Congratulations to Land for Maine’s Future program for its acquisition of the Cold Stream forest project. This 8,000-acre parcel near The Forks will serve as the program’s first project protecting wildlife, and particularly wild brook trout, habitat.

Unfortunately, this effort is occurring in an era of rapid climate change, with a forecasted rate of change between 10 and 100 times faster than the closeout of the last ice age.

Wildlife responds to rapid climate change by moving either towards the poles or to higher elevations. A recent worldwide compilation of 1,367 studies of animal and plant migrations, including butterflies, reptiles and birds, found migration rates averaging 10 miles per decade.

That doesn’t mean that individual animals migrate at that rate. Instead, the distribution of a species as a whole is moving. That’s true for plants too. It’s all about chasing ecological sweet spots — “Goldilocks” niches with just right temperatures, seasonal rhythm and food sources — as they keep drifting further north (or south or farther up the slopes) in the face of climate change. Many species unable to adapt risk extinction.

The problem with a single wildlife management parcel, like Cold Stream, is that it is static, while the migration is not.

So what’s to be done? We must put a stop to climate change. We must soon stop burning coal, oil and natural gas and leaking methane from various sources. All increase the greenhouse effect that leads to climate change and global warming. The most effective way is to put a price on those fuels.

Congress could do so with a program called Carbon Fee and Dividend that would also build the economy and add jobs in various sectors including renewable energy. And it will take you and me to persuade Congress to take action on climate change.

Peter Garrett, Ph.D.

Winslow