People often tell us that they read each issue of Northern Woodlands cover-to-cover. I can relate. I was a cover-to-cover reader from the very first issue a friend placed in my hands, back in 2007. That was the year my twins were born, and I worked part time that summer as a docent at a museum and poetry center, a job that often lent itself to quiet moments of contemplative reading.
That was also the year I shifted from newspaper journalist to freelance writer, a role that better matched my time and energy in those earliest years of raising children. I was thrilled to land a feature story in Northern Woodlands some seven years after reading my first issue of the magazine. That article was about giant silk moths, an invasive fly that parasitizes them, and a neighbor named Lucy Golden who raises the moths from tiny eggs to caterpillars to cocoons (stored safely in her fridge through winter) to glorious adults. Lucy gave my kids a couple of cocoons that spring, and watching the moths slowly emerge – then setting them free outside – was something like magic.
In the time since, I’ve written more articles than I can remember, for both the magazine and for the organization’s weekly ecology series, The Outside Story. During my years as a freelance writer, Northern Woodlands was one of my favorite organizations to write for, mainly because the assignments allowed me to pursue my curiosity and to learn about so many things that might otherwise have remained simply questions in my mind. But also because the editors I worked with here helped me to move my writing toward better, to create work I was proud of.
I’ve written about a group of students in northern Vermont who built a timber frame replica of Thoreau’s cabin, merging English studies with lessons in natural resources and building trades; the incredible New England K-9 Search and Rescue dogs and their handlers; the good work of the folks at Kilham Bear Center and their state biologist partners; and the process behind the beautiful art created by longtime Northern Woodlands contributor Adelaide Murphy Tyrol. Through our Community Voices interview series, I’ve had the opportunity to talk with and learn from myriad people who are in some way – or many – connected to our forests, from logging truckers and horse loggers to educators, foresters, conservationists, and many more, including brothers Jay and James Clarke, featured in this issue (page 12).
Through editing the writing of our many contributors – for both the magazine and The Outside Story – I’ve learned about forest stewardship (page 20), invasive species (page 30), and some of our region’s incredible invertebrates, which Declan McCabe writes about so colorfully in each issue (including six-spotted tiger beetles, page 70). This issue also features the backstory of the long-running Maine Master Naturalist Program (page 48), an effort involving schoolchildren in Massachusetts helping turtles and learning about the natural history of their own neighborhoods in the process (page 40), and a Vermont business making wooden maps that connect people to special places (page 56). I hope the compilation of these stories and the others within the pages of this Spring issue will inform and inspire Northern Woodlands readers.
In my five years on the staff here, and as I have stepped into the role of editor these past few months, I’ve continued to pursue the two endeavors that drew me to this magazine and this organization: to keep learning – about forests, the communities living there, how we can best steward them, and our own personal connections – and to work with our contributors to piece together each issue in a way that is both informative and fascinating. I hope Northern Woodlands continues to be a magazine you want to read cover-to-cover.