Knots and Bolts Archive
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Maul vs. Axe
If you want to identify yourself as someone who knows nothing about the subject, announce that you’re headed out to the woodshed to chop some firewood. Chopping firewood went out of style with the crosscut saw and was sent into permanent exile by the chainsaw. As a method for obtaining firewood, chopping wood is terribly inefficient – nearly half the… (more)
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Correction
In our story, “Putting Wood in Your Gas Tank,” in the Spring 2006 issue, it was stated that the part of the corn plant that was being made into ethanol is the stover – the stalks and husks not used for food. Many hope that in the future stover will be used, but at the moment, it is the corn… (more)
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Getting a Fix on Declination
“You can’t get there from here” is a classic Yankee punchline, usually delivered at the end of a joke involving an old-timer, a bewildered tourist, and a location somewhere over hill and yon. But it could serve just as well to describe what happens when someone sets off in the woods with map, compass, and an incomplete understanding of magnetic… (more)
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The Outdoors Comes In
When summer downpours drive you indoors, or you’re weary from a day-hiking or canoeing, you might be surprised to find that the outdoors can be found inside, on a television station near you. In northern New England and New York, each of the four northernmost states now boasts at least one show that covers traditional and new recreation opportunities and… (more)
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Indian Pipe
An oddity in the plant world is the roughly one percent of plant species that do not manufacture their own carbohydrates via photosynthesis. Instead, these plants are parasites, stealing carbohydrates from other plants. Several of these unusual plants are found in the shade of the northern woodlands, and the most common and easily recognized is Indian pipe (Monotropa uniflora). The… (more)
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Against All Odds
Working as a consultant forester, I get to see some unusual things in the forest, but what I found last winter on a woodlot in Ludlow, Vermont, truly amazed me. This woodlot is owned by Charles Miller and was formerly managed by the late Myron Smith, my mentor and good friend. Myron often carried an axe with him and girdled… (more)
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Ben’s Bears Go High-Tech
Photo by Ben KilhamSquirty, sporting a GPS collar, pauses for a drink. She has remained near Kilham’s home since he “mothered” her in 1996.Tucked in the deep, hilly woods of west-central New Hampshire are several bears, and a man, who are famous by virtue of their relationship with one another. Mother Bear Man – aka Ben Kilham – and his… (more)
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The Greatest Good
The U.S. Forest Service has finalized its latest Forest Plan for the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire and Maine, and you can be excused for having missed it. Compared with the public scuffles over wilderness protection, ski area expansion, and timber production that surrounded previous plan updates, this new plan was adopted relatively quietly. Not everyone is completely… (more)
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The Current State of Current Use
The six New England states and New York each have some sort of property tax system in place specifically for owners of forestland. These programs are generally referred to as “current use” programs, meaning that they are designed to tax forestland on its current use (growing trees) rather than on its potential use (growing houses or other human infrastructure). A… (more)
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Downright Downeast
Of all the land conservation projects in the Northern Forest over the past two decades, the most hopeful might be the Downeast Lakes Forestry Partnership, which was concluded this past summer on 342,000 acres along the Maine/New Brunswick border. All too often, land conservation projects meet some stiff resistance, much of it local. Some have been portrayed as elitist efforts… (more)