Letters to the Editors - Autumn 2007
True Woodsman
To the Editors:
Thank you for The Long View editorial featuring Norm Lake and the enthusiasm he had for growing trees for over sixty years in his Grafton, Vermont, woods. Norm’s love for the forest and success in working in it was recognized when one of his woodlots was named Vermont’s Outstanding Tree Farm in 1972.
Norm was a long time member of the Tree Farm Program and a founding member of the Windham County Woodland Owners Association (WOA) in 1950. Former County Forester Gil Cameron, who knew Norm well and marked many trees for him, remembers him as “a really nice person, well liked by everyone, and a logger at heart who was absolutely honest in his dealings with people in his woods work.”
As a memorial to Norm, $1,200 has been contributed by family members and friends to WOA’s scholarship fund. This fund provides scholarship support in the amount of two and sometimes three $1,500 scholarships each year to young people who are looking forward to a career in forestry or a related natural resource field. This is a fitting and long lasting recognition of a man who enjoyed spending much of his life in the woods.
WOA is a volunteer non-profit association. It now has a membership of some 400 woodland owners, managers, members of the wood products industry, and others who advocate both sustainable management practices and the enjoyment of forests and their ecosystems. WOA offers a variety of educational opportunities to all age groups. For more information contact Carol Morrison, Clerk, WOA, 11 University Way, Brattleboro, VT 05301. Tel.: 802-2577967, ext, 12 . Email: .
Bill Schmidt, Dummerston, Vermont
↑ top
Forsake the Stakes
To the Editors:
Since I’ve heard conflicting stories about staking newly planted trees, I was very interested in Michael Snyder’s article (Summer ‘07), “Is It Best to Stake and Tie Newly Planted Trees?”
Last spring the president of Dartmouth Printing Company (which prints Northern Woodlands, by the way) retired after 36 years of distinguished leadership. The folks within our customer service department decided to plant a tree as an enduring sign of appreciation for his many years of company stewardship. After much discussion, we finally chose a red maple (Acer rubrum). The tree was planted and staked by a local nursery.
Meanwhile, my wife and I had purchased a reproduction antique cape. Since the home was relatively new, the existing landscaping was minimal; however, there was lots of open space and lawn just waiting for trees to be planted. I really like the look of a well-maintained older home surrounded by sugar maples (Acer saccharum), and I couldn’t resist planting three of these wonderful trees between the stone wall and the house. When I purchased the trees from a local nursery I was told to make sure to stake each one at three points to ensure proper root growth and protection against the wind. I had thought that staking them was a mistake, that it was better to let them mature naturally, but here was more professional (conventional) advice to stake them.
So I did, but with stainless steel tent stakes that could be sunk in the soil and with lines that could be easily removed. I would only attach the support lines if strong weather was predicted; otherwise I would allow the trees to grow on their own, and I could easily mow over the stakes. I think my wife had other thoughts about my mental stability. Each time a summer storm approached I would rush about tying off the trees to the invisible stakes. In addition there were my questions to her about whether she agreed with me that it would be a good idea to stake the trees before leaving for vacation or a business trip.
Once I read Michael Snyder’s article, I knew what I had to do. First I had to tell my wife my initial impulse not to stake was right, and ask her to read the article. The next was to cut the plastic strapping and pull the stakes surrounding the most important tree in front of Dartmouth Printing. The third was to permanently remove the hidden tent stakes surrounding my home’s most valuable trees.
Northern Woodlands is an important resource for industry professionals. It’s also a wonderful resource for those of us who are interested in learning more about how we can support our part of the environment. Thanks very much for the great job you do.
Robert Birdsey, Hanover, New Hampshire
↑ top
Hickory and Bats (Not Baseball, but Indiana)
To the Editors:
As is always the case, Virginia Barlow’s “Species in the Spotlight,” this time with its focus on shagbark hickory, provides a wealth of informational tidbits. My collection of these single-species pages over the years is now a formidable booklet on its own.
May I add in one bit of interesting information that greatly enhances the importance of this species, at least for the Champlain Basin? Here it is relatively common as a component of the clayplain forest communities, and on dry south and west hill sites. Bats use the crevasses under the shaggy bark segments as summer “nesting” sites for raising their young, starting in mid-May. This is a critical habitat element, especially for the Indiana bat, an endangered species that winters in caves and mine shafts. Due to its endangered listing, this small creature has become of significance in forest harvesting plans on the Green Mountain National Forest.
Lawrence S. Hamilton, Charlotte, Vermont
↑ top
Hooting and Hollering
To the Editors:
Bravo, Dave Mance III, for thoroughly demolishing, in the Spring ‘07 issue, the myth that black bears hoot. I grew up in the Champlain Valley, where bears were virtually nonexistent at the time, so my first contact with this particular myth came in 1959.
I was marking timber on the Mount Mansfield State Forest, and in late afternoon could hear what I assumed were barred owls calling from across the valley. However, a fellow forester assured me that I was actually hearing bears. When I demurred, and said that they sounded like owls to me, he replied, “Well, they do sound a lot like owls, but if you listen carefully, you can hear a slight difference.” I accepted this bit of wisdom – more or less – but was frustrated by the fact that I couldn’t hear any difference, slight or otherwise.
