Knots and Bolts

The National Enquirer could get some mileage out of snow fleas, if only it were entomologically inclined - and had a microscope. Not only are these minute creatures not fleas, they may not…

To the uninitiated, a process that heats biomass - wood chips, grass clippings, food wastes and the like - with hot sand to create a gas, which is then burned to power a turbine, which then…

This Christmas, the national tree which brightens the west lawn of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., will be a 60-foot tall Vermont balsam fir. The perfectly formed fir has been…

On the morning of April 2, Mark Walker saw three panthers walking single file on the snow near Lake Eligo in Craftsbury. Later, when scat collected from their trail was verified to contain…

Seed crops for many tree species were notably high this year, with sugar maple and red maple being particularly prodigious. This past spring saw a landscape dotted with the yellowish maple…

Does it seem far-fetched to think that a 2 X 4 with a stamp saying that it came from a well-managed forest could command a better price than one without? If so, get ready, for just as…

National Forest land in New England has not been the scene of the pitched battles over timber sales which are commonplace in the west. When the Green Mountain National Forest adopted its…

Current use is the generic term for taxation of land based on its forestry value rather than fair market value. States across New England have current use programs, and in Vermont it is…

Of all the trees that grow in the northeast, the black walnut is the most highly-prized by cabinetmakers. The trees are scarce enough that a woodworker's quest for good walnut takes on…

Day in and day out, most loggers work alone in the woods with no chance to show off their skills. That's one reason why so many of them make it to the Vermont Forestry Expo, the big annual…

Have you seen any martens? Kimberly Royar would like to know. Royar, a wildlife biologist who works out of the Fish and Wildlife Department office in Springfield, would be interested in…

The draft recommendations of the Northern Forest Lands Council released in March were regional in scope, covering 26 million acres in four states. Implementation will be on a state-by-state…

Officials from Fish and Wildlife departments have been preaching for years that wild animal lovers shouldn't adopt orphaned animals, but until recently it's been the animals they were…

Thinning and harvesting operations temporarily stress forest stands because the remaining trees have to adjust to changes, such as increased light levels and drying winds. Logging should be…

Keep an eye out for healthy butternut trees. Pessimism about the future of this species is spreading as a relatively new fungus continues to kill butternut throughout its range. Butternut…

The New England Society of American Foresters (NESAF) showed that it is not afraid to go out on a limb when it became the first of the SAF's 34 regional organizations to endorse a Society…