Michael McCarthy in his book Moth Snowstorm remembers evening drives when moths filled the headlights like snowflakes in a blizzard. Memories of summer always include sounds of insect life, children happily chasing butterflies and catching lightening bugs.

Insects have undergone a severe, largely unnoticed decline over at least three decades. Scientists have now documented the decline and studied its causes. A 2017 study in Germany, revealed a shocking 76% decline in insect biomass in nature preserves. Fewer insects are present, and their ranges are restricted. A review study published this month in Biological Conservation reports that 40% of insect species worldwide are threatened with extinction. Butterflies (Lepidoptera), wasps and bees (Hymenoptera), and dung beetles (Coleoptera) are most affected. The reasons for the decline include habitat loss to intensive agriculture and urbanization, pesticides, fungicides and fertilizers; invasive species; and climate change. A few common and generalist species are increasing in number, occupying vacant ecological niches, but they are unlikely to be adequate substitutes.

Three broad categories of insects – decomposers, carnivores, and herbivores – support life on earth. Decomposers feed on dead or rotten plants, animals, and excrement clearing waste, recycling nutrients, and building humus. Carnivores prey on or parasitize other animals. We rely on insect carnivores for integrated pest management. Herbivores include pollinators and leaf-eating insects. Pollinators are necessary for plant regeneration, including many foods we eat. Leaf-eating insects and the insects that prey on them are essential diets for a wide range of birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians. Indeed, our nesting birds feed leaf-eating insects to their young in spring when no seeds are available. In addition to documented decreases in animal life because of fewer insects, scientists anticipate further cascading effects on animal populations. A mass extinction of insects will result in a mass extinction of animals and affect human populations, too.

What can we do to stop the insect decline?

We can increase insect habitat by:

1. Planting native species. While some generalist pollinators will visit non-native plants, leaf-eating insects and specialist pollinators rely often exclusively on plants they evolved with. Without those native plants, they starve. Plant many different species in a succession of bloom times from early spring to late fall. Think shrubs and trees, not just flowers. Find some of the best native plants by visiting Doug Tallamy’s website Bringing Nature Home or the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Look for our insect display coming soon to the Norwich Post Office.
2. Do not spray with herbicides, fungicides, or pesticides, especially neonicotinoids, which are highly toxic to bees. Use the Xerces Society website to print out the names of neonicotinoids so you can avoid them. Insist on plants and seeds that are neonicotinoid-free. Use horticultural oils if you have to spray.
3. Leave bare ground. Many native solitary bees are ground-nesting and require bare soil. These are not yellow jackets. They do not sting.
4. Reduce your lawn and increase edge habitat. Raise your lawn mower as high as possible, mow infrequently, and leave clippings on the lawn. Leave as much ‘natural’ edge as possible.
5. Reduce deer overbrowse by using repellents such as Liquid Fence, fencing, or support measures to reduce local deer populations to sustainable levels.

Support agricultural practices that benefit insects. Buy organic as much as possible. Buy from farms that use regenerative and pollinator-friendly farming practices.

Remove invasive species and avoid planting non-natives as much as possible.

Adopt practices and support policies and procedures that reduce climate change and pollution. Although insects in New England are somewhat less susceptible to climate change than those in the tropics, they are under stress from many sources. Pollution from sewer plants and farming have serious effects on insects, especially aquatic insects.

Participate in citizen science projects involving insects. Vermont Center for Ecostudies is starting a bumblebee surveying project that should include our area by 2020. You can contribute to iNaturalist Vermont and eButterfly. Details are at the Vermont Center for Ecostudies website.

Have you hiked the Gile Mountain trail to the fire tower recently? If not, you will be surprised to see the upgrades taking place along the trail. On a recent beautiful, late summer August evening, my companion and I took the drive up Turnpike Road to the trailhead, to make the short 1.4 mile round trip to the fire tower and back.

The first thing I noticed upon arriving was the number of cars parked in the small lot, most of which with license plates other than NH and VT. Mid week, late in the day (but not sunset), late August, I did not expect this many fellow hikers, even on a near perfect late afternoon.

I should not have been surprised, however. Russ Hirschler, executive director of the Upper Valley Trails Alliance, told me “Gile Mountain gets between 5,000 and 10,000 visitors a year,” making it one of the Upper Valley’s most popular hiking areas.

The first section of the trail is the same as I remember from my last hike on it – a wide, dirt path with numerous tree roots to dodge. It wasn’t until I passed the clearing along the power lines that the changes came into focus. We passed a pile of hardpack gravel, and then encountered an impressive stack of flat stone for building steps. Terraced steps made from landscape timbers, recently filled with the hardpack, ushered us into the woods.

