Outside Story - Archive
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For Peat’s Sake
April 07, 2008
In 1848, workers constructing the railroad line from Bellows Falls to Rutland, Vermont, found the remains of a mastodon buried 11 feet deep in a Mount Holly bog. One tusk was nearly eight feet long. Seventeen years later, farmhands working a peat bog in Brattleboro struck part of a mastodon tusk that measured four feet long and 18 inches around. …
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The Scoop on Poop
March 31, 2008
Veterinarians pay attention to it. So do animal trackers. If you own a pet, you are probably paying attention, too, because you have to clean it up. Yes, I’m talking about poop, scat, feces, or number two. Push your cornflakes aside for just three minutes, because poop humbly tells us something about the overlooked creatures in our landscape (but you …
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Crossing to Safety
March 24, 2008
Why did the animal cross the road?
The yellow sign, familiar to many, proclaims “Moose Crossing.” But, we wonder, how can anyone predict that a moose would cross at this particular spot, among miles of similar-looking road on either side?
Surprisingly, an animal crossing a road is rarely an arbitrary event. And to understand why road crossings deserve …
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Hearing a Peep
March 17, 2008
It’s a warm evening, and the only signs of snow are the eroding piles beside the driveway. Down in the valley, there is a chorus erupting, and up on the hill in a pond, another is just beginning to call. The spring peepers are in stereo. Spring has finally sprung.
The cacophony is emanating from hundreds of male spring peepers. …
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High-Jumpers
March 10, 2008
With winter breaking up and spring on its way, I spied a small pool of water glinting in the sunlight where meltwater seeps across a meadow. The pool’s surface was speckled by hordes of blue-black motes, lending a sooty texture to the water.
I bent to inspect. Instantly, the specks vanished, only to reappear a foot or two …
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Woodcocks in Mudtime
March 03, 2008
When mud season arrives, I go out at sunset wearing khakis and a brown-checked jacket. I wait in the brush of a hedgerow that trails down to a wet meadow. The sky turns salmon, then fades to gray as stars begin to flicker.
From the edge of the field comes a ventriloquist-like series of peents that are repeated just seconds …
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Bird-feeder Management
February 25, 2008
With a small investment in feeders and seed, we can attract colorful visitors throughout the stark, white winter. But feeders can also attract a number of uninvited guests to the table.
Bird seed is fat- and protein-rich, two attributes in high demand over the metabolically challenging season of snow and scarcity. Feeding party-crashers can be costly and irritating, but …
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Increasing the Value of a Penny
February 18, 2008
Counting trees accurately is an essential skill for people working in the woods. Does a woodlot contain valuable timber? Are the trees growing densely or sparsely? Which tree species are dominant?
A forester or logger needs to be able to make these assessments accurately and quickly. But as you might guess, these professionals don’t count every single tree. Instead, …
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Sugar Maples in Good Shape
February 11, 2008
The whir of drills and the tap of hammers will soon be resonating from sugarbushes. Clouds of roiling steam and the first waft of fresh syrup won’t be far behind. As the 2008 season kicks off, how are our sugar maples doing? Are the trees healthy these days?
The answer is yes.
How do we know? All 9.3 million acres …
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Zoning Out to a Changing Climate
February 04, 2008
Quick – what hardiness zone are you in?
If you happen to be a farmer or gardener, you’ll know the answer right off the bat, and it will probably be “four” if you live in New Hampshire or Vermont.
Then again, maybe it won’t. Have you checked the map recently?
We’re talking about the “Plant Hardiness Zone Map,” which was …
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