Catherine Schmitt
@coastcompanion.bsky.social
science writer & author of THE PRESIDENT'S SALMON and other books - TREES OF ACADIA coming April '26
catherineschmitt.com
catherineschmitt.com
Pinned
How Wabanaki access to sea run fish is changing - Island Institute
For thousands of years, Wabanaki people were sustained by “sea run” fish that moved between rivers and the ocean. Fish evolved this migratory strategy to
www.islandinstitute.org
Its hard for Wabanaki tribal members to practice their sustenance fishing rights in Maine rivers. Fish are scarce and toxic, the result of dams and pollution -- but state policies are also to blame, says a new report.
www.islandinstitute.org/working-wate...
www.islandinstitute.org/working-wate...
welp, time may be up for my 2015 era MacBook Pro. Now what?
December 11, 2025 at 7:11 PM
welp, time may be up for my 2015 era MacBook Pro. Now what?
have some sea smoke.
December 9, 2025 at 11:44 PM
have some sea smoke.
Its already polluted. My last few search results (via Kagi on Firefox) were bizarre...
This thread up and down.
Also, I've been beating this drum about the danger to the information ecosystem for six and half years now. A few links below:
Also, I've been beating this drum about the danger to the information ecosystem for six and half years now. A few links below:
Here's the reality this example illustrates:
It's not even just about people blindly trusting what ChatGPT tells them. LLMs are poisoning the entire information ecosystem. You can't even necessarily trust that the citations in a published paper are real (or a search engine's descriptions of them).
It's not even just about people blindly trusting what ChatGPT tells them. LLMs are poisoning the entire information ecosystem. You can't even necessarily trust that the citations in a published paper are real (or a search engine's descriptions of them).
December 7, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Its already polluted. My last few search results (via Kagi on Firefox) were bizarre...
Some afternoon sunset #Sky for the #BlueSkyArtShow
Schoodic Point, Acadia National Park, Wabanaki Territory
Schoodic Point, Acadia National Park, Wabanaki Territory
December 7, 2025 at 2:12 AM
Some afternoon sunset #Sky for the #BlueSkyArtShow
Schoodic Point, Acadia National Park, Wabanaki Territory
Schoodic Point, Acadia National Park, Wabanaki Territory
can something that is already crumbs crumble?
Republicans in western states are pinning their hopes for reelection on worsened wildfires, ruined tourism, and defunded communities: wessiler.substack.com/p/trump-admi...
Trump Administration’s Public Lands Leadership Begins To Crumble
How an absent interior secretary, incompetence at the Forest Service, and proposed corruption for the BLM are colliding with low gas prices to throw public land management into chaos
wessiler.substack.com
December 5, 2025 at 2:41 AM
can something that is already crumbs crumble?
I might add
Defending the Master Race, Jonathan Spiro, on the connections between eugenics amd conservation - see also
escholarship.org/uc/item/3sx1...
Defending the Master Race, Jonathan Spiro, on the connections between eugenics amd conservation - see also
escholarship.org/uc/item/3sx1...
December 4, 2025 at 5:00 PM
I might add
Defending the Master Race, Jonathan Spiro, on the connections between eugenics amd conservation - see also
escholarship.org/uc/item/3sx1...
Defending the Master Race, Jonathan Spiro, on the connections between eugenics amd conservation - see also
escholarship.org/uc/item/3sx1...
The Devil's Cormorant by Richard King!
Hey, science folk... best book on oystercatchers? And best book on cormorants? Can be generalist or more academic. I'm not big on being spoon-fed, much as I love spoonbills, so the simpler it is the less interested I am. An eccentric biologist laden with weird data + peculiar point of view fine too.
