New research shows that Mainers are most likely to encounter ticks while gardening and doing yard work. Don’t turn in your rake and spade just yet, though. Not only can you protect yourself from tick borne diseases, but you also can help contribute ticks to science. The Tick Lab in the new UMaine Cooperative Extension Diagnostic and Research Laboratory in Orono recently released the Maine Tick Surveillance Program Annual Report for 2019, a first-of-its-kind study looking at 2,697 ticks from 358 towns from each of the state’s 16 counties. In addition to looking at tick-borne pathogens, the study also looked at where and when people found ticks, as well as what they were doing when they encountered them.