Testimony to the EPA regarding carbon pollution impacts on New 

Hampshire Fish and Wildlife. May 24, 20012. 

Good afternoon my name is Eric Orff from Epsom New Hampshire. I am a 

certified wildlife biologist and currently work as a consultant to the National 

Wildlife Federation. I am also a Fish and Game Commissioner. I serve on a 

voluntary board of 11 commissioners appointed by the Governor to oversee 

the Fish and Game Department. 

I have had a four decade long career as wildlife biologist, serving over 31 

years as a wildlife biologist for the New Hampshire Fish and Game 

Department, until my retirement in June of2007. I was the state's first black 

bear biologist beginning in 1978 and soon thereafter the furbearer biologist 

as well. 

In my lifetime of living 50 of my 62 years in New Hampshire I have seen 

winter disappear. When my family moved from Maine to New Hampshire in 

1962 I soon discovered a local marsh called Little Cohas March created by 

the Fish and Game Department in the 1950's to bolster duck populations. I 

also discovered duck nesting boxes placed there by the Department to 

bolster the cavity nesting ducks. By 1965 I joined the local Fish and Game 

Club and convinced them to fund a project to allow me to build a dozen 

more boxes to add to the march. I began to check them each winter. My 

parents bought me snowshoes for Christmas 1964 so I could travel to the 

marsh in the deep snow. I regularly checked the boxes each winter for signs 

of nesting ducks. 

By the mid 1980's I also became the Regional Wildlife Biologist and one of 

my assigned duties was to .... Check the Department's duck nesting boxes at 

Little Cohas March. I was actually paid to do what I wanted most to do as a 

teen! Here again the snow was deep and through the 1980's I used a snow 

machine or snow shoes to hike the mile long marsh. By the mid 1990's the 

snow was gone most winters. So I used a wheeled ATV to get around the 

marsh. By the early 2000's the ice was not safe enough to use a machine 

anymore. The last winter I was supposed to check the boxes in January 

2007, there was no ice. In fact there was no safe ice that winter at all. 

In three of the last five winters there has been little safe ice on Little Cohas 

Marsh. Winter has disappeared from southern New Hampshire in my life 

time. 
These unusually warm winters has raised havoc on our moose as well. These 

same too warm winters are killing off our moose with spikes in moose 

winter ticks. The moose population has declined some 40 percent the last 6 

years from about 7,500 moose to only 4,500 today. In the mean time the Fish 

and Game Department has had to cut moose hunting permit numbers by 60 

percent. 

My decades long observations have seen waterfowl populations migrating to 

the state latter each fall. Consequently duck seasons have had to be adjusted 

later by demand of the New Hampshire duck hunters. We have bears active 

all winter long now, something not seen in the first two decades of my career 

as a bear biologist. Imagine insomniac bears! 

The lack of snow and ice this past winter devastated New Hampshire 

outdoor businesses. Ice fishing equipment sales were off some 60 percent 

based on some sport shop owners I have known for decades. And the local 

snow machine dealer in my town told me her business was off over 50 

percent this past winter. 

Carbon pollution is impacting much of New Hampshire's fish and wildlife 

and the businesses that depend on our winters. I urge you to curb carbon 

pollution. 

Eric Orff, wildlife biologist 

Epsom, NH 

eorff@aol.com 

603-736-4663 
Dear Senator/Congressman: 

Clean water and air are critical for my New Hampshire business. I own and operate the 

largest New Hampshire sporting goods store that caters specifically tothis state's hunters 

and fishermen. We have been in business for over forty years. 

Thankfully this state has been aggressive in reducing mercury that impacts both our 

freshwater and salt water fish. In 2010 twenty-five percent of the freshwater fish tested 

had such high mercury levels that it would put a young child at risk of eating them. 

Now our too warm winters and subsequent high moose tick numbers have caused a 

dramatic decline in our moose numbers, down some forty percent from 7,000 to 4,000 in 

the last seven years. Moose hunter permits have dropped sixty percent from 675 in 2007 

to only 275 to be issued this year. The lack of ice for our fishermen this past winter 

significantly impacted my business as well. 

I would ask that you support efforts in Congress to reduce air pollution that is impacting 

our fish and wildlife. Mercury pollution and a warming climate need to be addressed at 

the national level. I ask that you support legislation or EPA rules that curb this pollution. 

Sue Wood 

Wildlife Sports and Taxidermy 

Manchester, NH 

~~n7vJ~. 
Senator Kelly Ayotte: 

The Pointer Fish and Game Club of Bedford has over 500 members. We have long 

supported conservation efforts that have restored fish and wildlife populations in New 

Hampshire. 

