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...
I have written as "since before anyone can remember" and "in a time before memory" -
“Time immemorial is saying ‘since the beginning of our people as a cultural group, as a community, and we don’t know how long that is,’” Steeves said. “And maybe it’s not important to us, but it sure as heck, in North and South America, is a lot more than 11,000 or 12,000 years.’”
What does ‘time immemorial’ really mean? - High Country News
If you’ve seen the phrase time immemorial used repeatedly in Indigenous affairs reporting, there are some compelling reasons why.
www.hcn.org
January 12, 2026 at 8:38 PM
I have written as "since before anyone can remember" and "in a time before memory" -
@taralohan.bsky.social thanks for the shout-out to The President's Salmon - feels like an especially a good time for writers to support one another.
mavensnotebook.com/2026/01/07/a...
mavensnotebook.com/2026/01/07/a...
AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Tara Lohan, "Undammed: Freeing Rivers and Bringing Communities to Life"
Visit the Water Shelf main page Read the Undammed Press Release, including Author Q&A Dams have always been news — they are ubiquitous, as old as civilization, and can be big enough to literally move ...
mavensnotebook.com
January 10, 2026 at 11:31 PM
@taralohan.bsky.social thanks for the shout-out to The President's Salmon - feels like an especially a good time for writers to support one another.
mavensnotebook.com/2026/01/07/a...
mavensnotebook.com/2026/01/07/a...
madness.
Ontario officials mowed a resident’s #pollinator garden, saying it violated bylaws
But she identifies as an animist who believes in the “personhood and intrinsic value in all life-forms”
So, now the city is suing her for $400K but she's fighting back, saying they violated her freedom of religion:
But she identifies as an animist who believes in the “personhood and intrinsic value in all life-forms”
So, now the city is suing her for $400K but she's fighting back, saying they violated her freedom of religion:
The city ripped up a butterfly haven in this Burlington woman’s front yard. Now she’s in court fighting the move on religious grounds
Karen Barnes says the city’s actions have violated her constitutional rights to freedom of expression — and religion.
www.thestar.com
January 10, 2026 at 1:11 PM
madness.
Reposted by Catherine Schmitt
grateful for this elegy by Danez Smith
An Elegy for My Neighbor, Renee Nicole Good
Fellow poet Danez Smith memorializes the Minneapolis mother's call to witness
www.harpersbazaar.com
January 9, 2026 at 9:02 PM
grateful for this elegy by Danez Smith
Golf courses are often the only remaining large areas of green space/natural soil left in cities. Housing, sure, but also rewild the rest - with trails and bike paths.
When countless cities are suffering from a massive housing shortage, keeping existing urban golf courses in place is indefensible.
Seen here, the hole-in-one is transformed into housing, with the next phase of denser development on the right side set to begin in 2026.
Carmel, IN
Seen here, the hole-in-one is transformed into housing, with the next phase of denser development on the right side set to begin in 2026.
Carmel, IN
December 30, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Golf courses are often the only remaining large areas of green space/natural soil left in cities. Housing, sure, but also rewild the rest - with trails and bike paths.
Reposted by Catherine Schmitt
Each time we refuse, we make it easier for others (and ourselves) to refuse again. We can also make positive statements about what we value: authenticity, accountability, human connection, and credit where credit is due (e.g. to artists for their work).
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December 30, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Each time we refuse, we make it easier for others (and ourselves) to refuse again. We can also make positive statements about what we value: authenticity, accountability, human connection, and credit where credit is due (e.g. to artists for their work).
>>
>>
"Then something striking appears in the fossil record. After forests disappear, ferns suddenly become common... Their rise tells us that ecosystems were damaged, but not empty."
Sixty-six million years ago, an asteroid darkened the sky and collapsed food webs worldwide
Non-avian dinosaurs went extinct, but some birds, mammals, turtles, and fish survived
Why?
It wasn’t luck
It was biology
Join the Newsletter for more like this!
🧪 #SciComm #Paleontology
buff.ly/GfPnPW3
Non-avian dinosaurs went extinct, but some birds, mammals, turtles, and fish survived
Why?
It wasn’t luck
It was biology
Join the Newsletter for more like this!
🧪 #SciComm #Paleontology
buff.ly/GfPnPW3
How to Survive an Asteroid Impact
Lessons from the species that made it through Earth’s darkest months
climateages.substack.com
December 29, 2025 at 1:50 PM
"Then something striking appears in the fossil record. After forests disappear, ferns suddenly become common... Their rise tells us that ecosystems were damaged, but not empty."
