“From the Woods” Blog
“From the Woods” Blog
Forest Birds and Sugarbush Management – A Perfect Combination
Winter’s grip on most of us has usually worn out its welcome by the time March comes around. But for many woodland owners the lingering presence of snow and cold is a harbinger of the impending maple sugaring season. Romanced as the…
Getting the Wood Out
By Put Blodgett, President How to get heavy wood to the mill or processor? This has taxed the ingenuity and strength of loggers since the days of the first settlers. In Colonial days, the King of England claimed the finest white pines…
Looks can be deceiving: Purple Loosestrife
Author: Elizabeth Spinney, Vermont Department of Forests, Parks & Recreation The warm afternoons and longer days of May and June bring along thoughts of summer, and summer flowers. If you’ve ever spent a late August afternoon along a lake with a…
Book Review: Solar Cycle Lumber Kiln
By Allen Yale, Tree Farmer For those of you with sawmills, or who hire someone to do custom sawing for you, sawing is just the first step in turning logs into quality lumber. The boards have to be stickered, dried, and stored…
American Chestnut Trees
In the spring 2016, the five members of the Fairlee Town Forest Board, along with the town’s consulting forester, Markus Bradley of Redstart Forestry, and Dr. Kerry Browne and Rachel Sanders, science instructors at Rivendell Academy in Orford, NH, acquired 21 potentially…
Forest Industry Summit: Creating a Network
By Christine McGowan, Director Forest Products Network As development creeps into our rural landscapes and woodlot ownership changes hands, our forests face an uncertain future. Vermonters value working landscapes, but do they value the work it takes to keep these landscapes intact?…
VWA Profile: Jane Clifford
Jane Clifford is a relatively new member to the Vermont Woodlands Association (VWA). New being she joined about five to six years ago when she met Put Blodgett, our VWA Board President, while working on current use legislation involved with getting other…
Working with a Consulting Forester
Kathleen Wanner || Landowner and Tree Farmer || December 2018 Growing up in suburbia, forester was not in my vocabulary. Climbing the few backyard trees in my neighborhood was as close as I got to the woods. Even living in the woods…
Barkskins, and other ramblings
Kathleen Wanner || VT Woodlands || Summer 2017 My Summer Vacation Sound like a back-to-school essay from your grammar school days? As I was walking in the woods this morning with the dog and realizing that September is right around the corner,…
The Old John Vinton Hill Farm
Peter and Julie Parker || Landowners and Tree Farmers || September 2017 The Old John Vinton Hill Farm: The Roots of History and Trees by Peter and Julie Parker There are models of forest balance in America that sustain both wildlife and…
Experiences with Non-Chemical Control of Woody Invasives
Gerry Hawkes || Forester and Inventor || March 2017 Experiences with Non-Chemical Control of Woody Invasives Over the past 15 years, experiments with the non-chemical control of woody invasives have resulted in effective mechanical and flame treatment methods that, in most cases,…
Blue-Headed Vireo
By John Buck, Wildlife Biologist (June 2018) The wait is finally over! Sub-zero days and major snowstorms were the call of the first days of spring in my woods this year. More so than ever, winter over-stayed its welcome. While pulling taps…
Vermont’s Archaeological Resources
Spanning nearly 13,000 years, Vermont’s historic and Precontact cultural resources represent important connections to our recent and distant past. Historic buildings, structures, ruins, landscapes, and archaeological sites are tangible links to the rich cultural, religious, social, economic and technological traditions of past…
Forest Birds and Sugarbush Management
Winter’s grip on most of us has usually worn out its welcome by the time March comes around. But for many woodland owners the lingering presence of snow and cold is a harbinger of the impending maple sugaring season. Romanced as the…
The Walking Sawyer: Connecting Hikers with Vermont’s Working Forests
By Christine McGowan, Forest Products Program Director Somewhere between the Oak trees near the Massachusetts border and the Maple trees of Northern Vermont, Ken Gagnon earned his trail name: the walking sawyer. “You meet folks along the trail and get to talking,”…