Many people have let us know that they liked the first issue of Vermont Woodlands and we appreciate their encouraging words. A few people who have read the magazine have looked at me strangely, as though they were trying to figure something out. Some have asked what many others may be wondering: "So what really is going on here? What group is behind this magazine?"
There are a lot of magazines with a message and sometimes it is a hidden one, so this reaction is understandable. And maybe it is a little odd that two people would be so interested in trees that they have let their gardens go weedy and not gotten their firewood in because they are spending all their time working on a magazine.
But the situation is just that simple. We thought the time was right for a magazine about the Vermont forest and the interactions between forests and people. The biology of forest pests, the changing markets for forest products, the habitat requirements of different trees and wild animals — we could write a long list of the stories that we look forward to researching and writing.
Much natural resource writing is done either by people who don't take the time to learn about the subject or by people who have an ax to grind. We are working hard to stay out of both of those categories.
We aren't part of a group, and we aren't pushing for a particular solution to any of the problems that affect Vermont's forest. Like most people we do have a few opinions of our own, but our main concern is for the long-term health and productivity of forests everywhere, and we are open to any ideas that will help achieve this end.
Steve Long's story in this issue about neighbors who cooperated with each other in very different ways to accomplish their goals may have increasing relevance in the years to come. As land becomes divided into smaller and smaller parcels, it may come down to logging on a neighborhood basis or not at all.
Steve Swett gives an overview of the economics of owning timberland in Vermont. He has certainly done his homework for this story. For the past month it seems that everyone I've called or talked to who knows this subject has said, "I just had a long talk with Steve Swett."
Stone walls running through the woods have often puzzled me and my story in this issue gave me an opportunity to learn more about these relics of Vermont's agricultural past.
Once again, we are grateful to our advertisers and hope that when you use their services you will tell them, "I read about you in Vermont Woodlands."
We do appreciate the complimentary letters we've received and we would like to include a Letters to the Editor section in the future. But we thought it might give a bad impression if we just printed letters that patted us on the back — and that's all we had this time.