Site Discussions

I am a long time subscriber and remember reading about the closing of Maine’s paper mills, lost jobs, and piles of wood left lying around. Your last two issues have carried stories of hope for renewed forest-based industry in the northeast, particularly in Maine. How can private citizens help to support that kind of development and keep forests working for sustainable futures? I am interested in the potential of education to influence purchasing, investment, and advocacy. Your magazine continues to deliver, and even improve, with the recent changes to editorial staff, and I am grateful for Northern Woodlands.

This article on this Maine State Forester presents such a positive picture of how knowledge and cooperative efforts on ecological issues and community education and forestry commerce can all have their involvement in addressing conservation and work livelyhood educational needs.
    Thanks for such a good picture of such an important community and forest advocate she has shown that female professionals do such a good job in conservation .
    Sincerely, Richard Crafts,
Niagara County Master Gardener and long time NWF Backyard landscape for birds promoter.

Another way to tell the woodpeckers apart - Hairy/Huge… Downy/Diminutive My mother who was an amazing birder, told me this trick decades ago…

Julie has walked my woods with me. She’s good at her job.

Hi, I enjoyed reading about your experiences as a Forester and wish you continued success in your field.
Tom

Great interview with Julie!  Enjoyed hearing what she does and how she works with so many different people.  Such important work for the health of our forests!

We had one visit in our backyard, helped itself to a can of birdseed, and a few have been visiting Townsend MA getting a meal of goats, so warnings have been posted. To me it’s thrilling to know that such a beautiful animal visited my yard at night! I’m only sorry that they get hit by cars , or of course shot. Too many people!

The author appears to understand that bears den in the winter, which is not a true hibernation. If a bear has found food at your location it will likely return for a snack, especially so in late winter or a mild winter.

From my understanding the creation of a slash wall can be pretty cost effective as when the logger is going in for harvest they can also begin creating the wall. Versus individual planting which could be more time consuming and more expensive. I completely agree! species composition is becoming extremely important with the influx of pests and pathogens.

Beautiful birds, saw two of them first time while fishing super early this morning. They were doing their own fishing. So fascinating. I love wildlife.

Thanks for this helpful article. It should help me understand what’s happening next spring as they start to appear again.
One question though. You say, “Moreover, bumble bees are on the short list of insects capable of “buzz pollination,” which is the only way eggplants, blueberries, cranberries, and some other plants can be pollinated.” and then, “Honey bees are incapable of buzz pollination”.
Does this mean the stacks of commercial honey bee hives I see in managed lowbush blueberry fields here in Maine are there only to collect nectar and make honey for the beekeepers?
I have also seen the shorter bumblebee boxes in some fields as well.

Thank you for taking the time to write a most informative and interesting article.  I enjoyed it immensely.  Exploring the natural world and its many wonders in detail is utterly fascinating for me too.  While not an expert my any means,  I too enjoy learning more about the world of fungi , especially since becoming acquainted with shaggy mane mushrooms a few yers ago in Vermont.

What a beautiful evolution. Thank you for this. If you are ever up in NH for a reading, please let me know.
Thank you. Meg

How were you able to mitigate your issues with the deer? They eat almost everything in our pollinator garden at Jefferson Memorial Forest in Louisville, KY.

Congratulations on a wonderful growing season! I can’t wait to see how the garden will continue to fill in next year.

Great to see Laura looking vibrant and to hear her telling stories I’ve never heard! I used to visit her and even got to take a trip to Barra over a decade ago. What a treat it’s been to know her and to be inspired by her!  How heartening to know she’s still living close to the land.
Blessings on the path

Your article is great!  The garden is amazing .  Fall has swept right in…too fast… but then I don’t want to move south LOL

I’ve enjoyed visiting the pollinator garden throughout the summer - thank you!

I believe that most folks would change their monoculture yards to places of nature for wildlife, beginning with insects that our birds need if they understand how utterly important and critical this is for our futures. We need to stop being told what is beautiful by landscape businesses that make money without much thought to the welfare of the life dependent on our native environments. Open your eyes to the beauty that nature provides. Read “Bringing Nature Home” Breathe deeply.

Thank you for this informative article. When I visited Gremany a couple decades ago, the State and Community Forest were restricting skid trails to around 8-10% of the managed forest. It was hand felling and then winched to the skid trails. Considering the impacts of current logging machines this seems like a sensible approach but no one seems to be doing this type of work. This would seem to reduce the impact on fungi. Do you know of any logging systems that are designed to reduce the impact on fungi? Sincerely, Bruce