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Lead Article
The Burning Question: Is Biomass Right for the Northeast?
Like a forest fire that appears to be contained before exploding into an inferno, biomass has gone from being a topic of interest primarily to foresters and energy experts to one that can draw hundreds of citizens, many with competing views, to public meetings and online forums. Massachusetts, where government officials are studying the implications of biomass before permitting any more power plants, is at the center of the blaze, whose flames have been fanned by competing and contradictory reports. Several studies promote biomass as a great opportunity for kicking the fossil habit, but the one grabbing headlines suggests that burning biomass can be worse than burning coal. In energy circles, biomass means burning plants for energy. Here in the Northeast, that means burning wood: cordwood for the stove, pellets… (more)
Featured Articles
Earning Its Keep: Finding Sources of Income from Your Land
There was a time when people who lived in rural areas and owned acreage made their living from the land. Subsistence living was neither an alternative lifestyle nor a quaint anachronism. It was what people did. Today, the reasons for living out in the boonies are different. The peace and quiet of country life, the opportunity to regularly see foxes,… (more)
Bats on the Brink: White-nose syndrome hits home
If this story were a movie, it might best begin with a flashback. After the opening credits, perhaps backed by an ominous soundtrack, we’d be transported back two years, to a happier time before white-nose syndrome had wiped out roughly 90 percent of the local bat population. It is September 2007, and Scott Darling, the bat biologist for Vermont’s Fish… (more)
The Outside Story
Avoiding Rash Decisions
“Plants are in the business of making themselves inedible,” says Tom Vogelmann, a plant biologist at the University of Vermont. Being unable to run and hide from predators, they’ve spent millions of years figuring out other ways to fight back.… (more)
Editor’s Blog
From the Archive
Managing a Mosaic Forest
According to traditional forestry, there are two kinds of forests. Every forest you step into can be categorized as either even-aged or uneven-aged. But most foresters regularly come across woodlots that don’t neatly fit into either of those two pigeonholes, and they can be left scratching their heads over how to manage them. When a forester creates a management plan… (more)