Site Discussions

Thanks to Irwin Post for a particularly helpful article. I have a small woodlot in Royalston, MA that has been totally neglected since heavy logging about 30 years ago. While there are some nice red oak and white pine on the property, beech is the predominant tree species along with plenty of striped maple in the understory. As I begin timber stand improvement, it’s pretty clear that I won’t get much oak or pine regeneration with a combination of vigorous beech sprouting and heavy deer browsing. The information in this article will give me at least a fighting chance.

Today in Passumpsic, Vermont I saw a catamount!!! It was about 7.30 am. My dog has been going wild sniffling and growling for days. I took some pics, but they are not too good.

Nice.

Great to see the involvement in conservation of the woodcock. My husband and I run a a hunting preserve , which cover is an old farmfield bordering the river.  The woodcock is plentiful and the hunters that come to preserve enjoy seeing them.  We raise our own pheasant and quail to release, and hunters are pleasantly surprised when seeing woodcock.  They are in pursuit of the pheasant and the viewing of an accasional woodcock is a bonus.  My husband has worked very hard with his small john deere skidder to bring back the abandoned fields.

Hi Doug—

Thanks for your comment—it gets right to the heart of the matter. We intentionally used ‘native invasives’ to create a useful distinction between species like hay-scented fern (the so-called ‘native invasive’), glossy buckthorn (invasive exotic), common lilac (non-invasive exotic) and, say, red oak (native, non-invasive.) Your point that deciding which natives are classified as “invasive” is nothing but personal preference is exactly to the point - it’s a utilitarian argument, as the author points out in the early going: “The real problem with native invasive plants is that they conflict with our human desires.”

Chuck Wooster, associate editor

Thank you Mr Brown for this article, which gave me the basic principals. I was in a hurry to try, so with no bee box, that’s what i did…

I took the half top part of a big soda bottle as a bee box.
I made a cardboard cone for covering the half bottle.
I screwed a plastic plate on top of a broom handle.
I got a small part of a new sponge so my bottle could cover it. (Rinse the sponge carefully)
I made the syrup with bottled water and poured it on my sponge.
I dressed with flashing colors.

How to use this:
-I cover the bee and the flower with the half bottle, and when the bee tries to fly to the sky in my bottle, I just place it on top of the sponge bait in the plastic plate.
-I let her fly inside for a while so that she will run out of fuel (3 to 5 min), then I cover the bottle with the cardboard cone to cut the light.
-i pull up the cone a little bit to see if the bee has landed and is foraging. Once she has done so, I slowly take the bottle away and am done.

As time has changed, I use “Google earth” for bee lining, and I look for many lines going to the hive. (Think of what you do and choose the proper spots to be able to use landmarks visible on Google earth.)

When you have a lot of bees coming, take away your bait and hide it. When flying in search of it, they will run out of fuel and will rush on the bait when you put it back (3 minutes later.) The best is to replace your sponge with another one with almost pure honey because it takes more time for the bees to suck it up. As soon as you have enough bees on your sponge, take the plate (no chock) and move it in the direction you think suitable to get a new direction line. With the bees sucking honey, they won’t move, and you have 3 minutes before they take off. The plate must be at rest on the new spot when they take off. If they fly around for new landmarks before they go to the hive, they will come back. (You may need a few intermediary stops before you reach a suitable spot.) Keep a “bait sponge” in a plastic plate on the ground on the first spot, and on each new spot, so that you can start again if they don’t come back. If you want to continue the day after, the bees will check your spots once in a while, so they will be back not long after you’ve replenished your bait.

Warning: sponges will take on a bad smell for bees after 24 hours, so rinse them with chlorine/water/water/sugar water and finally syrup before you use them again.

PS: If your first bee has been flying around to record landmarks, she should be back soon, and then you should do as Mr Brown says. Be patient for her before you catch other bees, or you might be looking for many hives and it will be a big mess on your computer screen. It’s a fascinating process.To finally locate the hive, use your binoculars slowly and carefully to see bees going and coming.

I saw an old box very similar to the one described in a local museum, labeled “a Queen Cage”. Didn’t look like any queen cage I’ve ever seen before. Thought it might be a bee-lining box. Then found this great article describing the very box. Your plans are almost identical to the museum box. Sounds like fun - will have to make a box and get bee lining with my grandsons - I think they would love it.

Thanks a lot for writing this article. I do agree that marking the bee would help in timing the correct turn-around time and distance thus calculated.

Thanks again,

Henry

I’m a bit confused by the nomenclature here.  What does the term ‘native invasive’ even mean? In plain language it is an oxymoron since the second word is the antonym of the first (“white black” or “up down”).