There the matter rested for a long time until I had a conversation with Charlie Willey, who was the bear specialist for the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department for many years. I was discussing with him my plans to write a book about wildlife myths, and Charlie said, “ I hope that one myth you’ll set straight is the one that bears hoot!” “You mean they don’t?” I responded, and he informed me that no reputable biologist, scientist, or research worker familiar with black bears had ever seen one hoot. I was extraordinarily relieved, because I had never been able to distinguish the supposed difference between bear hoots and the vocalizations of the barred owl.
Subsequently, while doing research for my book, I talked with a number of leading black bear authorities in North America. Biologists in New Hampshire said that the myth was common there, though not as prevalent as in Vermont. Maine biologists said that they only occasionally encountered this myth. Bear experts everywhere else expressed astonishment at the notion that black bears hoot, and said they had never heard of such a thing. Clearly this myth is rooted most strongly in Vermont, with New Hampshire a close second.
Trying to convince some believers that black bears don’t hoot, however, is an impossible task, no matter how much evidence to the contrary is presented to them. They “know” that black bears hoot, and cling to that belief with a tenacity that makes religious fundamentalists look like indecisive wimps!
Warner Shedd, East Calais, Vermont
↑ top
Expanded View of Thinning?
To the Editors:
In the Summer ‘07 issue, in the “Managing a Mosaic Forest” article, Irwin Post describes thinning as “not simply the practice of cutting a few trees rather than all the trees – thinning is a silvicultural practice undertaken only in even-aged stands.” While this is true, it is important to note that not all thinning within an even-aged stand leads to a management of trees being grown like “a corn field except with a longer time frame.”
Here in the Pacific Northwest, in some Forest Service timber sales, variable-density thinning is used to introduce structural diversity into even-aged plantations in order to move those stands into an uneven-aged forest trajectory. By varying the tree spacing or density, including no-cut skips and full-cut gaps of various sizes, differing competition for resources results in trees growing at different rates. Variable-density thinning, coupled with retention of minor tree species and retention of snags and large downed wood, yields a profitable timber sale and a more diverse forest. While the initial result remains even-aged (and akin to the mosaic stands that Post described), the forest is being managed to return it to an uneven-aged state.
Why bring up this point about thinning at all? As Post put it, “It is important to remember that language puts blinders on people and limits both what is seen on the ground and in perceived management options.” I grew up in New England and I would not want any option for our forests to be lost due to a linguist blinder.
Charlie Ferranti, Portland, Oregon
We asked Irwin Post to respond to this letter. He writes:
From a technical silvicultural perspective, there isn’t yet any language to describe transitional harvests when trying to change an even-aged stand into an uneven-aged. In fact, until fairly recently, most foresters would question why you’d want to make the transition; after all, even aged stands are far easier to manage and are generally thought to produce more fiber per year. In the harvests that Charlie Ferranti is referring to, I suppose variable-density thinning could be a description of what they are doing in the first cut, but then what do you call the next cut? Furthermore, “thinning” in the silvicultural sense implies there will be a final cut and stand regeneration, but this is not the plan when the goal is an uneven-aged stand. And so, as I stated in the article, we need a language to describe the types of cuts that might be used in a mosaic stand and in creating a mosaic stand.
I know it can seem that I’m getting bogged down in semantics, but we can’t communicate very well about silviculture if the same word means very different things to different people. So far the forestry profession has, to the best of my knowledge, proclaimed that “thinning” only applies to even-aged management.
↑ top
A True Woodsman
To the Editors:
Thank you for your article about Norm Lake. We have lost a true woodsman with his passing. Because my father had been friends with Norm from boyhood, I had the privilege of knowing him, too. Norm first logged my family’s land in Marlboro, Vermont, in the 1950s. Because the commute from Grafton to Marlboro in those days was difficult in winter, Norm moved into our unoccupied, uninsulated old house in Marlboro for the duration of the job, with his wife Joan and two young sons who were the same ages as my brother and me. Just cutting wood to keep that place warm was a major task.
I remember my father explaining how Norm’s modern methods actually improved the quality and volume of future growth. But I also remember that one of the secrets of Norm’s soft touch in the woods was a horse named Dan – logging with horses was considered old-fashioned by that time. Dan dragged logs from the stump to Norm’s little crawler, guided only by verbal command, allowing one man to stay at the tractor unhitching, while another prepared the next log. How that horse could thread a log through the woods without a driver was a tale my parents repeated over and over.
Norm’s horse provided the occasion for a legendary family event, the last sleigh ride in the past 50 years. Norm examined our old sleigh, which had been tucked in the hayloft and used only by children on fantasy sleigh rides since at least the thirties. We loved to jump on the sturdy bed of the sleigh and hear the sleigh bells on the poles ring. He declared the antique sleigh fully functional and wrestled it out of the barn with the help of his men. Thus my five siblings and I, on a visit from “the city” along with Norm’s sons, were treated to a classic winter sleigh ride.
Growing up, I enjoyed the Lake family’s warm hospitality when we stayed at their house in deer season. Over the years, I benefited from Norm’s occasional quiet lessons about working in the woods and keeping machines running. Norm was a patient man (as a true woodsman must be) with a wonderful sense of humor. He will be remembered as a family friend, role model, and a pioneer in modern forestry and woodlot stewardship.
Roger Wilson, Winchester, Massachusetts
↑ top
