Site Discussions

I accidentally came across this very pleasing article—you know, one click leads to another, and then you’re here somehow.

I had the pleasure of being a student of Dr. Roze’s several times at CUNY-Queens College back in the late 1980s. He invited me to his cabin in the Catskills in June, 1989, where I got to meet Dr. Roze’s lovely wife, and I had an interesting nocturnal outing wherein I got to hold a female porcupine (carefully) with electrician’s gloves while Dr. Roze sedated her for examination. We sat on the porch, ate dinner, and watched a skunk family cross a little bridge over a stream. It was a great time, and even now, almost 40 years later, I still remember Dr. Roze, and the impact his teaching had on me. He is someone I will never forget.

Really enjoying the information you include in these small snippets of natural history!

Thank you for writing your book and thereby making your findings accessible to those who cannot read your scientific papers.  I admire your persistence in studying porcupines.

As a forester I have a love hate relationship with porcupines and beavers.  After doing a crop tree release thinning in one of my stands the porcupines severely damaged my maple trees by feeding in the crowns over winter.  My grandfather was from Switzerland and he told me the porcupine was the woodsmens friend because if lost and starving you catch one and eat it.  Luckily I have never had to do that.  Once during the winter there was 3 feet of snow and a fisher found a porcupine. The porcupine put his nose against a tree and went around in circles as the fisher tried to kill it.  They wore that 3 feet of snow down to the dirt.  The fisher eventually one and I have pictures of him dragging the porcupine away.  When the fishers first moved in to our area they discovered turkeys.  They were much easier to grab off the roost then battling a porcupine.  I wonder if that had anything to do with the Catskill porcupines surviving predation by fishers better than in other areas.  Through natural selection the turkeys that roosted on limbs that could hold a fishers weight were eliminated.  The turkeys in my area now roost at the tops of trees on the more flimsy branches. Fishers also have eliminated chickens on my farms until the pens were made fisher proof.  I see fishers and porcupines regularly. I am going to try and find your study.  BBB

*Great* article! As a New Hampshire native in the Chicago suburbs, I miss northern New England pretty much every day. Also look forward to reading The Outside Story in the Valley News every week—it’s always interesting, and this story on Earth’s magnetic fields & its creatures was just wonderful. While I don’t believe in the Western version of the Almighty (he has too many human attributes), I also find it hard to believe that the natural world is totally random. I suspect there is some kind of intelligence behind it. Anyway—thank you for another terrific story.

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.