Site Discussions

I saw a catamount (mountain lion) yesterday, April 23, 2013 at about 3:15pm when I was going southbound on Interstate 91 and was halfway between Lyndonville and St. Johnsbury, Vermont. This beautiful, very large animal, tawny in color with a long, rope-like tail, was crossing the highway from east to west and as I got closer, I saw it run up a meadow. Upon looking at a picture of a catamount later on, this majestic cat that I saw was definitely a catamount. I noted the mileage marker number and will look at this area again when I am on the highway today to get the exact spot. I have reported my siting to the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department.

I find the concept of transgenic chestnuts facinating. I hope this same technology will be applied to help the Ozark chinkapin (Castanea ozarkensis). A close chestnut relative that was also damaged by the same blight. In addition I hope it will be used to help the butternut & black walnut in their new fight against the thousand cankers disease,the elms against the Dutch elm disease, ashes against the emerald ash borer and the hemlock against its insect pest.

Thank you for the excellent explanation.  So just to confirm what I have thought, if you have a 5 acre plot with a slope that starts at sea level on one side and rises 200 foot at the other side your property line would not be based on a tape measure following the slope.  It would measured as if you projected the sea level end up 200 feet and measured between a 200 foot elevated starting point and the 200 foot back property actual height, correct?

Thank you.

This perfectly describes what we’ve experienced with grouse in our yard and surrounds.

The plumber cut roots out of my sewer last summer, i have placed root killer, copper sulfate in the line a couple of times that i would be out or the home for a few days.  will root killer, kill the roots in my sewer line?

thanks.

Garland

Thanks so much for the article.  I have searched on the net for years for this material and could not find anything, or could I find anyone who knew how to do it.  My father and I used to line bees in the 40’s and I was bored with it as a young child.  I remember it was a Sunday morning venture with that box and chasing bees at his commands.  One day I came home from school and here were several wash tubs on the front lawn full of honey comb.  We were very popular in the neighborhood for a while.  He found the hive quite close to our home in a old maple tree which I never did see.  I would like to start this with my grandchildren some day as I remember the honey and how it tasted.  I also remember that he did not know how to extract it from the comb so we ate it comb and all.

Great explanation of grouse’s the mating behavior and its sonic aspect.
The suggestion at the end - to encourage grouse habitat - was something I thought worthwhile until I noticed how grouse also relish the flower buds on my apple trees. Now I’m trying to discourage them from moving in.

Thanks for answering a question I’ve been asking every winter as I admire the pinky beige leaves giving roadside woods color when otherwise pretty dull. Does anyone know how many years one can expect to enjoy the marcescence until the tree outgrows it? I would like to plant some to replace my dozens of Sandy victims and if I get them about six feet tall, could I hope for more than two or three years before they get too grown up for the look I admire?

This is an outstanding article—tons of information and eloquently delivered.  A joy to read!

Joe, After 40 years of looking at woodlots with Eastern White Pine (EWP) in them and reading and listening to those a lot smarter than I am, (Mr. White Pine Phil Chadbourne for example)I offer the following tid bits:
  Mrs. weevil lives in the litter on the forest floor all winter and then when spring arrives, she starts climbing EWP trees to find one whose leader is in bright sun lite for at least 11 hours a day. This is so that the heat from the sun will help the eggs she lays in the leader to get into the larval stage where they chew their way down the leader effectively killing it.
If you want some convincing evidence of this find a field where there is a rather large EWP standing alone with “children” underneath it’s branches. Note the trees in front that are from 5 to 16’ in height in the direct sunshine have many weeviled leaders while the trees in back, more or less in the shade of the mother tree, have few if any weeviled leaders.
Same in an old hay field that comes up as mixed growth. The popples and birches provide the shade for the pine leaders and there are many fewer weeviled trees in these mixed stands. After 30 years go in and cut the popple of for pulp and you may have pines with 25 feet of straight bole that in time with pruning will produce two 12’ veneer logs. That’s right EWP veneer. I have seen such a mill out in the Iowa area. And if you don’t take it to a veneer mill heavens only knows what an EWP"clear ” butt log will be worth in the year 2092.
Regards and happy pruning to 25’ Pete Lammert 207-691-2900

This article confirmed my thoughts on the matter but I just needed some confirmation of the issue.

