
_         Vegetable Seedlings

Raffle and Plant Sale Proceeds benefit community Master Gardener projects.

Summer Garden Tour & Workshop Series

Tuesday, June 14th , 6:30 - 8:00 pm

York County Extension Office Grounds
Free of charge
Pre-registration is not required  - just come and dress casually for out doors!

6:30—7:15    Worm Bins and Composting (Ilese Levitt)
A-Z on composting…..from indoor worm bin composting to gourmet outdoor pallet composting….we’ll cover it all

7:20—8:00 pm   Daylilies – Not Just for the Roadside Anymore! (Robin Campbell)

Daylilies come in many colors with bloom times that can cover a long season. Learn to spread this precious flowering season.

Vaughn Island 4-H Environmental Camp

·         June 27– Aug 12:  3 and 4-day overnight camping trips
with environmental education focus at Vaughn Island,
Cape Porpoise Harbor, Maine
Space is limited.  Pre-registration required.

·         Program fee $125-$165

·         Call the Extension Office for a brochure and application

SPLASH!  From the minute you set foot on Vaughn Island 'til the moment you leave, you're part of an exciting learning adventure!  Our unique program offers three and four day tenting experiences where youth discover -- through their own natural curiosity and imagination -- the sights, sounds, smell and feel of Maine's rocky coast.

Designed with the whole child in mind, Vaughn Island 4-H Camp brings lasting memories.  Living, working and playing together, campers make new friends and develop a sense of trust and responsibility for the whole group.  An emphasis is placed on no-trace camping skills, cooperation, discovery of the island's plant and animal life, coastal heritage, and marine ecology.

Vaughn Island Camp is affiliated with Tanglewood 4-H Camp and Learning Center.
 

Nature Arts: discover the art of nature!

Classes are Mon-Fri, July 18-22, 9 am – 2 pm

Workshop limited to 16 children, ages 9-17

Registration fee: $25 includes all supplies and healthy lunch

Call the Extension office to register

 All programs will take place at the Extension office in Sanford and will use the beautiful gardens and outdoors as our “studio” for the week.  Community artist Laura Jaquays will provide creative, educational and fun arts.  These are great projects “just for fun”, or for public display such as Acton Fair. 

·         Art-in-nature journal

·         Print making with plants

·         Fairy houses and animal totems

·         Rainbow painting and color wheel

·         Garden still life painting

·         Flora and fauna art

·         Primitive mud painting

·         Painting sky and clouds

Nature Arts is part of York County 4-H Discovery Arts Program, which uses the expressive arts to help youth to “discover the art of life, nature and community”.

The Draw of the Sea: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Maine Beaches Conference 2005

Wednesday, August 17^th, 2005 at York County Community College, Wells

The 2005 Maine Beaches Conference invites coastal residents, beach monitors, recreationalists, and all other beach stakeholders to take the long view of our state's beaches. This year's conference is the 5th all-day event of its kind. General and current session topics will focus on beach changes in the past, present and future: economic, social and environmental trends, beach development, tourism impacts, beach nourishment, water quality monitoring, and sand rights. In the afternoon, the conference will move to Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve where field sessions at Drakes Island and Laudholm beaches will explore the natural history of piping plovers, beach scoring, beach-front construction and landscaping best management practices, and beach monitoring.

For more information, please contact Kristen Whiting-Grant at 207.646.1555 ext. 115
(email: Kristen.Whiting-Grant@maine.edu).

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