The summer I was 23, I lived in a treehouse in the Maine woods. My boyfriend, Curry, and I had just returned to the state after an unsuccessful attempt to start careers in Colorado, near my…
Articles
Future Climate-Adapted Tree Species
This article is the second in a four-part series that focuses on climate change impacts and adaptation in forests. A companion series published last year focused on forest carbon. Alexandra…
What’s Happening to the Fisher?
An Elusive Carnivore Confronts New Challenges
In 2010, my dog treed a young fisher in the woods bordering my neighbor’s Christmas tree farm. I was surprised to spot the animal in this portion of southeastern New Hampshire, within 5…
When Life Hands You Chokeberries…Make Juice
Here’s a botanical riddle: What has fruits that look like a juneberry, flowers that look like a blackberry, leaves that look like an apple, and a name that sounds like a cherry? Answer:…
1,000 Words
Richard Silliboy, vice chief of the Mi’kmaq Nation, uses splints of brown ash (also known as black ash) to weave a basket in his studio near Houlton, Maine. Silliboy participates in the…
What Can We Do About EAB?
We know that emerald ash borer is going to kill most of the ash trees in our forest, but is there value in chemically treating a few trees – and, if so, which ones? What about the…
A Look at Biodegradable Bar & Chain Oil
Recently, I taught a chainsaw safety course in which a student asked, “Where does all the bar oil go?” It occurred to me that this is a topic that gets relatively little attention,…
Art Review: Kathleen Robbins
I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for. – Georgia O’Keeffe Kathleen Robbins’ home is near…
In the Studio with Adelaide Murphy Tyrol
Colorful splotches of paint cover the floor of artist Adelaide Murphy Tyrol’s studio in Marshfield, Vermont. Paint-splattered buckets are stacked beneath a large sink. Brushes of various…
Tree Time’s-Up
For now, this girdled hourglass preserves Tree’s vertical: a monument to gnawing doubts, camel straws, tipping points and indecision by a certain whittling Beaver. After all, beneath…
Thanks to Elise
As we celebrate 30 years of publication of Northern Woodlands, we also celebrate, with thanks, Elise Tillinghast’s leadership of the Center for Northern Woodlands Education for the past…
Chittenango Ovate Amber Snails
Intolerance of disturbance, specific habitat requirements, and narrow distribution: these are characteristics that threaten species with extinction. Unfortunately, the Chittenango ovate amber…
Old Mill, New Market: TimberHP Brings a Paperless Future to Madison
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. — Seneca (C. 4 BC–AD 65) For many observers of Maine’s forest products industry, the 18-month period between 2014 and…
Paul Tuller’s One Tree Project
Paul Tuller has been working with wood since he was in the seventh grade. His long career includes time spent running a sawmill on his family’s farm in Connecticut and four decades as a…
Behind the Pages
Approximately 50 people contribute to the words and images in each issue of the magazine. Here are some of our Summer 2024 contributors. {image2} Peter Grima (Knots & Bolts,…
From the Center
We’re on the morning school run. Lucy, Turner, and I are singing the family “Yerpy-derp” song, because that’s what we do when we’re stuck behind slow-moving…