December 2, 2025 at 11:24 PM
The Devil's Cormorant by Richard King!
no shopping, please
opting outside today
into the trees
out of the fray
opting outside today
into the trees
out of the fray
November 28, 2025 at 4:29 PM
no shopping, please
opting outside today
into the trees
out of the fray
opting outside today
into the trees
out of the fray
Reposted by Catherine Schmitt
Beginning next year, a new outdoor education initiative will allow every 8th grade student in the St. John Valley to participate in a three-night canoe expedition on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway:
New initiative lets every St. John Valley 8th grader participate in Allagash canoe expedition
Beginning next year, a new outdoor education initiative will allow every 8th grade student in the St. John Valley to participate in a three-night canoe expedition on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway.
www.mainepublic.org
November 27, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Beginning next year, a new outdoor education initiative will allow every 8th grade student in the St. John Valley to participate in a three-night canoe expedition on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway:
and parks and urban forests and gardens. kids need to touch (chemical-free) grass, and leaves and bark and berries and feathers...
Way back in 2018 I did a walking tour of Vancouver with @brenttoderian.bsky.social and he explained how that city overcame this problem. You need family-sized units & also, crucially, *good urban schools*.
Young families typically leave cities for the suburbs. Here’s how to keep them downtown.
Urbanist Brent Toderian explains how Vancouver held onto its families.
www.vox.com
November 26, 2025 at 10:01 PM
and parks and urban forests and gardens. kids need to touch (chemical-free) grass, and leaves and bark and berries and feathers...
Reposted by Catherine Schmitt
Archeologists in Wisconsin found an ancient canoe that is over 5,000 years old!! The discovery was in a canoe “parking lot” along a popular waterway and trail system.
Wisconsin archaeologists identify 16 ancient canoes in a prehistoric lake 'parking lot'
Archaeologists have identified more than a dozen ancient canoes that Indigenous people apparently left behind in a prehistoric parking lot along a Wisconsin lakeshore.
apnews.com
November 26, 2025 at 1:36 AM
Archeologists in Wisconsin found an ancient canoe that is over 5,000 years old!! The discovery was in a canoe “parking lot” along a popular waterway and trail system.
I once spent a night hanging around the elver fishermen, trying to get some samples (for science!) from a guy who was later arrested for illegal wildlife tracking. Oh, the stories eels can tell!
The sign in front of the van parked just off Route 1 in Lincoln County, Maine, displayed a simple message in big, hand-written letters: “Eels. $2,000/lb.”
Read more: https://therevelator.org/cites-american-eel/
Read more: https://therevelator.org/cites-american-eel/
Can an International Treaty Save the American Eel? • The Revelator
Overfishing and other threats have depleted populations of this iconic species. A new proposal to restrict international trade under CITES could offer them a lifeline.
therevelator.org
November 25, 2025 at 3:16 PM
I once spent a night hanging around the elver fishermen, trying to get some samples (for science!) from a guy who was later arrested for illegal wildlife tracking. Oh, the stories eels can tell!
Reposted by Catherine Schmitt
it is truly one of the treasures of nature that they look so elegant from every angle except this one
November 22, 2025 at 10:20 PM
it is truly one of the treasures of nature that they look so elegant from every angle except this one
Reposted by Catherine Schmitt
Its hard for Wabanaki tribal members to practice their sustenance fishing rights in Maine rivers. Fish are scarce and toxic, the result of dams and pollution -- but state policies are also to blame, says a new report.
www.islandinstitute.org/working-wate...
www.islandinstitute.org/working-wate...
How Wabanaki access to sea run fish is changing - Island Institute
For thousands of years, Wabanaki people were sustained by “sea run” fish that moved between rivers and the ocean. Fish evolved this migratory strategy to
www.islandinstitute.org
November 19, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Its hard for Wabanaki tribal members to practice their sustenance fishing rights in Maine rivers. Fish are scarce and toxic, the result of dams and pollution -- but state policies are also to blame, says a new report.
www.islandinstitute.org/working-wate...
www.islandinstitute.org/working-wate...
Its hard for Wabanaki tribal members to practice their sustenance fishing rights in Maine rivers. Fish are scarce and toxic, the result of dams and pollution -- but state policies are also to blame, says a new report.
www.islandinstitute.org/working-wate...
www.islandinstitute.org/working-wate...