By the content of the story, it is apparent the author wishes to create and impose a highly specific suite of human-chosen plant species on his property, ie. a garden, and to strictly limit any plants that he does not desire to be there. At the end of the day, it is the landowner/gardener who gets to play God. This renders meaningless the words ‘native’ and ‘invasive’ as they are normally understood by scientists. It would be helpful here if the author would admit he is simply making a highly artificial and engineered landscape that has little connection to nature or to the natural forest of the Northeast.

Native species in New England, plant or animal, already have a tough enough time. The last thing they need is being pilloried as being ‘invasives’ in their own native habitat.

Thanks,

Doug Watts

Hey, we felt that 1995 derecho in Connecticut! The weirdest thing was hearing it coming.

And sometimes it works the other way. We took down a set of 100+ foot-tall white pines growing too close to the house, and we guessed they were 50-55 years old. A ring count of the stumps showed 56 years.

(Of course, we cheated a little—we have photos of the house taken ca. 1950 and there wasn’t a tree to be seen for miles at that time. It was amazing to learn that the entire area, save for farm fields and house sites, has reforested in our lifetime!)

Would appreciate suggestions for abeginner to raise mushrooms in Alaska

Oaks can grow really fast compared to other hardwoods, in the right conditions.

Your final paragraph is incorrect.  The current official surface wind record-holder is Barrow Island, Australia at 113.2 m/s (253 mph), during a cyclone.  (If the 10m mast used at barrow island disqualifies it as a “ground-mounted gauge”, then so does the fact that the Mt Washington anemometer was mounted on the roof of the observatory.)

I’m not an expert on what sick foxes like to eat, but a fox with mange might eat any of the foods you mention. So will skunks, raccoons, stray dogs and assorted rodents, so be aware that you can’t control what animal helps itself to this food.  You could attempt to trap the fox using a large Havahart trap, with the same caveat.  Good luck.

A good question, Mike. I think the answer is no, but i’m at peace with that fact. One of the things that so impresses me about woodcock management is the way it reaches across “party lines,” so to speak. The way it unites hunters and naturalists and birders, all striving for a common cause. What’s next—hunters joining a campaign to protect rare songbird habitat? Let’s hope!

If a fox with mange visits my property daily is there something I can feed it, such as Natural Way dog food, lamb&rice;? Chicken raw or cooked? How would I trap it so as to get it to The Lincoln County Animal shelter?

I wonder if there would be such keen interest in the woodcock, if it were not such a joy for some to shoot?

Hello. I´ve noticed a few times that some of the new leaves on the European common ash tree (Fraxinus exelcior) are red, but only in young specimens that are 2 or 3 years old. I´ve never seen it in older trees. So why does it happen, I wonder?

It would be a lot simpler if those were the only parasites to worry about. Unfortunately many people contract what are called co-infections, sometimes with Lyme sometimes without. Anaplasmosis, babesiosis, bartonella, Rocky Mountain spotted fever (even in NH), and tuleremia can all be transmitted by ticks. Over 70% of ticks in NH have been tested and found to carry some pathogen. Wearing gaiters sprayed with permethrin, soaking pantlegs, and spraying DEET from the waist down have all worked well for me, but not before contracting anaplasmosis and babesiosis last summer.  Don’t take tick parasites lightly - it’s not worth it.

This comment came in as a Letter to the Editor for the printed magazine.

Irwin Post’s excellent article in Autumn 2010 issue brings a most useful message to Yankee tree farmers. I grew up on 600 acres of excellent sites with abundant weeds in northwestern Windham County, Vermont, not far from Post’s place. 53 years ago, I began work at Oregon State University College of Forestry leading a research program to meet the needs of western foresters with weed problems. Plants take up space. Space is crucial for any photosynthesizing organism, so desirable plants tend to grow much better if undesirable trees, shrubs or herbs are prevented from overtopping them. If one has to do it by axe, saw or bulldozer, the energy and maybe cost may be huge, and one faces the prospect that disturbance will simply beget more weeds. Chemicals are tightly controlled by law, and those registered for use in forests are safe, economical and effective for many uses to promote wildlife forage, timber species composition or control of cull trees. Over a dozen different chemicals may be used in forests, each providing a different array of results. Timing, application rate and dosage are crucial in their selectivity. Nearly all of those useful in the Northeast will persist in the environment for more than a month or two, and none are as toxic as coffee by a long shot. County Agents are excellent information sources on how to control weeds. Many in Yankee Land are unaware of technology pertaining to forests, but there are Extension publications that are very helpful. I write the Forestry Chapter, revised annually, in the Pacific Northwest Weed Management Handbook. You can get it on-line (http://uspest.org/pnw/weeds) if there is nothing closer to home. The links are available from Oregon State University Cooperative Extension Service, where publications list Pacific Northwest Weed Management Handbook, Ed Peachy, Editor. Individual chapters can be purchased on-line. Thank you, Mr. Post, for introducing a most valuable topic!

Mike Newton, Professor Emeritus
Oregon State University College of Forestry
Corvallis, OR