Knots and Bolts

The tree in question is conical, its cones dangling from skyward-curving branches, scaly bark covering its tapered trunk. Short, four-sided needles radiate spirally from each twig –…

I can still remember my first chew of spruce gum. Like so many other children from Maine, my dad gave me that first amber nugget. I was five, and we were skiing in back of our house in…

Spring’s grace and beauty will soon be everywhere – cue the Stravinsky. Courting songbirds will rule the air, wetlands will resonate with love-mad croaking, and on the forest floor,…

Thirty years ago, I discovered the carcass of a handsome buck draped awkwardly over sharp-edged rocks. It was May and the grip of winter had loosened. Bright new leaves framed the buck’s…

The article on growing mushrooms on hardwood logs in the Spring 2009 edition of Northern Woodlands intrigued me. My 16-acre woodlot in North Wolcott, Vermont, had been cut-over hard in the…

University of New Hampshire (UNH) professor Barry Rock has a piece of advice for anyone studying the forest: enlist a middle-schooler. Rock directs Forest Watch, a program housed at UNH’s…

In last winter’s issue, we highlighted a 400- year-old hemlock tree that was only 20 inches in diameter; in a recent web feature, we went the other way and marveled at a 70-year-old red…

The Damariscotta River Association (DRA) property in Newcastle, Maine, sits perched between US Route 1 and the Great Salt Bay. Over the past 50 years, this former pasture land has spawned a…

As if the specter of emerald ash borer and Asian longhorned beetles destroying hardwoods in the Northeast weren’t depressing enough, another forest pest has reared its ugly head in the…

As northerners, our turtles must contend with frigid winters. Unable to maintain the necessary body temperature to carry out essential metabolic activities, a turtle settles down into the mud…

Estimating the age of a deer by studying the tooth wear and eruption patterns on the lower jawbone is not an exact science, but it’s free, you can perform the task yourself, and nearly…

September can feel like summer, but we also see glimmers of autumn – a change in the light, goldenrods and asters blooming, mushrooms of various species emerging and proliferating in…

Readers of Northern Woodlands will be familiar with artist Adelaide Tyrol’s work: her paintings regularly illustrate our Under the Microscope and Species in the Spotlight columns; her…

As I was waiting at the shop the other day to pick up my chainsaw, I heard strong words up ahead in line: something about the government and the EPA and ethanol. When my turn came at the…

While those of us in the print world don’t readily admit it, there’s power in television images that just can’t be replicated in words and still photographs. In light of…

In a state dense with timberland, Maine’s district foresters have a serious challenge providing landowners with timely information about good forestry practices and changes in state law.…

Three hundred million years ago, dinosaurs roamed the land. The earth they inhabited was hot and humid and covered in vast, swampy forests that today would seem most bizarre. Some of the…

The big buzz this spring in maple sugarmaking circles involves the new check-valve spouts that many sugarmakers with vacuum systems are trying for the first time. The spiles were invented by…

Stewardship Stories - Readers Share Their Ideas and Projects In the fall of 2007, with support from the U.S.D.A.’s Wildlife Habitat Improvement Project (WHIP), we installed seven vernal…

As communities in the Northeast look for green fuels to replace coal and oil, they are exploring options in woody biomass, including plantings of shrub willow. Our forests will certainly play…