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Newsletter
September 11, 2009
In This Issue
Editor's Blog
The Outside Story
What In The Woods?
Last Week's Contest Answer
Northern Woodlands News
Quick Links

crab apple blog picture EDITOR'S BLOG
Choosing a Tree

Our dog Ruby was a 9-year-old speckled black and white Dalmatian mix with a fondness for long runs in the back field. So when we lost her to an unfortunate illness this past May, we decided to remember her by planting a new tree on our land...
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Monarchs Milkweek Tyrol illustration THE OUTSIDE STORY

From the Archive, August 2007
Milkweed and Butterflies

Kids love the snowy seeds of the milkweed plant. Farmers take a dimmer view, wishing those seeds didn't colonize their pastures quite so readily. Most everyone else, by and large, ignores milkweed, except for one particular critter: the monarch butterfly...

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What in Woods contest image WHAT IN THE WOODS IS THAT?
Our Weekly Guessing Game!


Dave Anderson was hiking along a telephone line right-of-way near Long Pond in Lempster, New Hampshire, when he noticed a telephone pole that was completely snapped off and was hanging suspended from its wires. A closer look revealed several other poles had significant structural damage. The site was remote enough that human vandalism seemed unlikely. What in the woods could have caused this?

Photo Courtesy Brian Hotz, "Society for the Protection of N.H. Forests",

Each week we run a photo of something unusual found in the woods. Guess what it is and you'll be eligible to win a copy of The Outside Story, a paperback collection of our Outside Story newspaper columns. A prize winner will be drawn at random from all the correct entries. The correct answer, and the winner's name, will appear in next week's column.

View the full image and enter this week's contest

This week's contest deadline is 5:00pm, Wednesday, September 16th.
What In Woods Contest image Last Week's Contest Answer

Congratulations to last week's winner, Brendan Chrobak of Clinton, NY. We had 29 correct answers! Brendan receives a copy of our book, The Outside Story.

Photo courtesy Ronald S. Kelley, VTDFPR

This maple leaf seems covered with Nerds candy. A quick taste reveals the bumps in question are anything but sweet. What in the woods is it?


NW Answer:
The marks on this leaf were caused by maple gall mites. Picture them as tiny spiders. The abscesses on the leaf - called bladder galls - are green at first, before turning red and black. Sometimes there are so many galls on one leaf that nearly the entire surface is covered.
 
Bladder galls form when adult mites start feeding in early spring. The mites munch on newly-forming leaves, and as the leaves grow, leaf tissue grows out and forms a gall around each mite. The gall help protect the mites from predators.
 
Once a leaf is full size, each mite lays eggs and dies. Eggs hatch quickly, with hundreds of tiny nymphs inside each bladder gall. Nymphs are carrot-shaped and worm-like. They are whitish-orange with two pairs of legs.
 
Once the nymphs have grown into adults, they leave their gall and crawl to new leaves. The cycle continues until late summer when the tree stops new leaf growth for the year. These parasites cause very little damage to the tree.
 
The information here was taken from the Northern Virginia Ecology website.

NW Woodpecker logo NORTHERN WOODLANDS NEWS
Trouble with our Web Site?
 
We are aware that some readers are not able to open all of the pages on Northern Woodlands website. We apologize for this inconvenience, and we're working to fix the issue as soon as possible. It seems to be caused by one of those vague things called "coding." Different versions of Internet Explorer have different compatibility issues with website html code. Needless to say, we have called in an expert to make the fix. This may take a few weeks, but know that this is a high priority for us.

In the meantime, if you're getting error messages on any of our website pages, an upgrade of your browser program may eliminate the problem. Internet Explorer's newest version is IE8.  IE8 can be downloaded from the Microsoft website, http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/default.aspx.

Using a Mozilla Firefox or Safari browser also resolves these issues.

Thank you for your patience. We look forward to making our website fully accessible for whichever browser program you use.
We Welcome Your Questions and Comments
Postal Address:
Northern Woodlands
1776 Center Road
P.O. Box 471
Corinth, VT  05039
Toll-Free: (800) 290-5232
Phone: (802) 439-6292
Fax: (802) 439-6296
Email: mail@northernwoodlands.org
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The mission of the Center for Northern Woodlands Education is to encourage a culture of forest stewardship in the Northeast by producing and distributing media content to increase understanding of and appreciation for the natural wonders, economic productivity, and ecological integrity of the region's forests. Our programs give people the information they need to help build a sustainable future for our region. Through Northern Woodlands magazine, the Northern Woodlands Goes to School program, and special publications, we make a difference in how people care for their land.