A little further up the trail, we saw how those large, flat stones were fashioned into steps. They appeared to be laid in a very professional manner, and would look just as good leading up to a beautiful home as part of a residential landscape design. Yet here we were on a trail in the woods. Every so often, the stones were laid in a manner to allow water runoff to pass through without damaging the trail. I counted somewhere around 90 of these impressive stone steps on the short trail, with more stones awaiting installation. “How did they get these stones and gravel up here, by helicopter?” asked my hiking companion.

George Clark, a member of the Norwich Trails Committee, said several methods were used to transport materials for trail building up the trail. “In the past they’ve used horses, Belgians,” said Clark. Other methods for transport are a narrow, mechanized wheelbarrow-like vehicle, and zip lines, which can help move considerable weight, said Clark.

Russ Hirschler said the movement of materials for trail building is a big part of the work on the trail. “We’ve moved hundreds of tons of material on the mountain,” he said. Being a short trail has made the job a bit simpler, said Hirschler.

Hirschler said the materials moved to the trail include large, flat stone for steps, crib stone, used to build up the sides of the trail, coarse gravel, and hardpack, both used in creating part of the walkway.

Mechanized vehicles get the material to spots along the power line clearing, said Hirschler, then the material is moved by draft horses pulling a sled, small-scale mechanized wheelbarrows, a zip line grip hoist, which utilizes steel cable, and, of course, volunteers.

Those volunteers have been key to the effort, since the current phase of trail work began in 2011. Hirschler said volunteers from the Upper Valley High School Trail Corps, the Tuck School at Dartmouth, King Arthur Flour, Hypertherm, as well as local volunteers organized by the Norwich Trails Committee have all had a hand in rebuilding the trail. The week we were on the trail, Tuck School students, working on various community projects in the area, were taking their turn trail building.

We weren’t the only ones to notice the high level of maintenance on the trail. We encountered a pair of hikers, returning from the fire tower as we made our way up. Here from Scotland, the couple spent the summer at Dartmouth, and wanted to make the trip to the fire tower before returning to Edinburgh. “The view from the tower is marvelous, and this trail is in great condition,” one of them told us.

Upon reaching the tower, we saw several others making their way to the top to enjoy the view. Between a healthy fear of heights from open platforms, and a leg that does not always function as it should, I decided to not make the trip all the way up, though my companion bounded up the seven flights of stairs to the top. A younger couple, making their way down, noticed my hesitance. The woman said “I don’t like heights, but I felt okay because there is fencing and railing.” I commended her for going up, and wondered if I was the only one hesitant about going up the tower. I doubted it.

Trail building is not the only project that’s taken place on Gile Mountain. George Clark said the tower itself was refurbished about a dozen years back, keeping it safe for visitors.

Heading back down, the change of direction gave us a different perspective on the trail work, and the step construction. Curious about the cost of the work, Hirschler told me, “We are on our third grant for work on Gile Mountain.” Grant money received through the Vermont Recreation Trails Program has totaled about $60,000, and with matching funds and in-kind labor, the project is up to about $90,000, said Hirschler.

There is still more work planned for the trail. “We’re a couple years away from having everything done,” said Hirschler. “It’s pretty technical work, and slow and steady wins the race.”

The Rosemary Littledale Rieser Trail and Sample’s Woods Project

Just in time to savor sunlight filtering through the pine woods and hear the sounds of frogs and birds from a mossy bog and a rushing brook, Norwich will soon have a new trail for walking and observing nature. Thanks to the generosity of 105 members of the community, the Norwich Conservation Commission, and the Rieser children – Abby, Tim, Len and Ken Willis – a conservation easement and designated trail is being added to the 11-acre property that borders Blood Brook, Hopson Road, and nearby Pine Tree Road.

The Rieser family has been an important part of the Norwich landscape since the late Rosemary Littledale Rieser (pictured below) and her esteemed physicist husband Leonard first took up residence in the village of Norwich in 1953. While Leonard immersed himself in academic life and administration at Dartmouth, starting in the Physics Department and progressing to Provost and Dean of the Faculty, Rosemary devoted herself to raising her family, tending to home, vegetable and flower gardens, enjoying the outdoors, and sharing her talents and thoughtfulness through volunteer community activities. She loved walking her dog and interacting with neighbors. Rosemary and Leonard were among the original signers of the Warner Meadows conservation agreement held by the Upper Valley Land Trust (UVLT), and they further demonstrated their commitment to conservation by purchasing and maintaining the adjacent Sample’s Woods parcel beginning in 1965.
Today, a 24 member group owns and maintains the meadow on which a portion of the trail access easement will reside. In the years following Rosemary’s death in 2012, the Rieser children decided to honor their mother’s memory, love of walking, and devotion to Norwich by granting public access to a trail to be designated as “The Rosemary Littledale Rieser Trail”. To guarantee protection of the pine grove, wetlands, ski jump, and ecologically significant brook corridor, a fundraising campaign for $50,000 was organized in late March with a team assembled from local residents and friends of Leonard and Rosemary Rieser, the UVLT, and the Upper Valley Trails Alliance (UVTA). Over six weeks, this hard-working group raised the sum required with enough additional resources to support trail building and stewardship.

