Articles

“I want to cut some firewood but don’t want to jeopardize my valuable timber trees. How do I choose which trees to cut?” You can make firewood from most any hardwood, but you…

The Bicknell’s thrush looked like a greedy patron at a salad bar. Stuffed into her bill were a crane fly, a moth, a pupa of some kind, and what looked like a caterpillar. But that…

Healthy butternut trees are now so rare that, before the image of this tree in its full glory fades, let’s bring the butternut tree of 40 years ago to mind. Back then it was a robust…

Bill Mackowski’s stick-built house and rustic outbuildings in Milford, Maine, taken as a whole, suggest a frontier settlement more than a modern, private residence. Antique tools,…

Most loggers are well aware of the perils of blue stain. If freshly cut logs are left for any length of time in the summer months, one of the many species of fungus that leave bluish streaks…

Cutting wood is inherently hazardous work. Even if you’re using state-of-the-art techniques and practices, stuff still happens, as the saying goes. A quick word on chainsaw injuries and…

Editor’s Note: these are challenging times in the timber industry. Most mills have cut back on production; some are simply not buying logs. Many loggers have had to reduce crew size or…

Wangari Maathai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for teaching women in her native Kenya to plant trees. Of course, her work is much more complicated than that, but her call for…

Plant life is an essential foundation of wildlife habitat. Whether in a northern hardwood forest or an agricultural landscape, plants form the base of the food chain, the structure of the…

"Plants are in the business of making themselves inedible,” says Tom Vogelmann, a plant biologist at the University of Vermont. Being unable to run and hide from predators,…

The Vermont State Fair is an extravaganza of carnival rides, livestock shows, demolition derbies, harness racing, live music, yummy junk food, art exhibits, vegetable and pie competitions,…

The Northern Forest Canoe Trail is a roiling, serene, deep, shallow, narrow, and broad “trail” that follows a tortuous (some would say “torturous”) route across five…

In August 1, 1991, Hurricane Bob swept into southeastern New England with sustained winds of over 105 miles per hour. In its aftermath, we found that many large oaks in our family woodlot in…

Chokolokaloka. There are so many bird sounds in a spring forest, it can be hard to pick out just one. Chokolokaloka. But he’s there – hear him? A male (“tom”) turkey.…

An apple orchard in late May, just as the trees’ deep pink buds expand into pale pink blossoms, is one of the most beautiful places on earth. I won’t tell about the smells or the…

Many of us foresters have experienced the frustration of seeing our work come to naught because forestland we’ve been managing gets subdivided or because a new landowner was more…

If you’re building a log cabin or some other sort of log structure, your instructions will likely tell you to peel the logs first. Peeling the bark off logs increases the longevity of…

Pollen is to trees what sperm is to animals. It carries the tree’s male genes; it is the male fertilizing unit of woody plant reproduction. Typically, pollen appears in spring as a…

Plants in the wax-myrtle family – notably bayberry and sweet gale – are known for their fragrance. But sweetfern may be the most aromatic of all. On hot, sunny days, the scent is…

Most of the time, a male ruby-crowned kinglet is a fraud with feathers. When he appears, neither ruby nor kingly, you may wonder how he got his name. Pale green and gray, small and fleeting,…