Site Discussions

Hi Colby,

Thank you for your informative and beautiful article. I smiled while reading your introduction, recalling the echoing notes of the Pileated woodpecker who graces the hedge row behind our home and greets our day with their resounding echoing call.

We’ve also been blessed to share our yard with a family of Northern Flickers—a male, a female, and a juvenile—all overwintering here in Southern Rhode Island taking turns under watchful eyes and flashes of bright yellow to swoop and peck eagerly at our suet feeder. They are beautiful and I love to sit and watch them along with the hairy, downy, red bellied woodpeckers,Carolina wrens, and sapsuckers that brighten our winter landscape and even just this morning a red bellied woodpecker appeared on our deck braving our bossy titmice and blue jays swooping in vying for unsalted peanuts in shells tossed onto the snow. Our bit of open space hedge row holds an abundance of decaying and dead trees and I feel extremely blessed. with their beauty and shelter for our feathered friends and raptors, newts, and woodland friends.

Thank you and I look forward to future articles.

Sincerely
Catherine Fury 02879

I brought Soren Eiksson to South Carolina to train local personnel after seeing him train workers at our Brazilian subsidiary. We became close friends and I was sorry to learn of his death after he and Britt returned to Sweden. Soren became a fan of American football and that led to his Game of Logging. He noted that in football you had to have a Plan for each game.  You had to practice your role rigorously.  You had to be in excellent physical condition. You had to wear a full array of protective clothing. You had to “follow the rules.” Just as he taught his logging students. In Brazil, our chain saw felling/bucking crews had to train for a full month before they became members of a logging crew!

Beautifully written article, Todd. Your imagery is striking. I appreciate that sense of stillness and life. I hope that someday, everyone will recognize how much we need each other and the environment for survival and joy, as you said.

How can a person obtain some seeds to plant and further the cause?

Good article. I also work for PA DCNR. Great job Jessica and N. Woodlands.

Thanks for an interesting article.

I live on the N Wales border. We have a nearby village called Wolf’s Head, meaning “outlaw territory” in the medieval period.
It’s long time since anyone here heard wolves howling. I’d give my eye teeth to hear song dogs yip-howling in my back garden!

Good job

I live on a mountain in northern Maine and the land abutting mine was a gorgeous and rare hardwood forest with large sugar maples, managed for decades by a family that sold it two years ago.  Now it’s a barren, rocky sheep pasture.  The beautiful old trees are gone. The forest is gone. Will it recover?  Perhaps, in several hundred years.  It’s critical to find and protect whatever remains of these special ecosystems.

The photo of the boreal chickadee was wonderful, I was in Labrador the last time I saw one.  It flew right to me, landed on my finger, did a loop de loop, then flew off.  Quite a special encounter since chickadees are my favorite bird.  Or is it ravens?

Thank you for this article. I’m happy to see the advocacy for old-growth. When we hear about “healthy” forests it is referring to managed forests. It is a misnomer. The healthiest forests are late succession when you take into account soil structures, wildlife habitat, etc.
We need wood products; managed forests play their role, but to imply that “Tree Farms” are the healthiest is incorrect.
Thanks,
Don

Terrific article! Many interesting facts, and so well written. Thank you!

I read—listened to—North Woods this past year and loved it, and now my Library’s book club has been reading it and will discuss it tomorrow. I wanted to brush up and found my way to your site—a pleasure to hear/read the author’s comments. I I especially liked his reply to the first question about why he writes. The love of language and storytelling really came through, and for me was enhanced by the diverse cast of narrators. And as a resident of rural western Mass, I enjoyed witnessing the landscape emerge as its own highly compelling character, so movingly rendered and seemingly familiar. Lastly, having recently taken another look at the profound significance of apples to northeast settler culture—including a rereading of Michael Pollan’s fabulous Apple chapter in The Botany of Desire—I found the role of “Osgood’s Wonder” another compelling element of the book. Bravo!

What an interesting article about Shrews!!

Recently I’ve been drawn to reading how our wildlife adapte to survive the cold winter months. I found your article about the masked shrew fascinating. Thank you for publishing it.

Nice summary of a member of our earthly fauna!

I remember Mike playing along the creek in our backyard. So glad to see what he has been doing for the planet!

Great article. Its enjoyable reading about people that have a passion for managing and preserving ecosystems.

Came across some skinks in Ashland Mass when I was a young child. They were living in a south facing rock garden right on the Sudbury River. Must of been about 1968.

Mr. Gulpin is a hero of mine. His philosophy on wood and woodworking is wonderful. He is inspirational to me.