How Wabanaki access to sea run fish is changing - Island Institute
For thousands of years, Wabanaki people were sustained by “sea run” fish that moved between rivers and the ocean. Fish evolved this migratory strategy to
www.islandinstitute.org
November 19, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Its hard for Wabanaki tribal members to practice their sustenance fishing rights in Maine rivers. Fish are scarce and toxic, the result of dams and pollution -- but state policies are also to blame, says a new report.
www.islandinstitute.org/working-wate...
www.islandinstitute.org/working-wate...
Amazing. Here are some using Pro mode on a Samsung. Cant quite get the speed slow enough.
November 17, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Amazing. Here are some using Pro mode on a Samsung. Cant quite get the speed slow enough.
"The new owner of the mountain was Mark Zuckerberg." still a rumor but either way is not good.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/u...
Mystery Fuels Unease in Maine Woods: Who Bought Burnt Jacket Mountain?
www.nytimes.com
November 17, 2025 at 12:23 AM
"The new owner of the mountain was Mark Zuckerberg." still a rumor but either way is not good.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/u...
November 16, 2025 at 12:29 AM
Reposted by Catherine Schmitt
Using asbestos as a metaphor for the current industry-driven AI push is genius.
Love to see community action against this AI nonsense! neighborhoodview.org/2025/11/13/d...
November 14, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Using asbestos as a metaphor for the current industry-driven AI push is genius.
Reminds me of this story I wrote on lake stratification (and mixing) - I think some parts of the ocean are experieincing similar changes...
maineboats.com/print/issue-...
maineboats.com/print/issue-...
November 15, 2025 at 12:30 AM
Reminds me of this story I wrote on lake stratification (and mixing) - I think some parts of the ocean are experieincing similar changes...
maineboats.com/print/issue-...
maineboats.com/print/issue-...
It is a bubble.
AI has yet to make money on a scale that even remotely matches the “mind-boggling investments” made to develop it, Hanna Rosin says. She spoke with Charlie Warzel to examine whether the AI boom is actually a bubble. | The Atlantic. www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/202...
What If AI Is a Bubble?
America’s economic fate looks tied to AI—for better or worse.
www.theatlantic.com
November 13, 2025 at 6:45 PM
It is a bubble.
Reposted by Catherine Schmitt
[Good news]
Native Plant Trust has now banked 10 million seeds of native New England plants, including rare & endangered ones 🌱
And they got $1.5 million more funding to continue this work 💪
When the present seems so unstable, it's good to think about a native plant-i-ful future
Native Plant Trust has now banked 10 million seeds of native New England plants, including rare & endangered ones 🌱
And they got $1.5 million more funding to continue this work 💪
When the present seems so unstable, it's good to think about a native plant-i-ful future
November 13, 2025 at 6:05 PM
[Good news]
Native Plant Trust has now banked 10 million seeds of native New England plants, including rare & endangered ones 🌱
And they got $1.5 million more funding to continue this work 💪
When the present seems so unstable, it's good to think about a native plant-i-ful future
Native Plant Trust has now banked 10 million seeds of native New England plants, including rare & endangered ones 🌱
And they got $1.5 million more funding to continue this work 💪
When the present seems so unstable, it's good to think about a native plant-i-ful future
Reposted by Catherine Schmitt
When I was a lonely Native on the east coast I tried 2 find Cherokees where I lived. I googled Baltimore Cherokee. The results were Jeep dealerships. Jeep stopped using Cherokee after a request frm the tribe post-2020. It's popular to be racist again & the Jeep Cherokee is back.
November 13, 2025 at 1:36 AM
When I was a lonely Native on the east coast I tried 2 find Cherokees where I lived. I googled Baltimore Cherokee. The results were Jeep dealerships. Jeep stopped using Cherokee after a request frm the tribe post-2020. It's popular to be racist again & the Jeep Cherokee is back.