Regarding the amount of trees you could plant on a sloped area, just a thought, trees grow vertically and the spacing of the trees would be adjusted to maintain the same horizontal spacing as they would need on flat land.

I have used “ax’s” and “mauls” and I find the maul an easy wood splitter for the larger chunks. The ax does great for most everything.

I am living in the old wood farm house I grew up in. Its about 150 years old. Solid. It uses massive amount of wood to keep warm. I burned at least 5-6 cords this short winter. I have used much more in other winters. Especially if they are windy.

Different wood needs different tools. The beautiful Walnut (damn does it burn hot) I burned cleaved nicely with the ax. Maple, I needed to use the maul. Some wood like the locust was hard either way and the pine too was exhausting.

I will burn anything that I can get. I only cut down the dead or dying myself.

My neighbor asked why I did not use a hatchet when I split up small pieces? I always used an ax. Why buy a hatchet?

I would like to point out I see a lot of fat and skinny ax’s, but most mauls are fat. I say use what works for you.

I’ve got all five species described in the photographs, but still have had a hard time distinguishing between the red and white spruces until they began producing cones. Your explanation is extremely helpful.  Thanks much,

We have lived in our house for 10 years. This year (in April) we noticed a very large nest about half way up a tall pine tree. It appears to be about three feet across, and made out of sticks. We don’t have any large body of water in the immediate area. We do feed birds, but the biggest one we’ve seen is an occasional crow. We do live out of town, in a semi-rural setting. What type of bird would build such a large nest? Someone suggested it may be a squirrel’s nest, but it is not made of leaves.

I’ve lived here over 20 years and for a good part of that time have wondered about the young beeches keeping their leaves all winter. Today I noticed the leaves have shriveled markedly overnight, and are starting to fall. It looks like the new leaves are about to come out.

This article answered most of my questions, thanks.

I’m curious if the old leaves, though ‘dead’, could be directly supplying nutrients back to the budding branch, before falling off.

The change in the old leaves overnight was remarkable. I’ll start observing these things more closely each year to see if it happens this way every year. I’m also going to try to keep track of whether the leaf retention is due to the age of the tree or the height of the leaf, as higher branches are subject to more wind.

Thanks for covering this emerging market opportunity for forestland owners. Readers looking for more information about selling carbon and the potential for aggregation may find these resources helpful: Selling Forest Carbon (http://www.northernforest.org/publications.html) and our Forest Carbon Resource Page (http://www.northernforest.org/default/es_resources.html). General information, including more about the Carbon & Ecosystem Services Network, are available at http://www.northernforest.org/ecosystem_services.html.

Trying to manage invasives on 75 acres. I would prefer to use fire but we need an act of congress to do that in these parts unfortunately.

As a Nature Conservancy supporter since 1984, I have watched the inclusion of working landscapes over the past 15 or 20 years with a wary eye.  “Is TNC selling out?” was my question at first.  But as I’ve watched, I’ve seen it more as taking advantage of opportunities to protect key aspects of the environment while maintaining the traditional human uses. 
  I grown to appreciate how difficult it is to maintain a balance between consumption/comfort and minimizing environmental impacts in my own life.  I glad THC and other groups I support are trying to work out that balance as well. 
I hope I can get up to the St John and see it for myself.

Thanks for this important article about an important subject.  Hope it gets wide distribution.

Hi Candace,

Yes, I peeled the bark away on the freeze scar. In its natural state the hole appeared to be recessed into the tree, the dead bark raised out and around it. This was an extreme example.