What a Maine researcher has learned studying woodchucks for nearly 3 decades

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 19, 2026

Since 1998, University of Southern Maine professor Chris Maher has tagged over 600 woodchucks at Falmouth’s Gilsland Farm, tracking their behavior and genealogy. She’s been answering longstanding questions about the species. Not whether they’ll see their shadow on Feb. 2, and not how much wood they could chuck if they could chuck wood, but how and why they behave the way they do. “People kind of run this gamut between ‘I hate woodchucks, because they eat my garden, or they dig under my shed.’ Or they love woodchucks — chances are, those people don’t have a garden,” she said. Retirement is not too far off, and it doesn’t look like anyone else will be taking over the reins of the study from Maher.