On the New England breakfast table, two things reign supreme: coffee and maple syrup. No stack of pancakes would be complete without a cascade of Grade A and a hot cup of joe – but the…
Articles
Creating Complex Early Successional Forest
Forest succession is the process of forest development, a series of stages through which forests progress, each stage following – succeeding – the last. It is tempting to think of…
From the Center
Roger Damon served more than 48 years on the Mount Washington Volunteer Ski Patrol, but he didn’t know that we would be publishing a photo essay in this issue focused on the Mount…
Editor’s Note
Last winter, I joined a friend on a walk at the Maine Forest and Logging Museum trails at Leonard’s Mills in Bradley, Maine. It was a perfect winter day, just cold enough to make our…
Restored Lombard Log Hauler Helps Bring Maine History to Life
The Maine Forest and Logging Museum at Leonard’s Mills in Bradley, Maine, celebrates the woods craft and ways of life of colonists in Maine’s North Woods from the late 1700’s…
The Lombard Log Hauler
Imagine this, once upon a time in the Maine Woods.... On a bitter cold day in the winter of 1912 near Ross Lake in northern Maine, Si Walsh stepped up to the steering box at the front of the…
A New Resource to Support Rural Black Landowners
This past June, a team from Cornell University and the University of Massachusetts Amherst completed an outreach publication focused on the experiences and insights of five rural Black…
Green Woods, Clear Waters
Maintaining Vital Connections within the Lake Champlain Watershed
Caleb Kenna has been photographing Vermont’s people and landscape for 25 years. In this visual exploration, Kenna spotlights a few of the many waterways that feed into Lake Champlain.…
Keeping Dead Wood
Dead wood, also called woody debris, woody material, or even necromass, is a normal and natural part of forests. Dead wood takes a number of forms, from dead-standing trees (snags) to twigs…
Isopods: Crustaceans in the Forest
If you look beneath the damp undersides of cardboard and other packing materials, you’re likely to find tiny creatures that typically hide under fallen leaves and rotting wood, where…
Finding Solace in the Woods of Maine
Eight men living with cancer were lined up in the waters of Grand Lake Stream alongside their fishing guides. The swirling, restorative currents of the stream braided together the lives of…
New Techniques Aid Conservation of Freshwater Mussels
The yellow lampmussel (Lampsilis cariosa) is a freshwater mussel native to medium and large rivers and lakes throughout New England, including the Connecticut River and Housatonic River…
The Little-known Wonders of Avian Molt
Feathers are the single, universal feature that distinguishes birds from all other creatures in the animal kingdom. These wondrous structures, among nature’s strongest and most durable…
Butternuts
When I was young, my grandfather’s driveway was overshadowed by a massive butternut tree (Juglans cinerea) that grew in his neighbor’s yard. Grandpa complained loudly about the…
Art Review: Jeffrey Peacock
Jeffrey Peacock learned to fish alongside his artist father, James, on the rivers and lakes of Maine, most memorably on the Kennebec in Georgetown. Following his father’s artistic…
Building an Axe Rack
A few Northern Woodlands readers have confessed privately that what started as the innocent acquisition of an old axe has evolved into a full-blown obsession. Like any obsession, management is…
Landscape of the Heart
Driving through a broad valley in western Idaho eight years ago, my daughter turned toward me and said, her voice deepened with emotion, “I love this valley. It’s so…