Now, we ask that you support the EPA's efforts to clean our air. Mercury is a well known 

pollution affecting especially our fish. This state had moved ahead to reduce mercury by 

requiring the scrubber on the Bow Power Plant. We have learned that this effort has 

reduced mercury levels by about 98 percent. We urge you to support an effort to move 

the whole nation forward on reducing mercury levels. 

Secondly we have learned that other air pollution is causing our winters to wann and this 

is greatly impacting our moose. Moose numbers are down about 40 percent the last six 

years due to too wann winters and the moose ticks that are rising in numbers killing off 

our moose. As it now stands the moose hunter permits have been reduced some 60 

percent the last six years because of the moose die off. 

This past winter was so warm that our winter ice fishing events were difficult to hold. 

Businesses like our local sport shops and snow machine dealers really took a fmancial hit 

this winter. 

Please support the EPA's effort to reduce pollution that is hurting out fish and wildlife. 

/ ·. J ./ Sincerely . ~;J.' 

/ . fZI/It j-<. 'P~ £ack elanger 

President of Pointer Fish and Game Club 

(603) 345-4853 

CELL 

JACK BELANGER 

President 

www.pfgc.org 

(603) 472-5936 

HOME 

f' 0. BOX .1424 

MANCHESTER. N.H. 03108 
------------- - ----- ------------------------------------~ 

Senator Kelly Ayotte: 

My name is Buck Mercier. I have been a New Hampshire bear and moose guide for 

decades. I am very concerned with the recent reports of moose die offs because our 

winters are too warm. Moose tick numbers are so high that our moose can no longer 

survive. Recently !learned that our moose population has declined from 7,000 moose in 

2006 to only about 4,000 moose now. As a result moose hunter permits numbers have 

been reduced to only 275 for this year, which is do\~TI 60 percent from what they were 

five years ago. 

I ask that you support the EPA's efforts to reduce the air pollution that is cause our 

winters to be too warm. 
Senator Kelly Ayotte: 

My name is Karen Courchesne from Hooksett. My husband Steve and I have been a New 

Hampshire bear, deer and moose guides for decades. We are very concerned with the 

recent reports of moose die offs because our winters are too wam1. Moose tick numbers 

are so high that our moose can no longer survive. Recently I learned that our moose 

population has declined from 7,000 moose in 2006 to only about 4,000 moose now. As a 

result moose hunter permits numbers have been reduced to only 275 for this year, which 

is dovm 60 percent from what they were five years ago. 

We also own a bait shop in Hooksett and cater to this state's ice fishermen. What a bust 

last winter was. There was hardly any safe ice anywhere. Our business took a beating due 

to ilie lack of ice. And it wasn'tjust last winter that was like that. We have been impacted 

by poor ice for about half of the winters iliis last decade. We used to be able to count on 

winter ice fishermen. Now we can't. Our winters are way to warm oflate. 

We ask that you support the EPA's efforts to reduce the air pollution that is causing our 

winters to be too warm. 

Thank you. 

Karen and Steve Courchesne 

Hooksett, NH 
Dear Senator Shaheen: 

My family has owned and operated a small business near the shores of Great Bay for half 

a century. We are a convenience store as well as a sport shop providing services to 

seacoast families and sportsmen and women. 

Our business has come to rely on our traditional New Hampshire winters to supply local 

sportsmen and women with their needs for ice fishing, particularly for smelt fishermen on 

Great Bay and its tributaries. 

For decades of our business we could count on our winters and ice on the Bay and the 

rivers. But the last decade things have dramatically changed. We find that we can no 

longer count on winter here on the coast, or the legions of fishermen who have supported 

our business. Climate change is real for us and this last winter was a disaster. Our 

business was off by over fifty percent. During the last decade winter as usual and the ice 

we all depend upon has been absent nearly half the winters with this past winter the worst 

ever. No one can remember a winter when there were not at least a few days of safe ice 

on Great Bay. But this past winter, there were none. There was not even any safe ice on 

the Exeter, Oyster or Lamprey Rivers. 

We need to order our winter ice fishing supplies well in advance of winter, and here, yet 

again, we are left with much of our inventory, an investment that a small business like 

ours can ill afford. 

I ask that you support the EPA's efforts to curb air pollution that is causing our climate to 

warm as well as any other legislation supporting a reduction in carbon. 

Jason MacKenzie 

Suds N' Soda Sport Shop 

enland, NH 
If Only Moose Could Vote. 