While the length of the trail is relatively short, the richness of the area speaks volumes to scenic quality, open space, abundant birdlife, beaver activity, historic significance, and environmental education. During the Earth Day walk and talk presented by UVLT and UVTA, Lindsay Putnam, an environmental educator at the Marion Cross School, explained how students learn, share, and begin to comprehend natural systems through science class outings she leads to the meadow and brook.

Another feature of this special spot is the naturally contoured ski jump, known to former Ford Sayre ski jumpers like Mike Holland, Walter Malmquist, and Buff McLaughry, as Sample’s Jump. Paul Sample, the local painter of familiar scenes around the valley, owned the land prior to the Rieser family and the jump bears his name. Visitors to the woods can view the jump takeoff and landing and imagine themselves flying through the air as many young boys did during the winters of the 50’s and 60’s.

The Rieser family’s 50 year ownership and care of this parcel is exemplary, and it is thanks to their vision for its future and the help of many generous and thoughtful friends and neighbors, that its future status and use will be permanently protected for all of our benefit. Like the Bill Ballard Trail and the Milton Frye Natural Area, it is wonderful to be able to recognize and celebrate a similar conservation spirit, that of Rosemary Rieser, with this very personal and public project. After an anticipated easement closing in late June, information about the trail, its status, and how to access it will be available at uvlt.org and uvtrails.org.

Passing in or out of Norwich this fall one could see that the rolling meadow and apple orchard and the edges of the woods east of Main Street between the school property and I-91 were being pruned, raked, mowed, cut down so that when the job was completed, the entire area had been cleared and opened. A long metal fence, impacted with invasive growth, was dug out and removed. To some, it appeared as if the area had been permanently changed. We will, in fact, have to keep this area mowed until the invasive seeds and viable root systems that are still present have stopped resprouting. When this has happened, we will be able to replant native trees and shrubs.

This project, undertaken for the town by The Department of Public Works under the leadership of Andy Hodgdon with tractor, mower, backhoe and saw, had two main purposes: to reduce the devastating impact of invasive species and to bring the old orchard back to life. The endeavor greatly augmented the efforts of the Milton Frye Nature Area Committee. The committee had held a number of workdays to pull out old fencing and barbed wire and to pull up glossy and common buckthorn, oriental bittersweet vine, Japanese Barberry, and honeysuckle in several key areas of the Nature Center Area.  Local resident volunteers joined the committee. Students from Marion Cross School worked with their environmental science teacher, Lindsey Putnam, to help with uprooting and drying out the roots of large patches of buckthorn.

A great deal was accomplished by the town fall project; however, much more remains to be done. Many of the invasives reform from roots or seeds and must be again pulled out. Others, such as wild parsnip and chervil, and poison ivy must be cleared to prevent rashes and burning.  Invasive plants along the access and exit of I-91 are spreading rapidly into the Nature Area, and infiltrating properties along Route 5 and Main Street. The threat of invasive trees and plants reduces the available room for native trees and plants. The number of wildflowers is gradually diminishing as invasive ground plants take over their habitats.  A growing colony of Norway Maples threatens to crowd out pines, ash, and beech trees.

To keep this spread under control, new invasive growth must be uprooted, cut down, or, in some cases, treated with chemicals. The Milton Frye Nature Area Committee has consulted several experts on removing invasive plants, and is examining possible ways to fund their work.

The 36 acres of the Milton Frye Nature Area are a treasured resource for the town of Norwich. The Marion Cross School uses the area for environmental science projects of many kinds. Dog walkers, runners, and hikers frequent the three major paths that wind through the woods and the two stone ridges that divide the area. Spring bird walks are held each year. Mink, fox, deer, raccoon, porcupine, bobcat, bear, mice and vole tracks testify to the diversity of wild life that lives in or visits the area. A Barred Owl nests in one of the hollow trees and sometimes upsets a community of crows who roost in the tall pines. Hawks and vultures soar over the woods and field. Bluebirds, Tree Swallows, Indigo Buntings, Scarlet Tanagers, Goldfinches, and at least a dozen kinds of warblers visit the apple orchard and its environs.

We are fortunate to live in a community that recognizes the value of the Milton Frye Nature Area and acknowledges the importance of controlling invasive species there.  How can YOU help?  Join the committee on a weekend workday project.  Encourage your children to help as well.  The committee hopes to create an identification chart to post at the trailhead. Visit the websites listed below to inform yourself further about these invasives and be able to recognize them. Help Norwich to keep this wonderful resource alive and flourishing. It belongs to all of us.