Climate Adaptation Centers do some of the most relevant research, AND communicate it well. Their loss is already being felt here in the Northeast. #scicomm
You probably heard the US admin is threatening to break up the National Center for Atmospheric Research: but did you know they already froze funding for the 9 regional Climate Science Adaptation Centers? From tracking invasives to helping tribes with drought, here's why the CASCs matter ⬇️
From invasive species tracking to water security – what’s lost with federal funding cuts at US Climate Adaptation Science Centers
The people who manage America’s aquifers, wetlands, shorelines and recreation areas rely on federal science as they face new and rising risks in a changing climate.
theconversation.com
December 29, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Climate Adaptation Centers do some of the most relevant research, AND communicate it well. Their loss is already being felt here in the Northeast. #scicomm
Squid fingers! I'm celebrating #invertefest this year by sharing some invert stories from the archives. I was just telling a writer friend about this one yesterday.
seagrant.umaine.edu/2014/08/15/s...
seagrant.umaine.edu/2014/08/15/s...
Squid Fingers - Maine Sea Grant - University of Maine
by Catherine Schmitt While out on the Damariscotta River this morning in search of wild oysters at low tide (more on that story later), we came across this giant, gelatinous mass on the shore of Goose...
seagrant.umaine.edu
December 26, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Squid fingers! I'm celebrating #invertefest this year by sharing some invert stories from the archives. I was just telling a writer friend about this one yesterday.
seagrant.umaine.edu/2014/08/15/s...
seagrant.umaine.edu/2014/08/15/s...
Read for a first glimpse of the forthcoming TREES OF ACADIA - and what may have been my favorite chapter to write.
friendsofacadia.org/acadia-stori...
friendsofacadia.org/acadia-stori...
Acadia's Enduring Apple Trees - Friends of Acadia
friendsofacadia.org
December 22, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Read for a first glimpse of the forthcoming TREES OF ACADIA - and what may have been my favorite chapter to write.
friendsofacadia.org/acadia-stori...
friendsofacadia.org/acadia-stori...
Reposted by Catherine Schmitt
“What were once bedrock aspects of daily life & spirituality increasingly appear as infrastructure, background scenery, or vague environmental concern. Our lived relationship w/ rivers has, in a quiet but profound way, been deleted.”
— @andrewrypel.bsky.social
tnature.substack.com/p/no-one-tal...
— @andrewrypel.bsky.social
tnature.substack.com/p/no-one-tal...
No One Talks About Rivers Anymore
How modernity blinded our aquatic ancestry
tnature.substack.com
December 22, 2025 at 2:53 AM
“What were once bedrock aspects of daily life & spirituality increasingly appear as infrastructure, background scenery, or vague environmental concern. Our lived relationship w/ rivers has, in a quiet but profound way, been deleted.”
— @andrewrypel.bsky.social
tnature.substack.com/p/no-one-tal...
— @andrewrypel.bsky.social
tnature.substack.com/p/no-one-tal...
This preying on authors is getting annoying. Veg Society of DC Vegan Meetup should be paying me a "participation fee," not the other way around.
December 20, 2025 at 7:35 PM
This preying on authors is getting annoying. Veg Society of DC Vegan Meetup should be paying me a "participation fee," not the other way around.
These are my people! For my part, I did co-author, edit, and manage production of the Maine's Climate Future reports (2009-2020)...
Did you know climate work attracts Katharines? 116 of us on Bluesky alone!
(This pack includes all creative spelling variations although the original has two A’s, deriving from the Greek καθαρός 😊)
This is Day 8 of my 20 days of Climate Starter Packs. For the previous entries please see below ⬇️
(This pack includes all creative spelling variations although the original has two A’s, deriving from the Greek καθαρός 😊)
This is Day 8 of my 20 days of Climate Starter Packs. For the previous entries please see below ⬇️
December 20, 2025 at 5:22 PM
These are my people! For my part, I did co-author, edit, and manage production of the Maine's Climate Future reports (2009-2020)...
Reposted by Catherine Schmitt
Good set of #AGU25 talks this AM on establishing trust in an age of mistrust. Among the tips:
Be transparent
Be ethical
Acknowledge failures
Open data & methods to scrutiny
Separate assessments from policy
"Work must be visible, relatable & accessible to the people it serves" - Janice Lachance
Be transparent
Be ethical
Acknowledge failures
Open data & methods to scrutiny
Separate assessments from policy
"Work must be visible, relatable & accessible to the people it serves" - Janice Lachance
December 15, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Good set of #AGU25 talks this AM on establishing trust in an age of mistrust. Among the tips:
Be transparent
Be ethical
Acknowledge failures
Open data & methods to scrutiny
Separate assessments from policy
"Work must be visible, relatable & accessible to the people it serves" - Janice Lachance
Be transparent
Be ethical
Acknowledge failures
Open data & methods to scrutiny
Separate assessments from policy
"Work must be visible, relatable & accessible to the people it serves" - Janice Lachance
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.