BDN cites UMaine experts in article on climate change in The County

University of Maine agriculture professor Susan Erich, biology professor Emeritus George Jacobson, paleoecologist Jacquelyn Gill and Climate Change Institute data all were sources for a Bangor Daily News article on how climate change could impact Aroostook County.

Hardiness zones, calculated by using the average lowest winter temperatures, have been moving north in recent decades. In 2006, much of central and southern Aroostook County had moved from zone 3 to zone 4, according to the article. Scientists expect the zones to keep migrating north and by 2100 they say there could be a 5–10 degree Fahrenheit increase in average temperature — which will impact farms, forests and people.

Erich said farmers in northern Maine should expect more unpredictability. Gill said 10 degrees Fahrenheit is about the difference between average global temperatures now and during the last Ice Age. “The planet notices,” Gill said.