MAINE PUBLIC • April 28, 2021
Maine's wild blueberry barrens are warming faster than the rest of the state according to a new study by scientists at the University of Maine. It found that across 26 wild blueberry fields in Washington and Hancock counties, the maximum recorded air temperature over the last 40 years had risen by about 1.2 degrees Celsius, while elsewhere in the state, the temperature had risen by less than a degree during the same period. The researchers also found that, the closer the field was to the coast, the more severe the warming effect. It's not clear what effect higher ambient temperatures might have on the blueberries.