If only a moose could vote. I would vote for clean air and the new Carbon Rule which is 

part of the Clean Air Act. You see New Hampshire moose are in trouble, real trouble. In 

fact we have been for some time now. Air pollution is delivering a one-two pu,nch to us. 

This all started back some twenty years ago when humans first realized that their air 

pollution, including acid rain and air pollution like mercury and cadmium, was 

accumulating in our bodies. You know the stuff you shoot up into the atmosphere from 

coal fired power plants and similar dirty factories. It didn't take you long to fmd out that 

me and my cousin, whitetail deer, had accumulated this toxic brew in our livers and other 

organs. Yes, you have poisoned us enough to make us too toxic for you to eat part of us. 

You humans have depended on moose and deer for food and clothing since the beginning 

of time. And this is how you repay us? 

Now this same pollution is causing the earth's temperature to rise. You call it climate 

change or global warming. We call it the kiss of death. To put this all into perspective 

lets look back a few decades. We moose were practically gone by 190 I when we first 

received protection from unregulated hunting. And from fewer than 50 moose by the mid 

1900's we thrived and grew in numbers. By 1988 the first hunting season was established 

with only 75 hunting permits allocated. And still we thrived and grew in numbers. Moose 

hunting permits numbers followed us up as our numbers grew. By 1991 100 permits were 

issued. Our numbers grew even more, and by 1997, 570 permits were then issued. But the 

earth was warming, increasing on average one degree each decade since 1970. Yet our 

numbers continued to grow as did the moose permit numbers. Yet things were changing 

as our winters warmed. Our nemesis the moose ticks were growing in numbers with ever 

warmer winters. By 2005 moose numbers grew to some 7,000 in New Hampshire. And 

hunting permits swelled to 675 by 2006. But then came even warmer winters which 

really caused moose tick numbers to thrive. 

Most years a moose like me can live with upwards of30,000 of these winter ticks biting, 

itching and burrowing into my flesh as they suck my blood. But given the extremely 

warm winters oflate, due to all that air pollution, tick numbers have swelled to 

sometimes 160,000 ticks on a moose like me. This is a number that kills us, slowly as we 

scratch and rub ourselves against trees to try to scrap the tens of thousands of ticks off 

along with our protective fur. Then we slowly suffer and die of hypothermia. 

By 2007, another unusually warm winter, moose numbers began to fall to an estimated 

population of only 5,500. And with that downturn in our numbers the moose hunting 

permit numbers were reduced to only 515 for 2008 and 2009 hunting seasons. This was 

followed by more declines in moose numbers and permits the following two years of only 

3 95 permits. 

New Hampshire Fish and Game moose biologist Kristine Rines figures that upwards of 

40 percent of moose mortality is from winter ticks on average. But a winter like 2010, 

which was extremely mild, Kristine estimated over 2 0 percent of us adult moose and all 

our calves died the following winter, 2 Oil, from winter ticks. 
Now going into the 2012 season Kristine estimates that our moose population is closer to 

4,000. And hunters will see a much further reduction in moose permits to only 275 

permits to be issued for 2012 and 2013. 

So thanks to a warming climate, especially too warm winters resulting in a scourge of 

winter ticks, our moose numbers have fallen from 7,000 moose to fewer than 4,000 

today, a 40 percent decline. Moose hunter permits will have fallen 60 percent from 675 to 

275 for the 2012 season. A recent quote in the Northern Woodlands magazine by Kristine 

Rines said "Moose are facing a triple threat in our changing climate. Increasing 

temperatures, changing forest species and increased mortality due to parasites may make 

it very hard to maintain a viable moose population in New Hampshire in the future." 

And it is not just in New Hampshire that moose populations are being affected by too 

warm winters. In northern Minnesota moose numbers are down some 90 percent as the 

winters there have warmed about four degrees on average over the last three decades. 

Maine moose too seem to be taking a hit from high winter tick numbers. Maine shed 

hunters reported discovering hundreds of dead moose there last spring as well. 

Could New Hqampshire's moose be essentially gone within another decade? If only 

moose could vote. I would vote to support the Environmental Protection Agencies efforts 

to curb air pollution like mercury, cadmium, arsenic and carbon. I would vote for our 

senators and congressmen who support the new Carbon Rule part of the Clean Air Act. I 

would call them to ask for their support. Until you see my stubby tail sticking out of the 

voting booth next to you, can I count on you? Can I count on your votes and calls to 

support the Clean Air Act? I'm counting on you. (To learn more go to: 

http://www.nwf.org/cleanair) 

Eric Orff 

Wildlife biologist 

Epsom,NH