|
|
|
|
|
Newsletter
| January 24, 2014
|
|
|
|
|
|
 EDITOR'S BLOG
One of the best things about winter is the sunsets. In the summertime, when the air's soupy and thick, the horizon is often fuzzed out by a skein of haze. The sunsets can be nice, sure, but nothing like what's available in January and February...
|
 THE OUTSIDE STORY
Live Weird, Die Young: The Virginia Opossum
Kenrick Vezina
On our back porch, in a pocket of light from the window, was what looked to be an oversized rat wearing white face powder. As it gobbled down cat food, it flashed a demented crocodile grin. My mother shrieked...
Full Article Text
|
A Cold Blast of Hope for Hemlocks
Chuck Wooster
Cold got you down? Ready to trade in your hat and scarf for something a little scantier? While you're waiting for that to happen - and good luck! - consider a visitor to these climes who is suffering even more than you are...
Full Article Text
|
Another strange mark in the snow, which Dicken Crane came across while walking a skid trail.
Every other 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 our next e-newsletter.
This week's contest deadline is 8:00 AM, Wednesday, February 5, 2014.
|
 Previous Contest Answer
Congratulations to our winners in Mr. Barker's third grade class at Jericho Elementary School, Jericho, VT! Mr. Barker's class receives a copy of our book, The Outside Story.
We stumbled upon these strange markings in a thin cover of snow. What created them?
NW Answer:
A wider-angle view of last week's photo shows the tell-tale evidence (one nice, clean print) that it was a deer sliding on ice.
Visit our What In The Woods Is That? contest archive. |
 NORTHERN WOODLANDS NEWS
Our cup runneth over. Actually, our inbox spilleth over. Whatever, we have a lot of news that crosses our desks, and only so many pages in the magazine. We're rethinking our e-newsletter in hopes it might serve as a vehicle for disseminating some of this great information before it is deleted forever. Fans of Harper's Magazine will recognize this flowing style of reporting the news in brief. Links are included for those who want more detail.
Nature
In nature news, we learned that Czech foxes are more successful pouncing on mice if they hop toward the northeast, that deer pee is altering northern forests, and that sex for springtails is sort of like an Easter egg hunt. Also, exposure to pesticides results in smaller worker bees, which is bad, because it takes a lot of work to make honey. Time travel is also now a reality, at least in the visual sense. What did your property look like three centuries ago?
Industry
With the recent cold snap, wood heat seems to be a hot (pun intended) topic. We heard that a new biomass plant opened in Connecticut, a Vermont pellet maker may expand into the Adirondacks and New Hampshire just announced a new rebate program for nonresidential wood pellet boilers and furnaces. Not so heart-warming was news that Chinese "dumping" on the U.S. plywood market is hurting manufacturers in our area.
Stories You've Shared
Ben Barrett passed along information on how he bolted some old galvanized window wells together, turning them into a makeshift den (he's hoping for bobcat). "We had fun building this and we check it periodically hoping to see footprints or some sign of activity," Ben writes from Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
Photographer Tim Flanigan sent along this neat shot. "It is of the heartwood of a Norway Maple that was felled and lying along a sidewalk in Berlin, Pennsylvania, last spring," he explains. "Driving by I was incredulous to observe that the heartwood resembles a stretched beaver pelt."
Harriet Maynard dropped us a note to report two sightings of snowy owls around her land in Wilmington, Vermont. "One was about 11 p.m., crossing our local town dirt road near Harriman Reservoir. It was quite a sight as it flew across in front of the car," she notes. "This is the first time we have sighted snowy owls around our property."
This past November, as part of Northern Woodlands' fall fundraising effort, we published a quiz with nine mystery photos. The winners have been announced (Gary Sullivan and Samuel Curtis) and the answers revealed here. We received 40 correct entries; how did you fare?
|
|
|
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) 368-1053
Email: mail@northernwoodlands.org
General inquiries form
Top of Page
|
|
The mission of the Center for Northern Woodlands Education is to advance a culture of forest stewardship in the Northeast and 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.
|
|
|
|
|
