I did hike up to Rumford Whitecap today (7/21) to check out the blueberry crop. Unlike the last few years, it looks like the late spring pushed them back on schedule. I did find plenty of blueberries to pick but there are plenty that are not ripe yet. I picked my traditional 2 gallons, with one of them coming out of one 10' by 30' patch. Most of the varieties are present but the black shiny variety were pretty slim.
There are plenty of berries and more prolific than any other wild low bush blueberry summit but I am starting to wonder if my speculation that the mill in Berlin used to contribute to the bumper crops when I first started going there?. Wild blueberries require very acidic soil and up until 1991 Berlin was a big source of SO2 and NOx upwind which converts to an acid aerosol in the stack plume. Rumford White Cap is roughly east of the former pulp mill. The emissions were substantially less from 1991 to 2006 but after that the pulp mill was long gone. I dont think I have seen a bumper crop like before for at least 15 years. Overall acid rain has been dropping in New England for 20 years so it just could be coincidental.
It was hot and muggy in the AM but drier and breezier up top. When I came down it was lot more comfortable. I did get hit with one spot shower and there was a longer one just as I got back to my car.
There are plenty of berries and more prolific than any other wild low bush blueberry summit but I am starting to wonder if my speculation that the mill in Berlin used to contribute to the bumper crops when I first started going there?. Wild blueberries require very acidic soil and up until 1991 Berlin was a big source of SO2 and NOx upwind which converts to an acid aerosol in the stack plume. Rumford White Cap is roughly east of the former pulp mill. The emissions were substantially less from 1991 to 2006 but after that the pulp mill was long gone. I dont think I have seen a bumper crop like before for at least 15 years. Overall acid rain has been dropping in New England for 20 years so it just could be coincidental.
It was hot and muggy in the AM but drier and breezier up top. When I came down it was lot more comfortable. I did get hit with one spot shower and there was a longer one just as I got back to my car.
