New safety program to help loggers and reduce workers’ comp Governor Phil Scott today announced a new initiative to address the high cost of workers’ compensation insurance for logging contractors in Vermont’s forest economy. The Vermont Logger Safety and Workers’ Compensation Insurance Program—developed collaboratively by the Departments of Financial Regulation, Labor and Forests, Parks and
Read More...
Planning Family Forests by Thom McEvoy In his seventh forestry book, Professor McEvoy after 9 years of research compiles stories of forest-owning families representing every major timber type in the United States; narratives and analyses that tell the trials, missteps and successes of an older generation of woodland owners sufficiently committed to keeping their forests
Read More...
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 under cover. One of the ways to increase the income from sawn lumber, especially hardwood lumber, is to
Read More...
Many of us have complained that the main obstacle to successful forest management is the lack of a market for low quality wood. Jim Birkemeier, a forester/woodland owner/wood processor in Wisconsin feels that he has the answer for himself. He has adopted what economists call vertical integration, in that he engages in every step of
Read More...INTRODUCTION Forests have always been an important part of life in New England. In fact, for as long as people have lived here, they have looked to the forests to meet their needs, including heat and energy. Though the challenges we face may differ in scale and complexity from those of our ancestors, we continue
Read More...
Wishtree by Katherine Applegate Having just received my VWA newsletter, I was sitting on my front porch relaxing and reading the very excellent issue. I was thinking about what book I should review for the next issue, when my wife asked: “What is a red oak tree?” I looked across my driveway to the massive
Read More...
New Report Highlights Loss of Undeveloped Woodland in VT A new report by the Vermont Natural Resources Council (VNRC) highlights the increasing loss of undeveloped woodland tracts in Vermont through parcelization, the breaking up of land into smaller and smaller parcels. The phenomenon of parcelization, which usually occurs through subdivision, is gaining momentum, and subsequent
Read More...
Lynn Levine. Identifying Ferns the Easy Way: A Pocket Guide to Common Ferns of the Northeast. Abington,Va: Heartwood Press, 2019. 24 Pp. $10.95. How many times have you walked in your woods and, seeing a fern, thought: “I wish I knew what that fern is called.” Now author Lynn Levine and illustrator Briony Morrow-Cribs have
Read More...
Forest Stand Improvement Using Pre-Commercial Treatments Introduction Forest stand improvement refers to pre-commercial treatments designed to improve the species mix, stem quality and rate of growth of young forests. When these treatments are focused only on improving future timber quality, they are sometimes called timber stand improvement (or t.s.i.). When forests establish naturally on abandoned
Read More...
Do you wonder what you can do for your woods to protect water quality and mitigate flooding? Vermont Woodlands worked in partnership with the Central VT Regional Planning Commission, Friends of the Winooski, and Conservation Commissions in Cabot, Plainfield, and Marshfield to develop tools and resources designed to help landowners in the upper Winooski Watershed
Read More...